I’m very proud of the last add to my collection, a very scarce coin with the wrong legend CEESIUS. L. Papius Celsus. 45 BC. AR Denarius. Rome mint. Head of Juno Sospita right, wearing goat skin / She-wolf standing right, placing stick on fire; to right, eagle standing left, fanning flames. Crawford 472/1. The obverse depicts the Juno Sospita whose main center of worshipping was Lanuvium (a village near Rome) and the reverse depicts a founder myth. When a fire broke out spontaneously in the forest, a wolf brought some dry wood in his mouth and threw it upon the fire, and an eagle fanned the flame with the motion of his wings. But a fox, after wetting his tail in the river, was trying to put it out. Wolf and eagle got the upper hand and the fox went away. Wolf and eagle represent strenght and wisdom of Rome, and the Fox the city’s enemies.
Very nice, @Scipio Roman Republic Head of Juno Sospita R, goat skin headdress, She-wolf R, placing stick on fire, eagle standing fanning flames, 45 BCE 19.0mm 4.07g Craw 472-1
It has been on mine one for ages! I love the coins with a story on them! Also the more common type is not easy to find in a decent condition for a fair price...
Nice coin! It's been on my Roman Republican want list for quite some time as well. Not only because of the interesting story behind the reverse, but because I like animal reverses and this one has not one but two of them! As I recently discussed with @Alegandron, though, it's not easy to find an example with the eagle on the flan. It's often missing, which really does detract from the scene.
Nice coin, Scipio. I also love coins with mythological stories on them. In my case they are mostly Greek as that is my main collecting area. Here are a couple of mine which record well known myths. This coin from Halos in Thessaly tells the tale of Phrixus and the ram. Phrixus and his sister Helle were hated by their stepmother, Ino, who wanted to get rid of them. Their natural mother, Nephele, sent a winged ram with golden wool to rescue them. During the escape flight Helle fell off the ram into the strait between Europe and Asia and drowned - the strait was named after her and became the Hellespont. Phrixus survived and sacrificed the ram to Poseidon who had sired it (a bit ungrateful, but there you go). The fleece from the ram became the Golden Fleece of Jason and the Argonauts fame. Halos claimed to be the starting point for the flight and this is why the flying ram is on its coins. This coin from Apameia in Phrygia shows the Phrygian satyr Marsyas. There are variations on this myth but the most common is that he found the aulos (double-pipe) that the goddess Athena had thrown away. After becoming skilled with it he challenged the god Apollo to a contest with his lyre. Apollo won and Marsyas paid for his hubris by being pinned to a tree and flayed alive by Apollo, who may have intended to turn his skin into a wine flask.
Your Marsyas coin from Apameia reminds me of one of my Roman Republican coins, reflecting the same myth: Roman Republic, Lucius Marcius Censorinus, AR Denarius, 82 BCE. Obv. Laureate head of Apollo right, traces of control mark (unidentifiable) behind / Rev. The satyr standing left, gazing upwards, raising right hand and holding wineskin over left shoulder; tall column behind him, surmounted by statue of draped figure (Minerva [RSC] or Victory [Crawford]); L. CENSOR downwards before him. Crawford 363/1d, RSC I Marcia 24d, Sear RCV I 281 (ill.), BMCRR 2657. 18 mm, 3.80 g, 5 h. [The coin refers to the legend of the satyr Marsyas challenging Apollo to a flute-playing contest. As the winner, Apollo got to choose the punishment for the loser -- namely, skinning Marsyas alive. Traditionally, the gens Marcia was descended from Marsyas; hence the reference.]
