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<p>[QUOTE="SeptimusT, post: 2963975, member: 91240"][ATTACH=full]725968[/ATTACH]</p><p><b>Mn. Fonteius</b></p><p><b>Obverse</b>: MN FONTEI C•F, laureate head of Apollo (?) right</p><p><b>Reverse</b>: Cupid (?) on goat right; above, piles; in exurgue, thyrsus; surrounded by laurel wreath and dots</p><p>Crawford 353/1c, 20mm, 3.85g, minted at Rome in 85 BC</p><p><br /></p><p>I’d had my eye on one of these for a while, and when I finally saw one in good condition at the right price, I pulled the trigger. Feel free to share your own examples of this coin or other goat coins, as well as your thoughts on their symbolism.</p><p><br /></p><p>When I actually started researching the coin, always one of my favorite things about buying a new coin, I discovered that there was quite a bit of debate over what it actually depicts, and what the significance of it might be. The discussion below is more to organize my research than anything else, but I thought I’d go ahead and share it as well.</p><p>____________</p><p><br /></p><p>The winged child atop a goat on the reverse is identified as everything from a symbol of Vejovis, young Jupiter, Cupid, or even an infant Bacchus. The inclusion of the caps of the Dioscuri and the thyrsus of Bacchus further complicates the identification. Crawford suggests that the Dioscuri caps are a reference to the Fonteia gens’ origins in Tusculum, as it was a major site for their cult, and the same imagery appears on other Fonteia issues. The wings on the child make it seem unlikely to be Jupiter, and although the thyrsus is certainly Bacchic, I was unable to find any depictions of Bacchus as an infant from this period. The reverse remains enigmatic.</p><p><br /></p><p>The obverse bust is sometimes described as Vejovis, or Apollo-Vejovis. Vejovis is an obscure deity who was associated with goat statuary, but otherwise very little information on his identity or purpose is known. While this would explain the meaning of the reverse very nicely, it isn’t so simple: one article I found points out that the goat associated with Vejovis was female, while the one on the coin is male. Furthermore, the bust has a thunderbolt beneath it, but Ovid specifically says that Vejovis carries no thunderbolt. It is suggested that the attribute of the thunderbolt may be associated with syncretic worship of Apollo, as coins of this time were beginning to use deific symbols more generically, with the grain ear starting to represent abundance, rather than Ceres specifically. Crawford further argues that the monogram that appears on some varieties of the coin (not on mine) should be read as Apollo. Politically, Apollo may be associated with Marian/Cinnan moneyers, as he frequently appears on their issues, either as a reference to the troubled times of civil war, or more specifically to the plague of 87.</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH]725970[/ATTACH]</p><p><i>Monogram on variants of the Mn. Fonteius issue; some say it represents ROMA, but Crawford believes it should be read Apollo</i></p><p><br /></p><p>Another interesting aspect of this coin is that it might be connected to Cicero. The identity of the Manius Fonteius who issued this coin is obscure, but Cicero represented a man usually identified as Marcus Fonteius, propraetor of Gallia Narbonensis, on charges of extortion and misgovernment. Notably, Cicero’s defense says that his client once served as a triumvir monetales, a moneyer. No coins are known to exist for a Marcus Fonteius, but Crawford assigns his speculative issue the number 347, and states that he may have been a brother or relative of the Manius who issued this coin. However, one author points out that the manuscripts for Cicero’s defense would have identified his client only as M. Fonteius, and that it would have been a small and relatively common error for Mn. Fonteius to be corrupted into M. Fonteius. Therefore, it is possible that the Manius Fonteius who issued this coin was Cicero’s client, and that there was no moneyer called Marcus Fonteius. At any rate, the family must have changed their political allegiance at some point: Cicero’s client would have been part of the Cinnan government when he was a moneyer, but he survived and thrived after Sulla’s victory as well.</p><p><br /></p><p>This coin is a good example of the tenuousness of numismatic iconography, and of ancient art in general, in the absence of inscriptional evidence. </p><p><br /></p><p><b>Sources</b>:</p><p> Crawford’s Roman Republican Coins</p><p><i> Political Propaganda on Roman Republican Coins: Circa 92-82 B.C</i>., by T.T. Luce, published in American Journal of Archaeology, Vol. 72, No. 1</p><p><i> <a href="http://coinproject.com/jan/volume1/issue2/volume1-2-4.html" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://coinproject.com/jan/volume1/issue2/volume1-2-4.html" rel="nofollow">Pro Mn. Fonteio C.f.</a></i><a href="http://coinproject.com/jan/volume1/issue2/volume1-2-4.html" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://coinproject.com/jan/volume1/issue2/volume1-2-4.html" rel="nofollow">, by Mark Passehl, published in the Journal of Ancient Numismatics, Volume 1, issue 2</a>[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>
[QUOTE="SeptimusT, post: 2963975, member: 91240"][ATTACH=full]725968[/ATTACH] [B]Mn. Fonteius Obverse[/B]: MN FONTEI C•F, laureate head of Apollo (?) right [B]Reverse[/B]: Cupid (?) on goat right; above, piles; in exurgue, thyrsus; surrounded by laurel wreath and dots Crawford 353/1c, 20mm, 3.85g, minted at Rome in 85 BC I’d had my eye on one of these for a while, and when I finally saw one in good condition at the right price, I pulled the trigger. Feel free to share your own examples of this coin or other goat coins, as well as your thoughts on their symbolism. When I actually started researching the coin, always one of my favorite things about buying a new coin, I discovered that there was quite a bit of debate over what it actually depicts, and what the significance of it might be. The discussion below is more to organize my research than anything else, but I thought I’d go ahead and share it as well. ____________ The winged child atop a goat on the reverse is identified as everything from a symbol of Vejovis, young Jupiter, Cupid, or even an infant Bacchus. The inclusion of the caps of the Dioscuri and the thyrsus of Bacchus further complicates the identification. Crawford suggests that the Dioscuri caps are a reference to the Fonteia gens’ origins in Tusculum, as it was a major site for their cult, and the same imagery appears on other Fonteia issues. The wings on the child make it seem unlikely to be Jupiter, and although the thyrsus is certainly Bacchic, I was unable to find any depictions of Bacchus as an infant from this period. The reverse remains enigmatic. The obverse bust is sometimes described as Vejovis, or Apollo-Vejovis. Vejovis is an obscure deity who was associated with goat statuary, but otherwise very little information on his identity or purpose is known. While this would explain the meaning of the reverse very nicely, it isn’t so simple: one article I found points out that the goat associated with Vejovis was female, while the one on the coin is male. Furthermore, the bust has a thunderbolt beneath it, but Ovid specifically says that Vejovis carries no thunderbolt. It is suggested that the attribute of the thunderbolt may be associated with syncretic worship of Apollo, as coins of this time were beginning to use deific symbols more generically, with the grain ear starting to represent abundance, rather than Ceres specifically. Crawford further argues that the monogram that appears on some varieties of the coin (not on mine) should be read as Apollo. Politically, Apollo may be associated with Marian/Cinnan moneyers, as he frequently appears on their issues, either as a reference to the troubled times of civil war, or more specifically to the plague of 87. [ATTACH]725970[/ATTACH] [I]Monogram on variants of the Mn. Fonteius issue; some say it represents ROMA, but Crawford believes it should be read Apollo[/I] Another interesting aspect of this coin is that it might be connected to Cicero. The identity of the Manius Fonteius who issued this coin is obscure, but Cicero represented a man usually identified as Marcus Fonteius, propraetor of Gallia Narbonensis, on charges of extortion and misgovernment. Notably, Cicero’s defense says that his client once served as a triumvir monetales, a moneyer. No coins are known to exist for a Marcus Fonteius, but Crawford assigns his speculative issue the number 347, and states that he may have been a brother or relative of the Manius who issued this coin. However, one author points out that the manuscripts for Cicero’s defense would have identified his client only as M. Fonteius, and that it would have been a small and relatively common error for Mn. Fonteius to be corrupted into M. Fonteius. Therefore, it is possible that the Manius Fonteius who issued this coin was Cicero’s client, and that there was no moneyer called Marcus Fonteius. At any rate, the family must have changed their political allegiance at some point: Cicero’s client would have been part of the Cinnan government when he was a moneyer, but he survived and thrived after Sulla’s victory as well. This coin is a good example of the tenuousness of numismatic iconography, and of ancient art in general, in the absence of inscriptional evidence. [B]Sources[/B]: Crawford’s Roman Republican Coins [I] Political Propaganda on Roman Republican Coins: Circa 92-82 B.C[/I]., by T.T. Luce, published in American Journal of Archaeology, Vol. 72, No. 1 [I] [URL='http://coinproject.com/jan/volume1/issue2/volume1-2-4.html']Pro Mn. Fonteio C.f.[/URL][/I][URL='http://coinproject.com/jan/volume1/issue2/volume1-2-4.html'], by Mark Passehl, published in the Journal of Ancient Numismatics, Volume 1, issue 2[/URL][/QUOTE]
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