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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;DonnaML, post: 7807705, member: 110350&quot;]Roman Republic, C. Vibius Varus, AR Denarius, 42 BCE, Rome Mint. Obv. Head of Bacchus (or Liber)* right, wearing earring and wreath of ivy and grapes / Rev. Spotted panther [leopard]** springing left towards garlanded altar on top of which lies a bearded mask of Silenus or Pan,*** and against which leans a thyrsus with fillet (ribbon); C • VIBIVS in exergue, VARVS upwards to right. Crawford 494/36, RSC I Vibia 24, Sear RCV I 496, Sear <i>Roman Imperators</i> 192 (ill. p. 116), Sydenham 1138, BMCRR 4295. 17 mm., 3.60 g.&nbsp; <i>Ex. Numismatica Ars Classica NAC AG, Auction 83, May 20, 2015, Lot 83; ex. Frank Sternberg Auction 17, Zurich, May 1986, Lot 519. </i>[First two footnotes omitted.]</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1341002[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>***The mask has more frequently been identified with Pan than with Silenus, but because the moneyer’s branch of the gens Vibia lacks the cognomen “Pansa” (a reason for the appearance of Pan on the coins of moneyers with that cognomen, as a pun), Silenus appears to be a more likely identification, given the association of Silenus with Bacchus. See Jones, supra at p, 289, identifying Silenus as “[a]n elderly attendant of Bacchus.” See also id. at p. 234 (entry for “Pan”), noting that “[a] bearded head which appears on [the obverse of] a silver sestertius of T. Carisius [46 BC), with a reverse type of a panther bearing a thyrsus, has been identified as Pan but is more likely to be a Silenus, matching the Bacchic reverse type.”</p><p><br /></p><p>As a bonus: an actual Hellenistic pottery mask of Silenos from the 3rd Century BCE:</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1341003[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>Next: Pan or mask of Pan.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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