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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;DonnaML, post: 5341631, member: 110350&quot;]Well, this coin was actually issued by Cassius Longinus, so it&#039;s certainly related to him, but it doesn&#039;t bear his portrait. Although there&#039;s actually a controversy as to whether the obverse of this pro-Pompey coin depicts Genius Populi Romani or Bonus Eventus.</p><p><br /></p><p>Roman Republic, Q. Cassius Longinus, AR Denarius, 55 BCE [<i>Crawford</i>] or 53 BCE [<i>Harlan</i>], Rome Mint. Obv. Young male head of Genius Populi Romani [<i>Crawford &amp; RCV</i>] or Bonus Eventus [<i>RSC &amp; RRM II</i>] right, with flowing hair, scepter behind, border of dots / Rev. Eagle, with wings spread, standing right on thunderbolt, lituus [<i>curved augural staff used in reading auspices</i>] to left and capis [<i>jug used in same rituals</i>] to right, border of dots; Q • CASSIVS in exergue. Crawford 428/3, RSC I Cassia 7 (ill.), Sydenham 916, Sear RCV I 391 (ill.), Harlan, RRM II Ch. 23 at pp. 180-187, BMCRR Rome 3868. 19 mm., 3.77 g., 6 h.*</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1226180[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>*&nbsp; &nbsp; According to Crawford (Vol. I at p. 452), the eagle, lituus, and capis together symbolized <i>imperium</i>. He suggests that they refer to the <i>Lex Cassia </i>of 104 BCE, introduced by L. Cassius Longinus, under which individuals who had been deprived of <i>imperium</i> by popular vote, or had been convicted of a crime in a popular assembly, were excluded from the Senate. This coin is also discussed in Roberta Stewart, <i>The Jug and Lituus on Roman Republican Coin Types: Ritual Symbols and Political Power</i>, in <i>Phoenix</i> Vol. 51, No. 2 (Summer, 1997), pp. 170-189 at pp. 181-182 (DOI: 10.2307/1088493, <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/1088493" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/1088493" rel="nofollow">https://www.jstor.org/stable/1088493</a>). The author notes that the eagle and thunderbolt were “auspical signs associated with Jupiter, the god of the auspices,” and that both moneyers in 55 BCE were adherents of Pompey, “whose position in 56-55 was problematical.” Thus, the coin’s allusion to these traditional symbols of political power -- reading auspices was a predicate to the conduct of public business -- “identif[ied] Pompey’s desire for political and military prestige with the political and religious values of Rome.”</p><p><br /></p><p>A coin like this probably wasn&#039;t what you had in mind, but it does fulfill your request!</p><p><br /></p><p>Next: another Roman Republican coin with an eagle as a major part of the design.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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