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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;akeady, post: 3921909, member: 83175&quot;]W.r.t. number 7, I dug out Michael Harlan&#039;s &quot;Roman Republican Moneyers and Their Coins 63BCE - 40BCE&quot; and he says: &quot;Memmius has depicted the goddess Ceres seated on a chair (RRC 447/2).&nbsp;&nbsp; Long hair trails down her back.&nbsp;&nbsp; She holds ears of wheat in her right hand and a torch in the left.&nbsp;&nbsp; A snake is at her feet.&nbsp;&nbsp; Around the coin is the inscription MEMMIVS AED CERIALIA PREIMVS FECIT which translates, &#039;Memmius as aedile first held the games of Ceres&#039;&quot;.&nbsp;&nbsp; He goes on to say that the Cerealia, celebrated between 12th and 19th April, were established by 202BC, as Livy noted their celebration that year.&nbsp;&nbsp; The Memmius who inaugurated the games is unknown - the plebeian aediles for the years 210-198BC are known and don&#039;t include any Memmius, so he presumably held office before that.&nbsp;&nbsp; Apparently, the earliest mention of the gens Memmia concerns a Gaius Memmius, legate in 174BC and praetor in 172BC.</p><p><br /></p><p>The obverse has the god Quirinus, a Sabine god also associated with Romulus.&nbsp;&nbsp; Romulus disappeared during a sudden violent storm on 5th July, in the 37th year after the founding of Rome while offering a public sacrifice.&nbsp;&nbsp; When a thick cloud dissipated, there was no sign of Romulus and the senators proclaimed that he&#039;d been taken to heaven as a god.&nbsp;&nbsp; Suspicions of some that he&#039;d come to a bad end were fortunately allayed when Julius Proculus swore an oath that Romulus had appeared to him to say he was to be known from then on as Quirinus.&nbsp;&nbsp; This seemed to keep everyone happy - <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proculus_Julius" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proculus_Julius" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proculus_Julius</a></p><p><br /></p><p>Harlan says that coupling Quirinus (a god of war) with the games of Ceres and Ceres with a military trophy (on RRC 447/2) reflects the duality of the Roman character - a nature suited to the pursuit of war, but tempered by religion and clemency; the fruits of peace enjoyed because of the arts of war, with the Memmia gens providing both to the Roman people.</p><p><br /></p><p>ATB,</p><p>Aidan.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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