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Coin Detail
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ID:     59-839
     [UNVERIFIED]
Type:     Roman Republican
Issuer:     Q. Nasidius and Cn. Pompeius Magnus
Date Ruled:     44-43 BC
Metal:     Silver
Denomination:     Denarius
Struck / Cast:     struck
Date Struck:     BC 42-38
Weight:     3.80g
Obverse Legend:     NEPTVNI
Obverse Description:     Head of Cn. Pompeius Magnus left; below neck truncation, dolphin and in field left, trident
Reverse Legend:     Q·NASIDIVS
Reverse Description:     Sea-battle with two ships on each side; below, Q·NASIDIVS
Mint:     Sicily
Primary Reference:     Crawford 483/1
Reference2:     Syd 1351
Reference3:     Babelon Pompeia 30 and Nasidia 21
Reference4:     Arma et Nummi pl. 11, 282; Sear Imperators 236
Photograph Credit:     Numismatic Ars Classica
Source:     http://arsclassicacoins.com
Notes:     Of the highest rarity, only the sixth specimen known and the only one in private hands. Among the rarest issues of the whole Republican series missing in all the major collections. A bold portrait struck on a very large flan, slightly off-centre on reverse, otherwise about extremely fine This denarius of Sextus Pompey is an extremely rare adjunct to a relatively large issue of Q. Nasidius that has on its reverse a single galley rather than the collection of vessels shown here in the midst of battle. Identifying the mint and vintage of the issues of Q. Nasidius has been a topic of debate among scholars. The refined style suggests they were struck somewhere other than Spain if the crudely rendered Spanish-mint denarii of the Pompeians are taken into account. Sydenham and Grueber both suggested Sicily, Crawford considers them struck at a moving mint with Sextus Pompey while en route to Sicily, and Sear has suggested Massalia. Opinions on dating are likewise varied, with 38-36 B.C. offered by Sydenham and Grueber, and 44-43 favoured by Crawford and Sear. An early date does seem preferable since the coinage does not bear the lofty title ‘Commander-in-chief of the Fleet and of the Sea Coasts’ that he received from the senate in April of 43 B.C. Nasidius had long been loyal to the Pompeians. In 49 B.C. he attempted to break the siege of Massalia by Julius Caesar’s legate Decimus Brutus. Afterward he held a command in the Pompeian fleet in North Africa and then joined the forces that Pompey Junior had assembled in Spain after the Battle of Thapsus. Clearly, as these coins show, he sailed with Sextus Pompey afterward, only to eventually join Marc Antony as an admiral in his eastern fleet. He participated in the disaster at Actium, after which nothing further is known of his life or career. After the defeat of Brutus and Cassius in 42 B.C. the Roman world was divided between Marc Antony and Octavian. Antony set out to rule the eastern half of the empire, where he met Cleopatra, the last Greek queen of Egypt. Appian tell us that Antony was won over instantly, and that “This passion ended in complete disaster for both themselves and for the whole of Egypt.” (The Civil Wars, V.1) The two forged an alliance against Octavian which had the earmarks of success, but which failed to produce a victory against the man who would become Rome’s first emperor. Octavian and his admiral Marcus Agrippa defeated the combined forces of Antony and Cleopatra at the Battle of Actium on September 2, 31 B.C., and after some fruitless efforts to muster a new defense, and the suicides of Antony and Cleopatra, Octavian’s victory was complete. The annexation of Egypt on August 29, 30 B.C. was the jewel in the crown of Roman expansionism, a long and arduous process that had begun centuries before. It is no wonder that the acquisition of Egypt was so loudly trumpeted, for it represented the end of the Roman civil war, assured rule over a dangerous rival, and provided access to the recurrent wealth of one of the most important properties in the Mediterranean world. This grand achievement is summarized with very few words in the Res Gestae: Aegyptum imperio populi Romani adieci, ‘I added Egypt to the empire of the Roman people’. Perhaps the reason for such modesty was the fact that Augustus was reporting a half-truth, for he kept Egypt (along with Gaul, Spain, Syria, Cilicia and Cyprus) as his own property, which he administered as a private estate. The original term for this arrangement was ten years, but renewals followed. In the case of Egypt the legacy continued well beyond Augustus’ lifetime, and it remained for a long time property under the direct oversight of the emperor. Augustus did not rely on the traditional solution of sending ex-consuls and ex-praetors to run the province. Instead, for his personal provinces Augustus appointed legati Augusti pro praetore, men who were, by definition, subordinate to him. Since they owed their success to the goodwill of Augustus, their loyalty was never in question. Much of the generosity of Augustus and his successors can be attributed to their ‘ownership’ of Egypt, as large revenues flowed each year from the province to the emperor’s coffer.