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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Sallent, post: 2579700, member: 76194&quot;]This is Philip V of Macedon. He was the penultimate ruler of the Kingdom of Macedon, a Kingdom which gave the world the likes of the Great Philip II and Alexander the Great. He was a great enemy of Rome and despite being checked by the Romans toward the end of his reign, and the signing of a peace treaty between the Romans and Macedonians, he was widely hated and distrusted in the Roman world. In a sense, the Ancient Romans would have probably seen him as the Saddam Hussein of the 2nd Century BCE...that enemy you fought and reigned in, but didn&#039;t quite finish the job and you know you&#039;ll be back for another war down the road.</p><p><br /></p><p>So what on Earth is he doing in this Roman denarius from 113-112 BCE? And why is there an equestrian statue with his name at the base? If all this sounds confusing, allow me to take you through basic Roman Coin Propaganda 101</p><p>[ATTACH=full]559768[/ATTACH]</p><p>L. Philippus 113-112 B.C.</p><p>AR Denarius 19mm. 3.80g.</p><p>Rome Mint</p><p>Head of Philip V of Macedon r., wearing royal Macedonian helmet; (phi) under chin, ROMA monogram behind.</p><p>Equestrian statue r., base inscribed L.PHILIPPV, flower below horse; In ex.: X</p><p>Craw 293/1; RSC I Marcia 12</p><p>Note: Lightly toned with much remaining lustre. Faint scratches</p><p><br /></p><p>You see, the coiner of this L. Phillipus denarius was not Philip V of Macedon (he was long dead by then), nor any relative named Philip, or anything of the sort. What you are witnessing here is Grade A Roman propaganda.</p><p><br /></p><p>The likely coiner of this denarius was Lucius Marcius Q. F. Q. n. Philippus. He would have been a younger Roman male from a very distinguished family, the Marcia. As you can tell from his last name, his family had something to do with Philip V of Macedon. Remember, Romans sometimes awarded families the right to last name denoting their conquest over a powerful tribe or kingdom, or region. For example, the Scipio family was awarded the name Africanus after their victory over the Carthaginians.</p><p><br /></p><p>So now you think you get it, Lucius Marcius was entering politics and wanted to remind everyone of this family&#039;s noble bravery in defeating Philip V of Macedon, right? Well, you are wrong. You see, the Marcia family never defeated Philip V of Macedon in battle nor conquered Macedonia while Philip V was alive. The truth is much more clever. As it turns out, his grandfather Quintus Marcius L.F.Q.n. Philippus&nbsp; was in charge of conducting the war against Macedonia in 169 BCE and ended up eventually defeating Perseus of Macedon, the last king of an independent Macedonian Kingdom, and son of Philip V or Macedon.</p><p><br /></p><p>The problem was that Perseus was a bit of a fool, and claiming victory over him was not the same as claiming victory over his long dead father, who Romans had trully feared. So why claim victory over Uday Hussein when you can pretend Saddam is still alive and make your victory seem all the greater. That&#039;s basically what the Romans did. They cleverly forgot the fact that Philip V had been dead for over a decade and awarded Quintus Marcius the title Phillipus, as it seemed more honorable than the title Perseus, which would have only reminded the Romans that they had only defeated the foolish son and not their feared rival of old.</p><p><br /></p><p>In conclusion: This coin is a fiction. It is a reminder of one family&#039;s ancestral victory over someone they did not actually defeat, but it sure made for good propaganda for the masses.&nbsp; If you are a young Roman noble looking to kick start your career in politics, this is as good a propaganda bit as you could hope for (grand, heroic, and completely made up)</p><p><br /></p><p><b>PS: Share any Roman coins with Macedonian links of any kind.</b>[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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