Silver Denarius of Sulla

In hand it looks convincing!!!!

 

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Here is the coin on Forum's Fake Ancient Coins with mine :

 

SULLA


Roman Republic
L. Manlius Torquatus and L. Cornelius Sulla.
82 BCE AR denarius (17 mm, 3.72 g, 12 h).
Military mint moving with Sulla.
Obv: L · MANLI before, PR[O · Q] behind, helmeted head of Roma right
Rev: L · SVLLA · IM in exergue, Sulla, togate, driving triumphal quadriga right, holding branch and reins; above, Victory flying left, crowning Sulla with wreath.
Ref: Crawford 367/3; Sydenham 759; Manlia 7.
Seller Comments: Nicely toned, light rub on cheek. Very fine.
Ex: Triskeles

 

I think iterum means : "for the second time".

 

According to Harper Collins Latin Concise Dictionary the verb iterare means "to repeat or renew". Its adverbial derivative, iterum, means "again or for a second time" and when accompanied by the word, atque, means "repeatedly". If he was hailed as imperator only for two times it would mean, in this instance, twice, but if he was conferred with this title several times ( I don't know if he was) I think the "again" translation might be the preferred choice. I am going to check later with my Cassels Latin Dictionary and my White's copy and a good history to see if I can find out how many times he may have been conferred with this title. This may be difficult because as this coin was issued by a travelling mint, and Sulla travelled quite a bit with the troops, there may be several occasions when ONLY the troops knew how many times they had conferred this title on him. Thanks for piquing my curiosity on this as I probably never would have pursued just how many times Sulla was hailed as "imperator" If only twice then iterum, in that case, is best translated as twice, but if several times, then, again, would be. I wonder if they ever used the word "bis" (twice) on coinage to avoid ambiguity?

 

I can assure you there is no ambiguity. On Roman Latin inscriptions mentioning honores, the term iterum means precisely : for a second time. If it was a third or fourth or fifth time they would have written III, IIII, V...

On this denarius of Octavius, you can read on reverse : COS.ITER.ET.TER.DESIG, co(n)s(ul) iter(um) et ter desig(natus) : consul twice and designated for a third consulate. Octavius had been consul for the second time in 33 BC; in autumn 32 he was elected again for a third consulate that would begin on Jan. 1 31 BC. Between the moment a consul was elected and the next Jan. 1 when he would be effectively in charge, he is called "designated consul" (like in USA you say "president elect").

(not my coin of course)

Another example :

Vespasian, aureus (not my coin either ). On reverse : COS ITER TR POT, co(n)s(ul) iter(um), tr(ibuniciae) pot(estatis) : consul twice, with the tribunician power.
Vespasian had been consul in 51 AD. On July 1 69 he received the Tribunician power, which was renewed each year at this date, and was "elected" consul for 70, beginning this second consulate on Jan. 1 70. This coin was minted from January to June 70 because he is consul iterum but still in his 1st tribunician power.

 

OK, I'll skip all the material I have just pulled up from Cassell's and White's Dictionaries where in both the term iterum is translated as next and again as the first choices and will assume, from your examples, that on coins and inscriptions it has the specific, numismatic and legal meanings as a second time as opposed to an indefinite number of subsequent times. Cicero refers to C. Flaminius in one of his letters as a consul iterum which would mean a second consulship, not a third or fourth., something I had wondered about. Thank you for your expertise. As for me, better wisdom come late than not at all.