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Coin Detail
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ID:     90010136
Type:     Roman Republican
Issuer:     L. Flaminus Chilo and C. Julius Caesar
Date Ruled:     43 BC
Metal:     Silver
Denomination:     Denarius
Struck / Cast:     struck
Date Struck:     BC 43
Weight:     3.57 1 g
Obverse Description:     Laureate head of Julius Caesar to right
Reverse Legend:     L.FLAMINIVS IIII.VIR
Reverse Description:     Goddess, Venus or Pax, standing to left, holding caduceus in her right hand and long scepter in her left
Mint:     Rome
Primary Reference:     Crawford 485/1
Reference2:     RSC 26
Reference3:     Sydenham 1089
Reference4:     CRI 113
Photograph Credit:     Classical Numismatic Group
Source:     http://www.cngcoins.com/Coin.aspx?CoinID=138700
Notes:     Sale: Nomos 1, Lot: 136 KF 222 (this coin) From the Spina collection, ex Leu 91, 10 May 2004, 163 and from the collections of D. FÉret, Vinchon, 24 November 1994, 252, C. Gillet, Kunstfreund, Bank Leu/MÜnzen und Medaillen, 28 May 1974, 222, and H. Otto, Hess 207, 1 December 1931, 578, and ex Naville X, 15 June 1925, 698.The types on the coins of Samos relate to the cult of Hera, whose great temple on the island was one of the most famous in the ancient world. The lion’s mask is that of a skin that served to adorn the cult statue of Hera; on the reverse is one of the two perfectly white oxen that drew the sacred cart carrying the goddess’s statue during her festival. While the light gold staters of Kroisos are relatively easy to come by, the fractions are much rarer, especially the sixths. This piece is in every way extraordinary - both well struck and very well preserved. The confronted lion and bull on this coin are age old eastern symbols of power, with the lion being the emblem of the Lydian royal family. The facing heads of Helios on the silver tetradrachms of Rhodes go through quite a stylistic progression over the slightly more than two centuries of their existence. The earlier heads of the late 5th and 4th centuries are fully in the Classical tradition and range from the noble, serene and, often, eerily powerful to insipid and banal. However, the tradition changes when tetradrachms resume in the later 3rd century. On those coins the Helios heads are truly Hellenistic in a very florid and baroque way, with some of the earliest, like this one, being most impressive. Ex Leu 81, 16 May 2001, 310, Bank Leu 7, 9 May 1973, 251 and from the collection of J. Desneux.The coinage of Lycia is characterized by the large number of eclectic designs found on it. The area’s general symbol, the tri- or tetraskeles, appeared on many reverses, but there were an infinite number of obverse types used. A good number were copied from or based on types used in other Greek cities - this one finds parallels in earlier issues from Syracuse! It is one of the prettiest female heads to be found in all of Lycian coinage, and certainly one of the best preserved. From the collection of H. S. von Aulock.It is remarkable how poorly struck so many staters of Aspendos are. Die wear, off-centering, countermarks, and poor engraving are all factors that mar most existing coins. Thus, coins like the present one are really quite uncommon, and help to explain why Hans von Aulock picked it from the many hundreds he was offered during his lifetime. The wrestlers refer to the local games; the slinger would remind the user that the Pamphylians were famous as slingers and were employed as mercenaries in many ancient armies. From the Spina collection, ex Triton VIII, 10 January 2005, 506.The word solecism, meaning a grammatical mistake or absurdity, was invented by the ancient Athenians to describe the Greek dialect spoken in Soloi, which they thought was a corrupt version of Attic. Perhaps the beautiful bunch of grapes on this coin gives us a hint as to why the people of Soloi made so many mistakes in speaking: Pliny records that much wine was produced in Cilicia and Soloi’s standard type of a bunch of grapes implies that some of it was certainly made here! The Amazons were a tribe of female warriors who supposedly originated in northern Asia Minor. They appear in a great number of Greek legends and were a favorite subject for ancient painting and sculpture (they supposedly removed their right breasts in order to be better able to throw javelins and draw their bows, but this is never shown in works of art and it seems prima facie unlikely). The engraver of this coin got out of the problem by showing the Amazon from behind, with only her left breast visible under her arm. Precisely why she appears on the coinage of Soloi is unknown and probably relates to a local myth. From the collection of R. Jameson.There has been a great deal of controversy over the identification of the Ariarathes who struck this coin, but MØrkholm simply must be correct in seeing it as an early issue of Ariarathes IX. He had been placed on the throne of Cappadocia by his father, the mighty Mithridates VI of Pontus who had previously assassinated his own nephew, Ariarathes VII, a son of Ariarathes VI (he also disposed of another son of Ariarathes VI, the unimaginatively named Ariarathes VIII). This early portrait shows the young king with rather idealized features that are somewhat reminiscent of those of earlier Cappadocian kings. However, soon after these early tetradrachms were issued, drachms and, later, tetradrachms were struck bearing a portrait that was much closer in features to that of Mithridates VI, thus making their relationship perfectly clear to all beholders. Ariarathes IX was killed while serving as a commander of his father’s troops in northern Greece. From the Spina collection, ex Leu 81, 16 May 2001, 323.Alexander the Great appears on this coin with some of the attributes of Dionysos, as part of a complex program of imagery that served to identify the conquests of Alexander in India with the god’s own legendary conquests there. The portrait also was meant to remind users of the coin that Seleukos had repeated Alexander’s conquests through his defeat of Chandragupta in 304. The elephant quadriga serves as a reminder of the 500 elephants Seleukos received from Chandragupta as part of the peace settlement in 303. This extraordinary coin comes from a series that also includes some very rare drachms and hemidrachms of the same type. The identification of the figure on the reverse is controversial: is it Dionysos the Conqueror? Is it Alexander with attributes of Dionysos? Is it Seleukos with attributes of Alexander and Dionysos? Or is it a general hero with attributes of all of them? Houghton and Stewart made a very good case for it being Alexander, based on the Dionysiac symbolism used for the portrait of Alexander on the victory coinage struck in Susa ten years earlier (see, above, lot 117). On this coin we can see that the saddle cloth is an animal skin (the tail can be made out waving behind the rider); presumably that of a panther. The horns of the horse immediately recall Alexander’s mount, the famous Bucephalus, thus, seemingly making the identification of the rider certain. Since the publication of 1999, however, Houghton seems to have had second thoughts, and wonders that the rider may well be Seleukos. This is unlikely. The fact that this issue was so limited in size argues against it being the introduction of a new iconographic representation of Seleukos, rather than a reprise of that of Alexander. After all, if it was meant to be Seleukos, why is it never used again? The suggestion that the horned horse is not Alexander’s mount, but the swift horse that carried Seleukos away from Babylon in 315, is equally unlikely because that horse is never said to have had horns and the fact that horned horse heads are often found on some eastern silver and bronze coins of Seleukos I and a few of his successors does not support that attribution. Those heads are surely of Bucephalus, especially since he died and was buried in the east. Clearly, horseman on this coin is Alexander, conqueror of the East, in a pose very similar to that found on the so-called Poros Dekadrachms. He appears on this special issue for the same reasons he appeared on the series from Susa: to recall the deeds of Alexander in the past and associate them with those of Seleukos in the present. This is not only one of the most exciting and historically significant coins minted by the Seleukids, but it also a particularly striking depiction of Alexander. Antiochos I Soter was eldest son of Seleukos I and Apama, granddaughter of Pharnabazos. He was a consolidator and managed to keep almost all of the vast empire founded by his father together, despite revolts and the declarations of independence by the local rulers of Bithynia and Pontus. He founded many cities and sent out colonists throughout his realm. The portrait on this coin, engraved by an artist of great talent in the old Ionian city of Smyrna, shows Antiochos I as an elegant, powerful, and relatively youthful man - an idealized king - despite the fact that by the time it was struck he had to be at least forty-five years old. This type has long been sought after - the inferior piece from the Houghton Collection (NFA XVIII, 1987, lot 289) sold for the then astounding price of 21,000. Ex Triton IX, 10 January 2006, 1033.Alexander I Balas was a usurper who was backed by the Attalids and the Ptolemies against the legitimate Seleukid king, Demetrius I. Balas prevailed and to seal his alliances, received the hand of Cleopatra Thea (c. 164-121), the eldest daughter of Ptolemy VI. The wedding took place in Ptolemais in 150: rare tetradrachms and even rarer gold staters were struck to commemorate the event. Interestingly enough, while Balas wears the royal diadem, his spouse not only has a diadem but the attributes of a goddess, thus showing quite how much higher she ranked over him; and she knew it. Cleopatra Thea had quite a career. After marrying Balas, and producing a son, Antiochos VI, she repudiated him; following his defeat and murder by an Arab sheik she married the young Demetrius II, son of Demetrius I. With him she had Seleukos V and Antiochos VIII. After some interminable infighting, Demetrius II was captured by the Parthians and Cleopatra proceeded to marry his younger brother, Antiochos VII, with whom she had Antiochos IX. After Antiochos VII was killed in battle, Demetrius II returned to Cleopatra; by 125 she was fed up with him and had him murdered. He was succeeded by his son Seleukos V, but as he proved to be rather independent his mother had him murdered as well. She then decided to become sole ruler of Syria, legitimizing her position by associating herself with her younger son (by Demetrius II), Antiochos VIII. Tiring of him as well, she made several attempts at eliminating him but, in the end, was forced to drink a cup of poisoned wine she had herself prepared for him and died in 121. The portrait on this coin shows Cleopatra Thea as a young woman of 16, though she must have been hard as nails even then - if she had more time or power she probably could have single-handedly wiped out the entire Seleukid royal house! The Daric was the first ancient gold that went into widespread use. The Great Kings of Persia needed them to pay mercenary soldiers and for the bribes they used to influence politicians and rulers all over the Greek world. The way the Persian King is portrayed, in the so-called ‘running kneeling’ position, was the way early artists attempted to show motion. Its appearance here emphasizes the conservative nature of this coinage. The Baktrian kingdom was founded by Diodotos I who had been appointed satrap of Baktria by Antiochos II but who then revolted in 255. He seems to have ruled jointly with his son Diodotos II from 246 until his death in 239. The revolt was, however, rather gradual since the coinage produced by Diodotos I first bore the portrait and name of Antiochos II and then continued in the name of the Seleukid king but with his own somewhat elderly looking portrait. Diodotos II’s coinage also initially was struck in the name of the Seleukid king, but bore his own young and handsome head. The final issues bore his name as well. The present coin has one of the most beautiful of all the known portraits of Diodotos II. He was apparently overthrown by Euthydemos I, who formed another dynasty of Baktrian rulers. The coinage of Eukratides I can be divided into two main series: the first bears a simple diademed bust on the obverse and the legend, ‘king Eukratides’; the second and far more extensive group bears a helmeted bust with the legend ‘Great King Eukratides’. Since the second type was already copied by a Seleucid usurper in 162 it must have been in existence by then (it surely had to have started at least a year before that); thus, we can date Eukratides’ initial type to the early 160s. The earlier type is by far the finer: the bust on this piece shows a mature man with strong, individual features and is a very life-like portrait. Baktrian and Indo-Greek coins are particularly fascinating today because, among other things, they record the names of rulers who are otherwise unknown to history. They are also mementos of the incredible reach of Greek civilization, which established itself in the wake of Alexander’s conquests far to the east. One of the few Greek kings to be mentioned in contemporary literature was Menander (c. 165/155-130) who converted to Buddhism. According to one reconstruction, after his death his widow Agathokleia ruled as Queen-regent for their young son Strato, but only in the Punjab and Gandhara; with other areas taken over by Zoilos I, perhaps in reaction to rule by a queen (given the times, having a warrior ruler was a vital necessity). It is, however, also possible that Agathokleia and Strato I were descendents of Menander who only came to power c. 110 (in that case she would have been the widow of either Nikias or Theophilos). The coinage of Ptolemy I developed in a fairly complex way. He first issued normal issues in the name of Alexander, then changed them by inaugurating a new obverse type showing Alexander wearing an elephant’s skin headdress in circa 321. In 314 this was changed by replacing the seated Zeus on the reverse by an archaizing fighting Athena - Athena Alkidemos. These coins were of Attic weight. As noted with lot 126, Ptolemy I produced his own variant of the traditional coinage of Alexander in 321, then changed the reverse as well in 314. A few years later, c. 310, he embarked on an even greater change by lowering the weight standard by some 9%. This was done in order to create a closed currency area out of Egypt: foreign coins were banned from circulation and any brought by travelers had to be exchanged on a one for one basis against lower weight local issues, thus providing an instant profit for the government. The Ptolemaic currency reform culminated c. 305/300 by Ptolemy I’s replacement of his tetradrachms bearing a portrait of Alexander with those displaying his own head. This was the first true portrait of one of Alexander’s successors and was startlingly realistic. The tiny letter Δ found in his hair behind the ear is the initial of the master-engraver who designed the coin. This coin was designed to display the dynastic continuity of the Ptolemies, with the present rulers, Ptolemy II and his sister-wife Arsinoe II, on the obverse and the deified parents, Ptolemy I and Berenike I, on the reverse. The Gallic shield on the obverse was Ptolemy II’s personal badge. Berenike II was the daughter of Magas of Cyrene and wife of Ptolemy III. She was first married to Demetrios the Fair, son of Demetrios Poliorketes, but when she caught him in bed with her mother Apama she had him killed. She then married Ptolemy III and had several children, including Ptolemy IV who had her murdered in 221. From the Spina collection..For a long time these large and impressive coins were only known from the single broken specimen published by Svoronos, which he identified as an Attic dodekadrachm. This caused no end of debate and theorizing because, of course, the Ptolemies did not normally use the Attic standard. However, when a group of well-preserved examples of this type came on the market several years ago, it was realized that their weight was simply too low to be Attic and, as D. Vagi pointed out in an important article, they worked much better as 15-drachma pieces following the Ptolemaic standard. They are, aside from the lost 20 drachm pieces of Amyntas once in the museum in Qunduz, the largest Greek silver coins ever made. Ptolemy IV was a relatively unpleasant character who was infamous for the murder of his mother Berenike II. The portrait on this coin is of his far more popular father, Ptolemy III. From the collection of a Gentleman.Denarii of Q. Pomponius Rufus are among the rarest of all Roman Republican denarii - Crawford only records 10 obverse and 7 reverse dies (though since the reverse dies are numbered from 1 to 8 and no specimen of 2 is yet known, there were probably at least 8 reverses). Virtually nothing is known about the moneyer who struck this issue. The reverse commemorates the building of the Aqua Marcia, begun by the praetor Q. Marcius Rex in 144 and finished in 140. Its total cost was 180,000,000 sesterces, much of this coming from the vast spoils Rome received from the destruction of Corinth and Carthage, which both took place in 146. Water from this aqueduct still supplies Rome (it was restored by Agrippa, Hadrian, Septimius Severus, Arcadius, and Honorius, among others). The statue depicted on the coin was erected in his honor atop the collecting basin that was built across from the Temple of Jupiter Capitolinus. The head on the obverse is of the fourth king of Rome, Ancus Marcus, from whom the gens Marcia descended. This coin bears a portrait of one of the great Roman heros of the second Punic War, M. Claudius Marcellus, the general who conquered Syracuse in 211 (thus the triskeles, symbol of Sicily, on the obverse). As the reverse legend tells us, he was consul five times. In 222, during his first consulate, he defeated the Celtic Insubres under their king Britomartis; the reverse of this coin shows him bringing a trophy from that victory into the temple of Jupiter Feretrius, traditionally the first temple to have been built in Rome. The portrait itself could well go back to an image made in the general’s lifetime; there was also a statue erected in his honor in the first half of the 2nd century on which the head on the coin could have been based. This is a particularly dramatic head of Caesar, struck probably in August 43 after Octavian regained the city. The very prominent and detailed laurel wreath he wears (mixed with leaves and laurel berries) hints at the Senate’s forthcoming proclamation of Caesar as a god, which took place on 1 January 42.