Featured Roman Republican Nos. 51-53, including first two Quinarii

Discussion in 'Ancient Coins' started by DonnaML, Apr 6, 2021.

  1. DonnaML

    DonnaML Well-Known Member

    My first 50 Roman Republican coins were all denarii. But I've seen a lot of people post very appealing examples of the quinarius (half-denarius) in the year-plus I've been here, and recently I saw two of them that I really liked and decided to buy. From what little I know, they're among the most common types of the denomination issued during the Republic. The dealers' photos don't really do them justice, but I couldn't manage any better.

    First:

    Roman Republic, M. Cato, AR Quinarius [half denarius], 89 BCE. Obv. Head of young Liber (or Bacchus) right, M•CATO (AT ligate) downwards behind; below, control-mark star/ Rev. Victory seated right, holding patera with outstretched right hand and palm branch over left shoulder; in exergue, VICTRIX (TR ligate). Crawford 343/2b, RSC I Porcia 7 (ill.) (type with symbol as control-mark), BMCRR 662, Sydenham 597(c), Sear RCV I 248 (ill.), RBW Collection 1298. 15 mm., 1.58 g., 6 h. Ex. Numismatique Louis Brousseau Auction 1, Aug. 24, 2019, Lot 255.*

    M. Cato, quinarius, jpg image.jpg



    *Issued at end of Social War. The moneyer’s specific identity and relationship to Cato the Younger (Uticensis) are unknown; he was not that Cato’s father, who died no later than 91 BCE. There is a possibility that he can be identified with M. Porcius the wine-merchant. See Crawford p. 352. The reverse figure is presumably Victoria Virgo, whose shrine was built by Cato Censorius (id., citing Livy).

    The control-mark of a star is not among the 67 control-marks listed in Crawford Table XXV at pp. 350-351. There is one other example of this control-mark listed in acsearch.

    Second:

    Roman Republic, Cn. Lentulus Clodianus Cornelia, AR Quinarius [half denarius], Rome 88 BCE. Obv. Laureate head of Jupiter right / Rev. Victory standing right, crowning trophy; in exergue, CN•LENT. Crawford 345/2, RSC I Cornelia 51a (ill.), BMCRR 2443-2444, Sear RCV I 255 (ill.), Sydenham 703, RBW Collection 1313. 14x15 mm., 1.99 g.*

    COMBINED Lentulus Quinarius.jpg

    My attempt at a sharper reverse photo; at least you can sort of see a face. I wasn't able to improve on the obverse photo:

    Lentulus quinarius Rev 1.jpeg

    *The moneyer was Consul in 72 BCE (when he was sent against Spartacus but his legions were defeated), and was later Censor in 70 BCE, and a legate with praetorian imperium under Pompey in 67 BCE. This coin was issued after the end of the Social War, to celebrate the Roman victory and/or to commemorate the “victories of M. Claudius M.f. M.n. Marcellus over Hannibal in the Second Punic War, which culminsted in the capture of Syracuse in B.C. 212.” See RSC I at p. 39.

    Third, another denarius -- with a bankers' mark or countermark on the obverse, and some old graffiti on the reverse, neither of which detracts from the coin's appearance in my opinion. Plus, another one of my ultra-lengthy footnotes.

    Roman Republic, C. Memmius C.f., AR Denarius, 56 BCE [Crawford], 57 BCE [Harlan], Rome Mint. Obv. Laureate head of Quirinus right [deified aspect of Romulus and/or Italian deity worshipped on Quirinal Hill; see footnote], hair long, beard in formal ringlets, C•MEMMI•C•F downwards to right, QVIRINVS downwards to left; banker’s mark or test mark to left of Quirinus’s eye, in shape of bird? inside flower or star/ Rev. Ceres seated right, holding torch in left hand and corn ear in right hand; at her feet, snake rearing with head right; MEMMIVS •AED• CERIALIA•PREIMVS•FECIT [translated as “Memmius as aedile first held the games of Ceres” (Harlan RRM II pp. 99-100)] downwards from upper left; old graffiti resembling a sideways cross to right of Ceres. Crawford 427/2, RSC I Memmia 9 (ill.), Sear RCV I 388 (ill.), BMCRR 3940; Sydenham 921; Harlan RRM II, Ch. 12 at pp. 95-103; RBW Collection 1532; Jones, J.M., A Dictionary of Ancient Roman Coins (1990) [entry for “Quirinus” at p. 264]. 19.5 mm., 3.71 g.*

    COMBINED Memmius denarius.jpg

    Here's a close-up of the bankers' mark/countermark on the obverse. I think it looks kind of like a bird facing right, with a dot for an eye and its tail upright on the left, all inside a star or flower, but that could just be me seeing a face in a cloud (i.e., pareidolia). If anyone sees something different, please let me know!

    Detail Memmius Obv 3 (2).jpg

    * Earlier authorities identified the moneyer as the son of Gaius Memmius, praetor in 58 BCE, and his wife Fausta, Sulla’s daughter. See Grueber, BMCRR p. 495 n. 1. More recent authorities have argued that Fausta was too young to have a son who was moneyer in the 50s, and have concluded instead that the moneyer was the Gaius Memmius who was tribune of the plebs in 54 BCE (see Crawford p. 451: “The moneyer is presumably Tr. Pl. 54”), and was a nephew of Pompey the Great -- namely, the son of Gaius Memmius and Pompeia Strabonia, Pompey’s sister. Harlan RRM II p. 95. (The Gaius Memmius who was married to Fausta’s daughter was a first cousin of the one who was the moneyer’s father [id.], not his father’s brother as Crawford states [p. 451], given that the two had the same praenomen.)

    Regarding the portrayal of Ceres on the reverse -- a portrayal used as an illustration to the Wikipedia article on Ceres! -- and the reverse legend claiming that an ancestor of the moneyer founded the Ludi Cereales (games of Ceres), see Sear RCV I at p.146: “The initial staging of the games of Ceres by the aedile Memmius, commemorated on the reverse, is an event unrecorded in history but presumably predating 210 B.C.” See also RSC I at p. 66 (“This relates to the institution at Rome of the Ludi Cereales”); Crawford at p. 451 (The “reverse … allude to the first celebration of the Ludi Cereales in or before 211”).

    As Harlan explains (RRM II p. 100), the founding of the Ludi Creales would have had to be before 210 if the coin’s historical claim is correct, because “the names of both plebeian aediles are known for all the years from 210 to 198” -- with no Memmius among them -- and the Ludi Cereales are known to have been celebrated by 202 BCE. However, as Harlan also points out (id.), “[w]e actually have no idea when the first Cerealia was held, nor do we have any other mention of Memmius, the aedile, who, on the coin’s evidence, becomes the first known Memmius,” given that our earliest written mention of the gens Memmia is of Gaius Memmius, legate in 174 and praetor in 172.” The coin is our only evidence of any earlier political activity by the family. Harlan goes on to discuss the general frustration of ancient authors such as Livy and Cicero over “the tampering of aristocrats with ancient events in order to credit the deeds of others to their own family.” (Id.) Thus, we will never know the truth. “But the willingness of some historians to accept the statement on this coin as historical fact is “indicative of the influence that coinage could exert not only on on the Romans of its own time, but still can exert on us today.” (Id. at p. 101.)

    As for the snake depicted at the feet of Ceres, see Jones, J.M., A Dictionary of Ancient Roman Coins (Seaby, 1990), entry for “Snake” at p. 291: “Since snakes live in the earth they also frequently form a part of cults which are connected with the earth. So . . . Ceres, the goddess of agriculture, is sometimes represented in a chariot drawn by serpents, or with snakes by her side.” (Note that although a search of Republican coin types for Ceres and snake or serpent yields only this type and the M. Volteius denarius with Ceres in a biga of snakes, the same search in OCRE for Imperial coinage yields results for Vespasian, Hadrian, and Marcus Aurelius.) Ceres’ Greek equivalent, Demeter, was also traditionally portrayed with snakes. See https://i.pinimg.com/originals/c9/a7/d2/c9a7d29a39c7daaddc721848af2170af.jpg:

    [​IMG]

    Regarding Quirinus, the deity portrayed on the obverse, see Jones, supra, entry for “Quirinus” at p. 264: Quirinus was an “Italian deity believed by the Romans to be of Sabine origin (although this is doubtful), and worshipped on the Quirinal Hill at Rome. According to Roman mythology, Romulus, forty years after he had founded Rome, disappeared from the earth and became identified with Quirinus. The cult of Quirinus resembled that of Mars and was supervised by a Flamen Quirnalis.” Jones specifically mentions this coin type, stating that in 56 BCE, “the mint magistrate C. Memmius issued a denarius with a laureate head on the obverse accompanied by the legend QVIRINVS; it is possible that this is to be explained in some way as alluding to the identification of Romulus and Quirinus, but more likely that the family of Memmius was of Sabine descent.” Contra Grueber, BMCRR Vol. I p. 496, stating that the portrayal of Quirinus referred to “the ancient origin of the Memmia gens, which claimed to be descended through Romulus from the Trojan Mnestheus” (a claim later mentioned by Virgil; see Aeneid 5.117), and, therefore, must have been intended to evoke the Romulus-Quirinus assimilation. See also RSC I at p. 66 (adopting Grueber’s viewpoint).

    At p. 451, Crawford rejects the viewpoint of Grueber and RSC, and makes an argument (presumably the basis for Jones’s position) that because the head on the obverse is explicitly identified as Quirinus (rather than Romulus), “it therefore seems self-evident that the type is irrelevant to the assimilation of Quirinus and Romulus.” Instead, as Crawford continues on p. 452: “Quirinus was “regarded by the Romans as a Sabine deity (wrongly of course. . .; the fact that the Sabines were mostly in the tribe Quirina may have helped the error along) and the choice of type perhaps reflected the moneyer’s claim to possess a Sabine origo.”

    Harlan’s position is somewhere in the middle. He argues that “neither of the explanations given by Crawford or Grueber has taken adequate consideration of the real place Quirinus held in the national consciousness of the people” because of his status as the deified Romulus, an importance not dependent on particular claims of descent from Romulus given that all Romans looked to Romulus as an ancestor (Harlan, RRM II at p. 102). He cites as examples Cicero’s Republic (in which the dramatis persona Scipio expresses surprise that men of the time of Romulus, who were no longer primitive, would have believed a tale of a man becoming a god, but notes that there must have been such conspicuous talent and virtue in Romulus that people believed the story) (id.), and the fact that the Roman people “ever after continued to celebrate Romulus’ return to heaven, and acted out the events of his disappearance each year on the fifth of July.” (Id.)

    In other words, my reading of Harlan’s view -- which appears to me to be reasonable -- is that on the one hand, most people who saw an image identified as Quirinus would be very familiar with the Romulus-Quirinus assimilation myth, and would recognize Quirinus as the deified Romulus even without any express reminder. On the other hand, Harlan also apparently believes that Crawford is correct that Quirinus, who was thought of as a Sabine god, was more likely to be associated with the claimed Sabine origin of the gens Memmia, than with any supposed descent of that family from a Trojan ancestor of Romulus -- a meaning two steps removed from the portrayal of Quirinus. So, according to Harlan, the image would have had not one, but two probable meanings (intended and/or perceived) -- with the third, more indirect, suggested meaning less likely.

    Finally, at p. 103, Harlan addresses the juxtaposition of Quirinus/Romulus on the obverse with Ceres on the reverse (as well as the juxtaposition, on the moneyer’s other issue of that year [see Crawford 427/1] of Ceres on the obverse and a military trophy on the reverse):

    “Romulus’ legacy to his people had been a love of military pursuits and his people worshipped their founder as a god of war. Why then on Memmius’ coin is Quirinus, a god of war, coupled with the celebration of the first games of Ceres, the goddess of grain who loves peace? Why, on the scond coin, is the military trophy on the reverse and the head of Ceres on the obverse? . . . The answer lies in the Roman character as Cicero traced its development in his Republic. [Summary follows of Cicero’s discussion of Roman state following death of Romulus (see De Re Publica 2.25-7), including his successor Numa’s division of conquered lands for cultivation, establishment of games and religious celebrations, etc., thereby tempering the warlike spirit instilled by Romulus and allowing abundance to flourish] . . . . Memmius’ coins reflect the duality of the Roman character: a nature suited to the pursuit of war, but tempered by religion and clememcy; and so, our moneyer has balanced Quirinus with the games of Ceres and on the second coin, Ceres is balanced with a military trophy. The fruits of peace are enjoyed because of the arts of war and Memmius has extolled his family’s role in providing both to the Roman people.”

    ****

    Please post your own quinarii of any type, and/or your own Roman Republican coins depicting Liber/Bacchus, Jupiter, Victory, or Ceres -- or Quirinus, if you have one of this type. (There are no other Roman coins depicting Quirinus so far as I know.)



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    Last edited: Apr 6, 2021
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  3. JPD3

    JPD3 Well-Known Member

    Great additions
    and as always, great read.
    upload_2021-4-6_0-27-28.png
     
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  4. Orielensis

    Orielensis Well-Known Member

    As always, wonderful new additions, Donna!

    I am envious of the Quirinus denarius. It's such an interesting type. Back in 2019, when coin shows were still possible, a trusted dealer showed me an attractive example of this type at the Santa Clara show. I contemplated buying it, but in the end I thought it a little too expensive. In retrospective, I probably should have gotten my checkbook out immediately – if I had only known how things were to develop some months further down the road...

    It's noteworthy that many Republican quinarii copy the design of the earlier victoriati. I don't have a Lentulus, but here are a comparable Cloelius quinarius and a worn anonymous victoriatus for comparison:
    Römische Republik – RRC 332:1c, Quinar, T. Cloelius, Jupiter, Trophäe.png
    Roman Republic, moneyer: T. Cloelius, AR quinarius, 98 BC, Rome mint. Obv: head of Jupiter, laureate, r., control mark .C. before. Rev: T.CLOVLI; Victory standing r. crowns trophy with seated captive and carnyx; in exergue, Q. 16mm, 1.9g. Ref: RRC 332/1c.


    Römische Republik – RRC 53:1, Victoriatus, anonym.png
    Roman Republic, anonymous issue, AR victoriatus, after 211 BC, Rome mint. Obv: laureate head of Jupiter r. Rev: Victory r., crowning trophy; in exergue, [ROMA]. 17.5mm, 2.0g. Ref: RRC 53/1.

    The Cato quinarius is a nice type, too. I like the portrait of Liber, which isn't found too often on Republican coins:
    Römische Republik – RRC 343:2b, Quinar, M Cato, Liber und Victoria (Foto 2).png
    Roman Republic, moneyer: M. Cato, AR quinarius, 89 BC, Rome mint. Obv: M CATO; head of Liber r., wearing ivy-wreath; below, control mark (torch?). Rev: VICTRIX; Victory seated r., holding patera in r. hand and palm-branch over l. shoulder. 14mm, 2.12g. Ref: RRC 343/2b.
     
  5. eparch

    eparch Well-Known Member

    Donna, excellent notes as always.

    Here is my Quirinus.

    upload_2021-4-6_13-7-5.png

    There are noticable differences between our 2 examples .
    In particular, mine has the inscription on the obverse in 2 vertical
    lines. I think yours works better artistically !
     
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  6. ancient coin hunter

    ancient coin hunter 3rd Century Usurper

    Neat new coins and essay Donna!
     
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  7. Roman Collector

    Roman Collector Well-Known Member

    Lovely new acquisitions, @DonnaML! As I primarily collect the 2nd and 3rd centuries, I don't have many quinarii.

    [​IMG]
    Gaius Egnatuleius, c.f. 97 BC.
    Roman Republican AR quinarius, 1.68 g, 14.6 mm, 11 h.
    Rome, 97 BC.
    Obv: C·EGNATVLEI·C·F·Q, Laureate head of Apollo, right.
    Rev: Victory left, inscribing shield attached to trophy; beside trophy, carnyx; Q in center field; ROMA in exergue.
    Refs: Crawford RRC 333/1; Sydenham CRR 588; BMCRR1 1076-77; Sear RCV 213.
     
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  8. ominus1

    ominus1 Well-Known Member

    ..kool coins Donna! :)...love the blue tint patina..i've only one of this bunch ..the 89BC Cato quinarius... greek hemidrachm parion c.480 bc siglos cato quinarius 009.JPG greek hemidrachm parion c.480 bc siglos cato quinarius 008.JPG
     
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  9. ambr0zie

    ambr0zie Dacian Taraboste

    Congratulations, @DonnaML . You have an interesting RR collection and quinarii need to be present.
    My first RR coin was also a quinarius, same type like one you just bought, in a worse shape.
    upload_2021-4-6_18-12-3.png

    Not knowing many details about RR history, I was fascinated when I read about Cn. Lentulus Clodianus and I found out he fought against Spartacus a few years after this coin was struck. This was the main reason for buying it.

    Cn. Cornelius Lentulus Clodianus 88 BC. Rome
    Quinarius AR
    RRC 345
    Laureate head of Jupiter r.
    Victory r. crowning trophy; in exergue, CN LENT
     
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  10. Fugio1

    Fugio1 Well-Known Member

    Very nice additions to your RR collection Donna. Here are a couple of early quinarii and the other denarius type struck by Memmius with head of Ceres on obverse:
    84-2-Tintinna 65-Sept 2017.jpg
    Roma Monogram, Quinarius, Crawford 84/2
    Obverse: Helmeted head of Roma r. with peaked visor; “V” behind; Border of dots
    Reverse: Dioscuri r.; below, Roma monogram; in linear frame, “ROMA”.
    Mint: Southeastern Italy
    Weight: 2.26 gm.
    Reference: Crawford 84/2
    Provenance: Tintinna Asta 65, lot 1022, 16-SEP-2017

    103-2a-BMurphy-2.24gm-B.jpg
    MT Monogram, Quinarius, Crawford 103/2a

    Obverse: Helmeted head of Roma r. with splayed visor; “V” behind; Border of dots
    Reverse: Dioscuri r.; Below, MT monogram; Between two exergual lines, “ROMA”.
    Mint: Apulia
    Weight: 2.24 gm.
    Reference: Crawford 103/2a
    Provenance: Purchased from Barry Murphy, December, 2013

    427-1 - C.MEMMIVS 1 BLK.jpg
    C. MEMMIVS
    Denomination: Denarius, C. 57 BC
    Obverse: Head of Ceres r.; C.MEMMIVS.CF downward on l.
    Reverse: Trophy; Naked, kneeling captive with hands tied behind below trophy; on l. IMPERATOR downward; C.MEMMIUS downward on r.
    Mint: Rome
    Weight: 3.98 gm.
    Reference: Crawford 427/1
    Provenance: CNG 114, Lot 608
     
  11. rrdenarius

    rrdenarius non omnibus dormio Supporter

    great coins all
    I think the Quirinus is one of the most artistic coins in my RR collection.
    4.14.16 a 003.JPG 4.14.16 a 005.JPG
     
  12. DonnaML

    DonnaML Well-Known Member

    Thanks to all of you for the compliments and for posting your own coins. Now that I have two quinarii of my own, I can see how appealing they are, not despite but because of their tiny size compared to the denarii.

    @eparch and @rrdenarius, I love both of your examples of the Memmius/Quirinus denarius, and agree the type in general is very artistic. I admit that I prefer the kind with the curved obverse legend, but don't really think it makes a huge difference. Interestingly, neither Crawford nor RSC (based on Babelon) assigns different catalog numbers to the two stylistic varieties of obverse legend, even though I seem to recall their doing so on occasion for other types, even without substantive differences in the legend.

    Here is a link to the page of the Schaefer Roman Republican Die Project with all the different dies Schaefer noted for Crawford 427/2, which (according to Crawford) had only 39 different obverse dies and 42 reverse dies: http://numismatics.org/archives/ark...400-499#schaefer_clippings_output_427-2_01_sd.

    I have not (or, at least, not yet) gone through the page carefully to count how many dies there are of each type, or to look for matches to my coin's dies, but I do get the impression that the curved obverse legend is at least somewhat more common.
     
  13. Sulla80

    Sulla80 Well-Known Member

    Congrats on 51-32, @DonnaML, nice Quirinus, one that has eluded me so far. Both quinarii are in nice condition. Here's an Anonymous quinarius:
    Anonymous Quinarius 44.6.jpg
    Roman Republic, Anonymous, Quinarius, Rome, ca. 211-208 BC; AR
    Obv: Helmeted head of Roma right; behind, V
    Rev: Dioscuri galloping right; in ex. ROMA
    Ref: Crawford 44/6
     
    Last edited: Apr 7, 2021
  14. Gam3rBlake

    Gam3rBlake Well-Known Member

    Nice collection! Any coins from the Roman Kingdom?

    I would love to see a Roman coin from the time of Romulus, Numa, or any of the other Kings of Rome.
     
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  15. DonnaML

    DonnaML Well-Known Member

    The last king of Rome supposedly fell in 509 BCE. The first Roman coins weren't issued until a couple of hundred years after that. But several of the kings were portrayed on Republican coins. There is, by the way, no contemporaneous documentation proving that any of the named kings were actual historical figures.
     
  16. Gam3rBlake

    Gam3rBlake Well-Known Member

    Yup! That would be Lucius Tarquinius Superbus whose son Sextus Tarquinius was chased out of Rome for raping Lucretia. According to Livy. ^_^
     
    Last edited: Apr 7, 2021
  17. Evan Saltis

    Evan Saltis OWNER - EBS Numis LLC Supporter

    o_O
     
  18. DonnaML

    DonnaML Well-Known Member

    As I said, there were no coins issued by the Kings of Rome, and we don't know if they really existed, let alone what they looked like. But here, @Gam3rBlake, are several coins that purport to depict two of them -- Numa (second King) and Ancus Marcius (fourth King). I'm not aware of any coins purporting to depict any of the other Roman Kings, other than Romulus himself. Note that the three coins are consistent in portraying Numa with a beard, and Ancus Marcius without one.

    Roman Republic, C. Marcius Censorinus, AR Denarius, Rome 88 BCE. Obv. Jugate diademed heads, right, of kings Numa Pompilius, bearded [legendary second king of Rome], and Ancus Marcius, beardless [his grandson, the legendary fourth king of Rome], no control-mark / Rev. Desultor on horseback galloping right, wearing pileus [conical cap], with second horse at his side, holding whip with right hand and holding reins for both horses with left hand; in exergue, C•CENSO; no control-mark. Crawford 346/1i [no control-marks], RSC I Marcia 18a [no control marks], BMCR 2367 [no control-marks], see also id. 2368-2393 [various control-marks], Sydenham 713, Sear RCV I 256 [illustration has control-mark]. 17 mm., 3.72 g. [Purchased from Munthandel G. Henzen, Netherlands, Feb. 2021; ex. Dutch private collection.]*

    C. Marcius Censorinus - desultor on horseback on reverse - jpg version.jpg

    *The moneyer, as was traditional for the gens Marcia, belonged to the populares faction, and was “one of the leading men of the Marian party; he was the accuser of Sulla for malversation upon his return from Asia in BC 91. He entered Rome with Marius and Cinna in BC 87, and took a leading part in the massacres which ensued.” BMCRR p. 301 n. 1. In 87, as a military tribune or prefect for Marius, he famously commanded the cavalry that attacked and killed the consul Gnaeius Octavius, and then brought his head to Marius’s ally Cinna (who then controlled Rome) before nailing it to the Rostra -- according to the historian Appian, the first time the head of a consul was displayed on the Rostra, but unfortunately not the last. Censorinus died in 82 BCE in the course of the final struggle against Sulla, when he was taken prisoner in the defeat at the Battle of the Colline Gate and was put to death. See id.; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marcius_Censorinus; Crawford p. 361.

    The obverse design “records the descent of the gens Marcia from Ancus Marcius [citing Plutarch, Suetonius, and Ovid] and hence also from his grandfather Numa Pompilius, a piece of genealogical fiction.” Crawford p. 361; accord BMCRR p. 301 n. 2. The reverse types on all of the denarii issued by this moneyer “commemorate the foundation of the Ludi Apollinares, which were instituted in BC 212 in virtue of a prophecy of the soothsayer Marcius.” Id; accord Crawford p. 361. This particular type “represents the race in which a rider (desultor) was provided with two horses, from one to the other of which he sprang during the race.” BMCRR p. 301 n. 2. See also Jones, John Melville, A Dictionary of Ancient Roman Coins (Seaby, London, 1990), entry for “Desultor,” at p. 94, defining the term as follows:

    “One who leaps down or dismounts, the name given to a competitor in games at Rome who, in a manner not now clearly understood, took part in a horse race using more than one horse. It may be assumed that he had to change horses at least once during the race. In a collection of myths by the Roman writer Hyginus the statement occurs that a desultor wore a pileus because his actions symbolized the alternate immortality of Castor and Pollux [i.e., as he switched from one horse to the other]. This may be true but when a rider with two horses appears on Republican coins, the type should be regarded as agonistic rather than religious.”

    At p. 361, Crawford describes 9 different subtypes of this issue, differing in whether and where control-letters, numerals, symbols, and “fractional signs” appear, i.e., on the obverse and/or the reverse. This type, with no control-mark of any kind on either side of the coin -- and it seems unlikely that any such mark would have worn off completely but left all the other major features of the design, including the whip in the rider’s hand, still clearly visible -- is the ninth subtype, denominated Crawford 345/1i. Taking all subtypes together, there are a total of 102 obverse dies and 113 reverse dies. Id. Thus, the number of dies with no control-marks is quite scarce when compared to the total number of dies with one or more control-marks of any kind, but is no more scarce, when compared on a one-to-one basis, than the number of dies with any given individual control mark or marks.

    And here's another one depicting King Numa, on the reverse:

    Roman Republic, L. Pomponius Molo, AR Denarius, 97 BCE. Obv. Laureate head of Apollo right, L• POMPON• MOLO / Rev. Numa Pompilius [legendary second king of Rome after Romulus], holding lituus in left hand, standing right before a lighted altar, at which he is about to sacrifice a goat, which is led by a victimarius standing left, NVMA•POMPIL in exergue (MA and MP in monogram). Crawford 334/1, RSC I Pomponia 6 (ill.), BMCRR Italy 733, Sydenham 607, Sear RCV I 214 (ill.). 19.7 mm., 3.86 g. * (Purchased from Marti Classical Numismatics, Barcelona, Spain, Aug. 2020; Ex. Spanish collection.)


    Pomponius Molo jpg version.jpg

    *See RSC I at p. 77: “This type is an allusion to the supposed descent of the gens [Pomponia] from Pompo, one of the sons of Numa Pompilius, who is here represented as sacrificing to Apollo.” Crawford’s interpretation is the same; see Crawford Vol. I at p. 333.

    And, another one depicting Ancus Marcius:

    Roman Republic, L. Marcius Philippus, AR Denarius, 56 BCE, Rome Mint. Obv. Diademed head of Ancus Marcius [fourth King of Rome] right, lituus behind, ANCVS below / Rev. The Aqua Marcia aqueduct, represented as an arcade of five arches surmounted by an equestrian statue right [portraying Quintus Marcius Rex, builder of that aqueduct], with horse rearing; flower below horse; PHILIPPVS on left, AQVAMAR [MAR in monogram] within the arches. Crawford 425/1, RSC I Marcia 28, Sydenham 919, Sear RCV I 382 (ill.), Harlan, Michael, Roman Republican Moneyers and their Coins 63 BCE - 49 BCE (2d ed. 2015) (“RRM II”), Ch. 15 at pp. 122-128. 18 mm., 3.92 mm., 7 h.*

    Marcius Philippus Horseman on Aqueduct COMBINED 1.jpg

    * The moneyer, Lucius Marcius Philippus (triumvir in 56 BCE, praetor in 44, suffect consul in 38 BCE) was the stepbrother of Gaius Octavius [later Augustus] (age seven at the time of this issue). The moneyer’s father, also named Lucius Marcius Philippus (consul in 56 BCE), was Octavius's stepfather by virtue of marrying the widow Atia, who was the mother of Octavius and Julius Caesar's niece (the daughter of Caesar’s sister Julia and her husband M. Atius Balbus). See Sear RCV I at p.145, Harlan, RRM II at pp. 122, 127-128.

    The gens Marcia, to which the moneyer belonged, was named after Ancus Marcius, depicted on the obverse -- the legendary fourth king of Rome, who was the founder of that gens, and, therefore, the moneyer’s ancestor. (The lituus probably represents the king's augurship.) Quintus Marcius Rex, the horseman depicted by the equestrian statue atop the Aqua Marcia aqueduct on the reverse, and the builder of that aqueduct in 144 BCE when he was praetor, was a distant cousin of the moneyer. However, he was not actually the moneyer’s ancestor, because Quintus belonged to the Reges branch of the gens Marcia, rather than the moneyer's Philippi branch of that gens. The two branches had separated by the end of the third century. Harlan, RRM II at pp.122-126. See id. for details on the size of the aqueduct and its reputation (according to Pliny) of having the coolest and most healthful waters of all Roman aqueducts. See Pliny, Naturalis Historia, 31.41.

    The flower beneath the horse may refer to the conception of Mars by the fertilization of Juno by a flower. (See the discussion at Crawford Vol. I p. 308 of a similar motif on Crawford 293, issued in 113/112 BCE by an earlier L. Marcius Philippus, Consul in 91 BCE.)
     
  19. Gam3rBlake

    Gam3rBlake Well-Known Member

    Wow thanks for all that info! :)

    I’m guessing back in the says of the Roman Kingdom they were still using ingots and asses.

    Even though the Kings of Rome are legendary I have no doubt that they were inspired by real leaders of Ancient Rome.
     
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  20. What an extremely insightful topic. I tend to center more on the Imperial Era, but this would have been (Quinarius) important in the Republican and Early Imperial era but probably less so as time went by. (Learned something new). Man-Become-God seems to have been a re-occuring theme in history: ie 'Caesar' and maybe going back even earlier to the "Osirus" mythology. It strikes me how similar this account is to the later "Comet-Heaven-Caesar" propaganda.
     
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  21. Gam3rBlake

    Gam3rBlake Well-Known Member

    I'm very interested in the Roman Kingdom, Republic, and Empire. I am studying Classical History in school and Ancient Rome & Greece are the main topics of study.

    As far as man-become-god it seems that most Ancient nations seemed to attribute "god like" status to the founders. As far as Romulus, Livy tells a story about how Romulus disappeared in clouds.

    However: It's very important to note that Livy himself states that it's just what he read from previous authors and that it's possible foul play by Senators was involved.

    Even though he was writing during the period of the Roman Empire he was still skeptical about the supernatural events regarding Romulus but he wanted to relay what he read from earlier writers and leave the judgement on what happened to the reader.

    I find this interesting because Livy was writing during a time when the average person would've confidently stated the Romulus was a god (Quirinius in particular) and for him to be skeptical about that story shows logical reasoning and questioning of history even in those times.
     
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