Thanks. Can you please Ds. tell me the denomination of this coin . I also wonder if anyone can guess the identity of the figure inside the temple on the reverse ( Standing god left? ). Charles
The god is Marsyas apparently... http://www.acsearch.info/record.html?id=602187 No specific denomination as far as I know.
This coin would not have a specific denomination by todays standards. As much as we do know about ancient coins, we do not know what these would have been called in ancient times. Today we would refer to this coin as an AE X (X = the size of the coin in mm). AE is the abbreviation for Aeratus, Latin for copper. Just guessing but at 15g I would think your coin is 25-27mm, so you would refer to this coin as an AE25, AE26 or AE27 (again this is just a guess, measure it for the correct number). Hope this helps.
I agree. I would preface this though to say we do not know what MANY denominations were, especially Roman Provincial. We do know the names of many Greek and Roman Imperial coins, as well as others, but there are Greek and Roman Provincial coins we simply do not know what the locals called them. Therefor we simply call them AE(size in mm).
Greetings. I found out that Marsyas was a Greek Silenus. In Greek Mythology a Silenus was a Half- god. Such a creature would have a tail, horns and the legs of a goat. We can notice this on the reverse of the coin. Marsyas is known to have invented the flute. I wonder if it was common to find Greek musical figures or gods on Roman coins? Just out of curiosity.. And again I appreciate your cultural collaboration . Charles
This may help to answer your question 7C L CENSORINUS AR Roman Denarius OBV: Laureate head of Apollo right REV: L CENSOR, the satyr, Marsyas, standing left with wineskin over shoulder; behind him, column surmounted by draped figure (Minerva?) Struck at Rome, 82 BC 3.66g, 17mm Cr363/1d, Marcia 24 From Wikipedia: This Denarius was minted at Rome in 82 BC by L. Censorinus, with the head of Apollo and the figure of Marsyas holding a wineskin, based on the statue in the forum. In Greek mythology, the satyr Marsyas (Ancient Greek: Μαρσύας) is a central figure in two stories involving death: in one, he picked up the double flute (aulos) that had been abandoned by Athena and played it; in the other, he challenged Apollo to a contest of music and lost his hide and life. Marsyas was an expert player on the double-piped reed instrument known as the aulos. In the anecdotal account, he found the instrument on the ground where it had been tossed aside with a curse by its inventor, Athena, after the other gods made sport of how her cheeks bulged when she played. The 5th-century poet Telestes doubted that virginal Athena could have been motivated by such vanity, but in the 2nd century AD, on the Acropolis of Athens itself, the voyager Pausanias saw "a statue of Athena striking Marsyas the Silenos for taking up the flutes that the goddess wished to be cast away for good." In the contest between Apollo and Marsyas, the terms stated that the winner could treat the defeated party any way he wanted. Since the contest was judged by the Muses, Marsyas naturally lost and was flayed alive in a cave near Celaenae for his hubris to challenge a god. Apollo then nailed Marsyas' skin to a pine tree Among the Romans, Marsyas was cast as the inventor of augury and a proponent of free speech (the philosophical concept παρρησία, "parrhesia") and "speaking truth to power." The earliest known representation of Marsyas at Rome stood for at least 300 years in the Roman Forum near or in the comitium, the space for political activity. He was depicted as a silen, carrying a wineskin on his left shoulder and raising his right arm. The statue was regarded as an indicium libertatis, a symbol of liberty, and was associated with demonstrations of the plebs, or common people. It often served as a sort of kiosk upon which invective verse was posted In 213 BC, two years after suffering one of the worst military defeats in its history at the Battle of Cannae, Rome was in the grip of a reactionary fear that led to excessive religiosity. The senate, alarmed that its authority was being undermined by "prophets and sacrificers" in the forum, began a program of suppression. Among the literature confiscated was an "authentic" prophecy calling for the institution of games in the Greek manner for Apollo, which the senate and elected officials would control. The prophecy was attributed to Gnaeus Marcius, reputed to be a descendant of Marsyas. The games were duly carried out, but the Romans failed to bring the continuing wars with the Carthaginians to a victorious conclusion until they heeded a second prophecy and imported the worship of the Phrygian Great Mother, whose song Marsyas was said to have composed; the song had further relevance in that it was also credited by the Phrygians with protecting them from invaders. The power relations between Marsyas and Apollo reflected the continuing Struggle of the Orders between the elite and the common people, expressed in political terms by optimates and populares. The arrest of Naevius for exercising free speech also took place during this period. Another descendant of Marcius Rutilus, L. Marcius Censorinus, issued coins depicting the statue of Marsyas, at a time when the augural college was the subject of political controversy during the Sullan civil wars of the 80s BC On the coin, Marsyas wears a Phrygian cap or pilleus, an emblem of liberty. This Marcius Censorinus was killed by Sulla and his head displayed outside Praeneste. Sulla's legislative program attempted to curtail power invested in the people, particularly restricting the powers of the plebeian tribunes, and to restore the dominance of the senate and the privileges of patricians
Marsyas wasn't a Silenus (there is only one, and he was the god of drunkenness and wine-making).. He was associated with Silenus, but that is different. Marsyas was a Satyr (half man half goat) commonly associated with Pan (a god in Peloponnesian mythology)
Thanks everybody. I am glad I learned more and also did update and correct some of my information. Charles
