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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Bing, post: 2755930, member: 44132&quot;]I blame you guys for many of my purchases.&nbsp; You show such nice coins all the time and I keep adding to my list of wants.&nbsp; This coin is no exception.&nbsp; I&#039;m pretty sure [USER=56859]@TIF[/USER] has a beautiful example, but I&#039;m also sure more of you have examples as well.</p><p><br /></p><p>In doing some research, I found a few tidbits of interesting trivia associated with this coin.&nbsp; The Memmia gens claimed descent from Menestheus, the Trojan, one of the companions of Aeneas to Italy. The type, however, seems to refer to Menestheus, the Athenian king, who, with the help of the Dioscuri, drove Theseus from Athens.</p><p><br /></p><p>Crawford notes that this moneyer may have traveled to Egypt and the unusual depiction of the Dioscuri may have been based on Egyptian artwork.</p><p><br /></p><p>I have no idea if this is the same person as the moneyer above, but I found it interesting that a member of this Gens Memmia, Gaius Memmius, nicknamed Mordax, a tribunus plebis in 111 BC was a candidate for the consulship in 100.&nbsp; He was bludgeoned to death by the supporters of Lucius Appuleius Saturninus and Gaius Servilius Glaucia.&nbsp; Elected Plebeian Tribune in 111 BC, he was instrumental in relaunching the Jugurthine War after Jugurtha’s surrender in 111 BC. During his tribunate, he accused the consul Lucius Calpurnius Bestia, the senator Marcus Aemilius Scaurus and other aristocrats of accepting bribes from King Jugurtha. He summoned Jugurtha to appear in Rome, and promised him safe conduct in order that he may be questioned, but when Jugurtha arrived, Memmius was prevented from questioning the king by his colleague Gaius Baebius, whom Jugurtha bribed to impose his veto.</p><p><br /></p><p>It is speculated that Memmius served as Praetor in 104 BC, and this was followed by the proconsular governorship of Macedonia in 103 BC. Then in the following year (102 BC), Marcus Aemilius Scaurus prosecuted Memmius with the charge of extortion. Memmius was found not guilty of all charges.</p><p><br /></p><p>In 100 BC, Memmius was a candidate for the consulship of the following year (99 BC), but was slain in a riot on the election day, stirred up by his rival the praetor Gaius Servilius Glaucia. It has been speculated that, primarily due to Cicero describing him as consul designatus, Memmius was actually elected Consul in the disrupted elections of 99 BC, and was killed after his successful candidature was announced in the Roman Forum.</p><p><br /></p><p>You can&#039;t help but find stuff like this interesting, eh?&nbsp; Anyway, on to the coin.&nbsp; Not in the best of conditions, but purchased at a very good price.</p><p>[ATTACH=full]632311[/ATTACH] </p><p>L MEMMIUS ROMAN REPUBLIC; GENS MEMMIA</p><p>AR Denarius</p><p>OBVERSE:&nbsp; Young male head (Apollo?) right, wearing oak-wreath; before, mark of value </p><p>REVERSE:&nbsp; Dioscuri standing facing between their horses, each holding spear; L MEMMI in ex.</p><p>Struck at Rome 109-108 BC</p><p>3.86g, 19.05mm</p><p>Syd 558; Cr304/1; Memmia 1</p><p><br /></p><p>Pile on with anything you feel associated (or not) with this example.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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