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Sulla 84-83 BC Denarius interpretation
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<p>[QUOTE="willkerrs, post: 3084783, member: 95456"]Indeed - see an example of this coin (Crawford 426/1) from my collection (not the clearest, but one to hand):</p><p>[ATTACH=full]777434[/ATTACH]</p><p>Sulla is in the centre (hence 'Felix' - Lucius Cornelius Sulla Felix), Jugurtha on the right - hands bound, and Bocchus on the left offering Sulla a laurel wreath. We know this because we have very clear textual evidence from Plutarch, <i>Life of Marius</i> 10, which talks about the capture of Jugurtha.</p><p><br /></p><p>See 10.4-6 especially: '<font size="3">[4]But when Sulla had come to him in all confidence, the Barbarian [Bocchus - referred to by name earlier in the passage] experienced a change of heart and felt repentant, and for many days wavered in his plans, deliberating whether to surrender Jugurtha or to hold Sulla also a prisoner. Finally however, he decided upon his first plan of treachery, and put Jugurtha alive into the hands of Sulla.</font></p><p><font size="3"><br /></font></p><p><font size="3">[5]This was the first seed of that bitter and incurable hatred between Marius and Sulla, which nearly brought Rome to ruin. </font><font size="4">For many wished Sulla to have the glory of the affair because they hated Marius, and Sulla himself had a seal-ring made, which he used to wear, on which was engraved the surrender of Jugurtha to him by Bocchus.</font> <font size="4">[6]By constantly using this ring Sulla provoked Marius,</font><font size="3"> who was an ambitious man, loath to share his glory with another, and quarrelsome. And the enemies of Marius gave Sulla most encouragement, by attributing the first and greatest successes of the war to Metellus, but the last, and the termination of it, to Sulla, so that the people might cease admiring Marius and giving him their chief allegiance.</font>'</p><p><font size="2">(Source: <a href="http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Plutarch/Lives/Marius*.html#10.5" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Plutarch/Lives/Marius*.html#10.5" rel="nofollow">http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Plutarch/Lives/Marius*.html#10.5</a>)</font></p><p><font size="2"><br /></font></p><p><font size="4">After some digging, I also found that Pliny the Elder refers to it in Natural History 37.4: "The Dictator Sulla, it is said, always made use of <font size="4">a seal</font> which <font size="4">represented</font> the surrender of Jugurtha." He also tells us that it was an emerald earlier in the passage (smaragdus). </font><font size="3">(S<font size="3">ource:</font> <a href="http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0137%3Abook%3D37%3Achapter%3D4" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0137%3Abook%3D37%3Achapter%3D4" rel="nofollow">http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.02.0137:book=37:chapter=4</a> )</font></p><p><font size="3"><br /></font></p><p>Valerius Maximus 18.14.4 also refers to the ring, but I can't find an English translation to hand.</p><p><br /></p><p>See also Sallust, <i>War Against Jugurtha</i> 112.3 - 113.7 for a summary of Jugurtha's capture. Sallust doesn't refer to this signet ring - probably because it doesn't fit his fairly positive narrative of Sulla to bring it up (at that juncture at least). I won't reproduce the text here, but you can read it online: <font size="3"><a href="http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Sallust/Bellum_Jugurthinum/3*.html" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Sallust/Bellum_Jugurthinum/3*.html" rel="nofollow">http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Sallust/Bellum_Jugurthinum/3*.html</a></font>[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>
[QUOTE="willkerrs, post: 3084783, member: 95456"]Indeed - see an example of this coin (Crawford 426/1) from my collection (not the clearest, but one to hand): [ATTACH=full]777434[/ATTACH] Sulla is in the centre (hence 'Felix' - Lucius Cornelius Sulla Felix), Jugurtha on the right - hands bound, and Bocchus on the left offering Sulla a laurel wreath. We know this because we have very clear textual evidence from Plutarch, [I]Life of Marius[/I] 10, which talks about the capture of Jugurtha. See 10.4-6 especially: '[SIZE=3][4]But when Sulla had come to him in all confidence, the Barbarian [Bocchus - referred to by name earlier in the passage] experienced a change of heart and felt repentant, and for many days wavered in his plans, deliberating whether to surrender Jugurtha or to hold Sulla also a prisoner. Finally however, he decided upon his first plan of treachery, and put Jugurtha alive into the hands of Sulla. [5]This was the first seed of that bitter and incurable hatred between Marius and Sulla, which nearly brought Rome to ruin. [/SIZE][SIZE=4]For many wished Sulla to have the glory of the affair because they hated Marius, and Sulla himself had a seal-ring made, which he used to wear, on which was engraved the surrender of Jugurtha to him by Bocchus.[/SIZE] [SIZE=4][6]By constantly using this ring Sulla provoked Marius,[/SIZE][SIZE=3] who was an ambitious man, loath to share his glory with another, and quarrelsome. And the enemies of Marius gave Sulla most encouragement, by attributing the first and greatest successes of the war to Metellus, but the last, and the termination of it, to Sulla, so that the people might cease admiring Marius and giving him their chief allegiance.[/SIZE]' [SIZE=2](Source: [url]http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Plutarch/Lives/Marius*.html#10.5[/url]) [/SIZE] [SIZE=4]After some digging, I also found that Pliny the Elder refers to it in Natural History 37.4: "The Dictator Sulla, it is said, always made use of [SIZE=4]a seal[/SIZE] which [SIZE=4]represented[/SIZE] the surrender of Jugurtha." He also tells us that it was an emerald earlier in the passage (smaragdus). [/SIZE][SIZE=3](S[SIZE=3]ource:[/SIZE] [URL='http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0137%3Abook%3D37%3Achapter%3D4']http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.02.0137:book=37:chapter=4[/URL] ) [/SIZE] Valerius Maximus 18.14.4 also refers to the ring, but I can't find an English translation to hand. See also Sallust, [I]War Against Jugurtha[/I] 112.3 - 113.7 for a summary of Jugurtha's capture. Sallust doesn't refer to this signet ring - probably because it doesn't fit his fairly positive narrative of Sulla to bring it up (at that juncture at least). I won't reproduce the text here, but you can read it online: [SIZE=3][url]http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Sallust/Bellum_Jugurthinum/3*.html[/url][/SIZE][/QUOTE]
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Sulla 84-83 BC Denarius interpretation
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