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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;DonnaML, post: 7808991, member: 110350&quot;]Roman Republic, A. Postumius A.f. Sp.n. Albinus (Aulus Postumius Albinus, son of Aulus [mint magistrate ca. 96 BCE], and grandson of Spurius [Consul 110 BCE]), AR Serrate Denarius, 81 BCE. Obv. Draped bust of Diana right, with bow and quiver over shoulder, figure of stag’s head at end of bow (horns to left), bucranium above [<i>off flan</i>] / Rev. Roman priest standing facing on rocky ground (on Aventine Hill), head left, with right arm extended holding aspergillum, sprinkling <b>heifer [<i>Harlan, RRM I</i>*]</b>, bull [<i>Crawford &amp; Sear</i>], or ox [<i>RSC</i>] which he is about to sacrifice, a lighted altar between them, A POST - AF - SN • ALBIN [<i>AL in monogram</i>] around. RSC I Postumia 7, Crawford 372/1, Sydenham 745, Sear RCV I 296 (ill.), Harlan, RRM I Ch. 1 at pp. 1-7, BMCRR 2836. 18.54 mm., 3.85 g.&nbsp; <i>Ex. Spink &amp; Sons Ltd. </i>(<i>before 2000 because of address on Spink coin tag; probably before 1974 given citation to Sydenham but not Crawford.</i>)</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1341272[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>* See Michael Harlan, <i>Roman Republican Moneyers and their Coins</i>, 81 BCE-64 BCE (2012) (“RRM I”) (using this coin-type as the cover illustration for his book). At pp. 3-4, Harlan argues that in the legend which, as Crawford acknowledges, is the basis for the reverse of this coin -- namely, the sacrifice to Diana on the Aventine Hill founding her temple there ca. 500 BCE, establishing Rome as the <i>caput rerum</i> for all of Italy [and symbolizing the victory of Sulla over the rebel Italians in 82 BCE] -- <b>the sacrificed animal was a heifer with wondrous horns, not a bull or an ox.&nbsp; (Citing Livy, <i>The History of Rome</i>, Book 1, ch. 45</b> [available at <a href="http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0145%3Abook%3D1%3Achapter%3D45" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0145%3Abook%3D1%3Achapter%3D45" rel="nofollow">http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.02.0145:book=1:chapter=45</a>].)</p><p><br /></p><p>Next: another Roman coin depicting an animal sacrifice. (There have to be some, right?)[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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