Forming the Roman Republic (....collection)

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Congrats, @AussieCollector ! Great Denarii, and am glad you resolved your supply issue!

Your Piso issue was during the Social War with the Marsic Confederation, very cool.

Crepusius


RR Crepusius 82 BCE AR Den Apollo scepter Horseman spear Sear 283 Craw 361-1


Calpurnius Piso Frugi


RR Calpurnius Piso Frugi 90 BCE Social AR Den Apollo, bird / Horseman ROM-A monogram - Marsic Sear 235 Craw 340-1

 

Nice additions to your collection, AC. When I first started collecting ancients a long time ago, Roman Republican stuff was my main focus. Nowadays I find they are too expensive for me. But I do have that Crepusius and both versions of the Piso Frugi (90 B.C. and 67 B.C.):



Roman Republic Denarius
Pub. Crepusius
(82 B.C.) Rome Mint
Laureate head of Apollo right, control symbols front & back / Horseman right, P CREPVSI in exergue, control-numeral behind (off flan).
Crawford 361/1c; Crepusia 1; Sydenham 738a.
(4.08 grams / 16 mm)



Roman Republic Denarius
L. Calpurnius Piso Frugi
(90 B.C.)
Laureate head of Apollo right; symbol behind (T?) / L PISO FRVGI/CXV below
horseman galloping right, carrying palm T• below.
Crawford 340/1; Syd. 665a; Calpurnia 11.
(3.70 grams / 19 mm)


Roman Republic Denarius
C. Piso L.f. Frugi
(67 B.C.)
Head of Apollo right, bound with fillet; horse(?) behind / C. PISO L F FRV below, man on horse holding palm-branch galloping right carrying palm; X above.
Crawford 408; Calpurnia 24 - 29a
(3.53 grams / 17 mm)

 

Congrats on your coins. Both are interesting and worn enough to give them some character. I do not know if your mark has meaning, but it looks like M L in monogram.
My favorite Piso has a plumb bob (actually a level with a plumb bob in it).

I am a big fan of plumb bobs on coins.

this coin shows both a level and plumb bob

 

The coins of the later Roman republic are special. As it had now been accepted to use the coin as a medium to get a message across to the people, I find many of the issues far more interesting than coinage of the emperors. More research has to be done, though, and a lot of the history of these moneyers has been lost.
So why did two generations of the Piso family choose the same image of a youth on horseback on their reverses, and Apollo on obverse? It is likely that this had to do with the yearly Apollonian games. Why did the Pisos want to be associated with these games?

«Livy suggests that it was C. Calpurnius Piso, not L. Varus, who made the games permanent as praetor in 211 BC. “The Games of Apollo had been exhibited the previous year, and when the question of their repetition the next year was moved by the praetor Calpurnius, the senate passed a decree that they should be observed for all time.»

Read more about the Ludi Apollinares here:

https://encyclopedia.thefreedictionary.com/Ludi+Apollinares

 

Congrats on the new RR additions. Here is an L. Censor from the same time period. It has been slow progress for me on the RR front, only a couple of RRs added, one of which is taking far to long to arrive by mail.

L. Censorinus, 82 BC, AR Denarius, Rome mint
Obv: Laureate head of Apollo right
Rev: Marsyas standing left, raising hand and holding wineskin over shoulder; to right, column surmounted by statue (Victory? Minerva?) standing right
Ref: Crawford 363/1d (no control marks; ~197 obv and ~228 rev dies per Crawford RRC)

Although this coin was issued by a supporter of the Marius and Cinna (Populares), with Marsyas read as a symbol of freedom, the Greek version of the story of Marsayas offers a grim foretelling of what comes from a vengeful Sulla after the Battle at the Colline Gate, first day of the month (kalends) in November 82 BC (see Velleius or Appian). In the Greek story, Marsyas is a reminder of a god's right to punish anyone who dares to challenge them.

Apollo and Marsyas and the Judgment of Midas (Melchior Meier, AD 1581) - Midas, right, punished for choosing Marsyas as the winner in the music competition with Apollo, and Marsyas, left, flayed by Apollo, center, for his hubris in challenging the god.

 

Nice pickups @Ancient Aussie

PUB CREPUSIUS ROMAN REPUBLIC; GENS CREPUSIA
AR Denarius
OBVERSE: Laureate head of Apollo
right, sceptre over shoulder
REVERSE: Horseman right, brandishing spear; P CREPVSI in ex
Rome 82 BC
3.64g, 17mm
Syd 738a, Cr361/1c, Crepusia 1

L CALPURNIUS PISO FRUGI ROMAN REPUBLIC
AR Denarius
OBVERSE: Laureate head of Apollo r., behind, point control, front, check letter
REVERSE: Horseman galloping towards r., holding a palm branch, above, symbol, and below Piso Frvgi / check letter
Struck at Rome 90 BC
4.0g, 18mm
Cr340/1, Sydenham 670d. bb/Calpurnia 11
Ex Timeline Originals

L CALPURNIUS PISO FRUGI ROMAN REPUBLIC
AR Denarius
OBVERSE: Laureate head of Apollo right, number LV behind
REVERSE: Horseman galloping right, holding palm L PISO FRVGI below, ROMA monogram, number LXXII above
Struck at Rome 90 BC
3.75g, 18.4mm
Cr340/1, Calpurnia 12

 

..kool coins AC!...i'm with ya on expanding on republican coins this year meself(speaking of slow starts, i haven't bought a coin yet this year)...no Crepusius yet but i do have a 'friggy' (wow!..i forgot this is a social wars issue too!) Denarius L. Calpurnius Frugi, 90 BC 18mm 3.32 gms

 

Great coins, @AussieCollector ! If you look around on this forum, you'll see that I love Republican coins (at least the silver denarii; I don't have any Republican bronzes at this point) as much as anyone. Here's my example of an L. Calpurnius Piso Frugi denarius:

Roman Republic, L. Calpurnius Piso Frugi, AR Denarius, 90 BCE. Obv. Head of Apollo R. (Control marks H, F) / Rev. Horseman galloping R. w/palm frond (control marks G, H), L. PISO FRUGI. RSC I Calpurnia 11, Crawford 340/1, Sydenham 663-670, Sear RCV I 235/1, BMCRR 1938-2129. 17 mm., 4.02 g.



As you may know, this coin, celebrating the Ludi Apollinares, was probably the largest of all Republican issues, with 864 different known obverse dies and 1,080 known different reverse dies, according to Crawford. I find it interesting that although there are four main reverse types listed in the catalogs -- horseman right with palm frond, horseman right with whip, horseman left with palm frond, and horseman left with whip -- the first type comprises > 90% of the examples I've seen for sale, with the rest being the right-facing horseman with whip type. I have never noticed a left-facing horseman of either type for sale. (Does anyone here have one?)

And then the moneyer's son, Calpurnius Piso L.f. Frugi, came out with his own extremely similar issue in 67 BCE (Crawford 408), with a couple of hundred different obverse and reverse dies each.

But despite the frequency with which one encounters this design, it's still one of my favorites!

For my own new example of, and notes on, the L. Censorinus Apollo/Marsyas denarius posted by @Sulla80, see my post at https://www.cointalk.com/threads/ro...-other-than-horses.354471/page-4#post-4513064 from earlier this week.

 

As a fan of this unsettled time period of social and civil war in the republic, I cannot resist adding another coin. The control marks on the reverse of this issue are continuous in sequence. On my coin, the control mark on the reverse is barely on the flan, but was easily confirmed as CCCLXXVIII (#378) by finding several die matches in ACSearch.

There are two controls on the obverse, a letter behind and a symbol below chin, which is Crawford type 361/1c (the other two options: a == no obverse control, b == only a control letter in front of Apollo). The obverse control mark is a bit interesting - it appears to be a strigilum or bath scraper. A strigilum was important sports equipment for a Roman athlete and a popular S-shaped bathing tool for scraping oils and dirt from the skin. Here's a strigilum on a quadrans, and one at the Harvard Art Museum in Cambridge, MA.

P. Crepusius, 82 BC, AR Denarius, Rome mint
Obv: Laureate head of Apollo right, scepter over shoulder; T to left, a strigilum (symbol: bath scraper) below chin
Rev: Warrior on horse rearing right, brandishing spear in right hand; CCCLXXVIII behind; P • CREPVSI in exergue
Ref: Crawford 361/1c; Sydenham 738a; Crepusia 1

 

And why should you? Keep those great coins coming!
I have posted this coin before on this thread:
https://www.cointalk.com/threads/your-favorite-republican-design.357003/
It’s Piso the younger, and probably my favorite rr denarius.

 

@AussieCollector, I forgot to mention that I think your coin is a 361/1c with a symbol in front and P behind- here:

maybe (very speculative) a poppy which would look like this:

 

Nice coins all!

 

SOCIAL WAR / MARSIC WAR 91-88 BCE

Year 1. Opening Volley ; Uh-ohhh! This is REAL... 91 BCE

RR Junius Silanus 91 BCE Denarius Roma B behind Biga I above S 225 Cr337-3



Year 2. 90 BCE Oh, CRAP! They are gooder than we thought!

RR L Calpurnius Piso Frugi AR Quinarius 90 BCE 13 mm 1-93 g 2 h Rome Laureate head of Apollo right uncertain symbol behind Victory advancing right holding wreath and palm Cr 340-2 Calpurnia 13



RR Vibius Pansa 90 BCE AR Denarius Apollo V control - Minerva Quadriga Sear 242 Cr 342-5 Social-Marsic War


Year 3. 89 BCE! Wow, Rome finally won militarily, but LOST politically, granting everything the Italians asked for!

RR AR Quinarius 89 BCE M Porcius Cato Liber Bacchus - Victory- Crawford 343-2. Sear 248



RR Titurius Sabinus 89 BCE AR Denarius Tarpeia buried shields S 251 Cr 344-2a


Year 4. 88 BCE - Mop-up operations: Italians granted their rights; but the Samnites virtually EXTERMINATED by Sulla and the Gang.

RR Cn Lentulus Clodianus 88 BCE AR Quinarius Jupiter Victory crowning trophy Craw 345-2 S 255



RR Cornelius Lentulus Clodianus 88 BCE AR Denarius Mars Biga S 254 Cr 345-1

 

..oops 9_9

 

..that''s a heck of an etching...beautiful..but YIKES...being skinned alive

 

Agreed, gruesome, Apollo was not a very gracious loser winner (edit with thanks @DonnaML).