L MEMMIUS Roman Republic Denarius

I blame you guys for many of my purchases. You show such nice coins all the time and I keep adding to my list of wants. This coin is no exception. I'm pretty sure @TIF has a beautiful example, but I'm also sure more of you have examples as well.

In doing some research, I found a few tidbits of interesting trivia associated with this coin. The Memmia gens claimed descent from Menestheus, the Trojan, one of the companions of Aeneas to Italy. The type, however, seems to refer to Menestheus, the Athenian king, who, with the help of the Dioscuri, drove Theseus from Athens.

Crawford notes that this moneyer may have traveled to Egypt and the unusual depiction of the Dioscuri may have been based on Egyptian artwork.

I have no idea if this is the same person as the moneyer above, but I found it interesting that a member of this Gens Memmia, Gaius Memmius, nicknamed Mordax, a tribunus plebis in 111 BC was a candidate for the consulship in 100. He was bludgeoned to death by the supporters of Lucius Appuleius Saturninus and Gaius Servilius Glaucia. Elected Plebeian Tribune in 111 BC, he was instrumental in relaunching the Jugurthine War after Jugurtha’s surrender in 111 BC. During his tribunate, he accused the consul Lucius Calpurnius Bestia, the senator Marcus Aemilius Scaurus and other aristocrats of accepting bribes from King Jugurtha. He summoned Jugurtha to appear in Rome, and promised him safe conduct in order that he may be questioned, but when Jugurtha arrived, Memmius was prevented from questioning the king by his colleague Gaius Baebius, whom Jugurtha bribed to impose his veto.

It is speculated that Memmius served as Praetor in 104 BC, and this was followed by the proconsular governorship of Macedonia in 103 BC. Then in the following year (102 BC), Marcus Aemilius Scaurus prosecuted Memmius with the charge of extortion. Memmius was found not guilty of all charges.

In 100 BC, Memmius was a candidate for the consulship of the following year (99 BC), but was slain in a riot on the election day, stirred up by his rival the praetor Gaius Servilius Glaucia. It has been speculated that, primarily due to Cicero describing him as consul designatus, Memmius was actually elected Consul in the disrupted elections of 99 BC, and was killed after his successful candidature was announced in the Roman Forum.

You can't help but find stuff like this interesting, eh? Anyway, on to the coin. Not in the best of conditions, but purchased at a very good price.

L MEMMIUS ROMAN REPUBLIC; GENS MEMMIA
AR Denarius
OBVERSE: Young male head (Apollo?) right, wearing oak-wreath; before, mark of value
REVERSE: Dioscuri standing facing between their horses, each holding spear; L MEMMI in ex.
Struck at Rome 109-108 BC
3.86g, 19.05mm
Syd 558; Cr304/1; Memmia 1

Pile on with anything you feel associated (or not) with this example.

 

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Very nice!! A cool coin with cool devices on both sides!! I'm still missing that variation of the Dioscuri. And a very interesting write-up!!

Hopefully, I can pile on later today......

 

A later Memmius from 56 BC. AR Denarius. Crawford 427/1.

Obverse: C MEMMI C F. Head of Ceres right.

Reverse: IMPERATOR - C MEMMIVS. Trophy and bound, kneeling captive.

This is ex Clarence Bement Collection, Ars Classica VIII (1924).

 

Neat type and interesting write-up, Bing.

 

I don't have one but certainly would like to correct that! Nice coin and write-up, Bing

 

I would have bet that you had an example. Perhaps it's @stevex6?

 

Nice coin @Bing . I like the different look for Apollo. I think it makes him look more Roman (vs the Greek look on coins of Piso, below). I often wonder how our "coin fathers" decided on some of the attributions on ancient coins. Some are easy like Athena on coins of Athens. Some are not, like your coin.

 

That is a cool coin @Bing, thanks to this forum I am becoming more interested in RR coins.

 

Still a type I want, great coin, JW.

 

Here is an unofficial, silver coated, counterfeit issue.

L. MEMMIUS. Denarius (109-108 BC). Rome. Fourree, 18mm (3.20g)
Obv: Male head right, wearing oak wreath; below chin, star (mark of value).
Rev: L MEMMI. The Dioscuri standing facing between their horses, each holding spear.
Crawford 304/1.
Holding History auctions via Agora Auctions, January 2016, Lot 01-082.

 

nice write up and cool new RR bing! i always thought thoe 3/4 facing horses on the reverse of this coin were awesome...or are they from the side? either way...awesome.

 

Not me neither, my ol' friend

=> congrats on scoring a sweet example that neither of us have!! (I'm totally jealous, Big-Bro)

 

Thanks lil bro. Well, I'm not betting any more. I would have lost on those two bets. But maybe it's @zumbly?

 

Great coin. I blame CT for most of my purchases

 

That's a nice coin for the type, Bing, congrats. I searched a long time for a nice one, most of them are worn , for an excellent sharp one, you have to pay big time.

Here's mine, with a description I think is right.

 

Nope, not me. Though this type is on The List.

 

The OP type could start a thread on "largest head for the flan size".


19 mm. The head is so large it leaves no room for any legend and increasing its size by 10% or even a mere 5% would force some part of of the head off the flan.

Can you show us a coin with a head that takes up that much of the flan?

 

Not a direct comparison as this one is a facing head, but a big part of the appeal of this coin for me is how the design on both sides utilize almost all the flan space available.

 

Great coin @Bing I love the reverse.

 

It's interesting that this coin so often has areas of flatness. Why do you think that is? Your reverse is sharper on the right. I have one that's the mirror image. I know that's not so uncommon with other coins, but this one seems especially hard to find consistently sharp.