TIF made me do it (again)... Caesar's Civil War

She hasn't shown it in its full glory here yet, but her purchase of a beautiful example of this interesting RR type made me buy one for myself two days after she picked hers up. Dear @TIF, you're the owner of many beautiful coins, and you're also a cruel and merciless enabler of collectors with poor self-control .


THE POMPEIANS
L. Cornelius Lentulus and C. Claudius Marcellus
AR Denarius
4.05g, 18.5mm
Military mint in the East (Apollonia and Asia), 49 BC
Crawford 445/1b; Sydenham 1029a
O: Triskeles with winged head of Medusa in centre and corn ears between legs.
R: LENT–MAR / COS, Jupiter standing facing, holding thunderbolt and eagle.

Here's a short writeup to give this cool coin some historical context. No dioramas or fun animated cartoons, I'm afraid... that's TIF's department .

49 BC was the year the Great Roman Civil War began. The consuls for the year, L. Cornelius Lentulus Crus and C. Claudius Marcellus Major, had issued an ultimatum to Julius Caesar, ordering that he disband his legions and return to Rome from his command in Cisalpine Gaul. In response, Caesar famously crossed the Rubicon with a legion of soldiers, sparking a civil war between himself and the Roman Senate.

Pompey the Great, Caesar's chief rival in the Senate, was unaware that Caesar was marching on Rome with just one legion and believed that the city could not be defended. Along with the two consuls and the majority of the Senate, he abandoned the city and fled eastwards to raise troops to oppose Caesar.

Lentulus and Marcellus struck this issue at military mints (Apollonia and then Asia, per Crawford) during the summer of 49 BC, in support of Pompey. By September 48 BC, however, Pompey was dead, murdered when he tried to seek refuge from Caesar in Egypt. Lentulus arrived in Egypt shortly after Pompey's killing and was immediately imprisoned by Ptolemy XIII and soon thereafter executed. Marcellus's fate is not recorded, but he most likely did not survive the war either.

The design on the obverse of this issue, the triskeles with the winged head of Medusa, is a familial reference to the capturing of Sicily (whose symbol was the triskeles) by Marcellus's illustrious ancestor, M. Claudius Marcellus, five-time consul and hero of the Second Punic War.

 

Log in or Sign up to hide this ad.

I'm glad you posted it! I'm so far behind in posting coins/writeups (and behind in browsing CoinTalk-- the recently unpleasant atmosphere and volume of abrasive posts have also been a deterrent) that it is hard to even begin. Thanks for taking control of this writeup . I may borrow it for my website, if that's okay

Your coin is fantastic and it was a heck of a deal

Here's the offending stimulus for your purchase:


THE POMPEIANS
L. Cornelius Lentulus and C. Claudius Marcellus
Military mint in the East (Apollonia and Asia), 49 BC
AR denarius, 19 mm, 3.8 gm
Obv: Triskeles, with winged head of Medusa facing at center; stalk of grain between each leg
Rev: Jupiter standing facing, head right, holding thunderbolt in right hand and eagle on left; LE(NT) (MAR) upward to left, COS upward to right
Ref: Crawford 445/1b; Sydenham 1029a
formerly slabbed, NGC ChVF*, 5/5, 5/5

My shoulder devil was @Carthago and I regret not being being able to win the wonderful example he sold in a recent CNG print auction.

 

There it is! I really love the toning and centering you have on yours. I'm feeling better about my moment of weakness now.

 

Both of those are fantastic! Congrats to both of you.

And TIF, I noticed you stated yours was formerly slabbed ... glad to see it freed, but I bet it was kind of nerve-racking busting it out!

 

Not at all! Just a few sharp taps will split the seam and the slab opens like a book

 

Wow, Z-Bro => that's a very sweet OP-addition (congrats on scoring that beauty!!)

... oh, and your coin is okay too, Granger

 

Or, should you have a bench vise; 3-5 twists on the long and short sides, the sonic weld-seam just pops and it opens like a book!

 

@stevex6 and @TIF your cross-continent envy has snared folks in between. This coin has been on my radar also... Don't be surprised that a redundancy shows up in my posts sometime! NICE JOB to both of you! Gorgeous captures!

 

And then there is the poor man's version:

 

Steve, Zumbly, and I do seem to be bad influences on one another. Actually, many of you are bad influences on me

 

Actually, Bing, now I recall that yours was the first one I'd seen. So you share the blame with TIF!

 

Congratulations Zum and TIF. That's a neat type and you both have good examples of it. TIF, your's appears to be done in a particularly nice relief.

I upgraded mine a year or so ago, selling my old one in Triton earlier this year. Here's my current one:

 

I don't have a pic of my example of the OP coin. Here's its partner:

 

Yeah well, I do need to upgrade one of these days.

 

WOW !!! Fantastic posts!!! Love that type 'Z'....

If 'Mum' was still alive she'd prohibit me from hanging out with you guys!! You're ALL bad influences on me...... and my bank account

 

oh wow, some sweet stuff here all you...dang.

 

I know it's been pointed out before but I just wanted to say that I find it interesting how our collecting habits influence each other.

Nice coins everyone! That triskeles is interesting and so is the "unknown military mint."

 

Very nice coins here

 

Beautiful..

 

Sweet coin! I'd love t have one, even yours Bing!