My first Roman Republican coin

[expat]

The reverse appealed to me as it is slightly different.

Gaius Naevius Balbus in 79 BC was a supporter of Sulla and may have been a prefect in Sulla’s army at the Battle of the Colline Gate in 82 BC. The obverse of the coin depicts Venus, the patron Saint of Sulla, while the reverse shows Victory, alluding to Sulla’s victory games.

The gens Naevia, occasionally written Navia, was a plebeian or patrician family at ancient Rome. Members of this gens are first mentioned at the time of the Second Punic War, but the first of the Naevii to obtain the consulship was Lucius Naevius Surdinus, in AD 30.

The nomen Naevius is generally regarded as a patronymic surname derived from the praenomen Gnaeus indicating a birthmark.  Gnaeus and naevus, the usual form of the Latin word for a birthmark, were pronounced similarly, and a number of other Latin words could be spelled with either gn- or n-, such as gnatus and natus, "born".

In the time of the Republic, the principal cognomina of the Naevii were Balbus and Matho. Balbus, a common surname, originally signified one who stutters.

GENS NAEVIA. Denarius (Serratus) Ar. 3.89g/19mm. 79 BC Auxiliary workshop of Rome. (FFC 937; Crawford 382/1b). Obv: Diademed head of Venus right, S.C behind, dotted border. Rev: Victory in triga to the right, with one horse looking backwards. Control marker L, above. C NAE BALB in exergue, dotted border.

Edited June 1, 2023 by expat

[Al Kowsky]

2 hours ago, expat said:

The reverse appealed to me as it is slightly different.

Gaius Naevius Balbus in 79 BC was a supporter of Sulla and may have been a prefect in Sulla’s army at the Battle of the Colline Gate in 82 BC. The obverse of the coin depicts Venus, the patron Saint of Sulla, while the reverse shows Victory, alluding to Sulla’s victory games.

The gens Naevia, occasionally written Navia, was a plebeian or patrician family at ancient Rome. Members of this gens are first mentioned at the time of the Second Punic War, but the first of the Naevii to obtain the consulship was Lucius Naevius Surdinus, in AD 30.

The nomen Naevius is generally regarded as a patronymic surname derived from the praenomen Gnaeus indicating a birthmark.  Gnaeus and naevus, the usual form of the Latin word for a birthmark, were pronounced similarly, and a number of other Latin words could be spelled with either gn- or n-, such as gnatus and natus, "born".

In the time of the Republic, the principal cognomina of the Naevii were Balbus and Matho. Balbus, a common surname, originally signified one who stutters.

GENS NAEVIA. Denarius (Serratus) Ar. 3.89g/19mm. 79 BC Auxiliary workshop of Rome. (FFC 937; Crawford 382/1b). Obv: Diademed head of Venus right, S.C behind, dotted border. Rev: Victory in triga to the right, with one horse looking backwards. Control marker L, above. C NAE BALB in exergue, dotted border.

expat, The triga is artistically rendered with the one horse looking back 😊.

Edited June 1, 2023 by Al Kowsky
spelling correction

[ominus1]

..kool man... and a triga too! :).congrats on your E pluribus unum. i'm sure .^^.i have a triga rr but different moneyer(s)(Appius Claudius Pultcher,ManliusMancinius and maybe a Q Urbinius if that aint' a place :P)  110-111BC16mm 3.75grams

Edited June 1, 2023 by ominus1

[DonnaML]

@expat, welcome to the wonderful world of Roman Republican coins! A great choice for your first. Here's my example, including the full writeup in the footnote.

Roman Republic, C. Naevius Balbus, AR Serrate Denarius, 79 BCE, Rome Mint. Obv. Head of Venus [or Juno, see BMCRR p. 366] right, wearing diadem, necklace and long earring, hair long, S • C [Senatus Consulto] behind / Rev. Victory, naked to waist, driving triga right, with rightmost horse turning head back towards the others; control-number CLIII (= 153, with L in form of upside-down T); in exergue, C•NAE•BALB [AE and LB ligate]. Crawford 382/1b, RSC I Naevia 6 (ill.), Sydenham 760b, Sear RCV I 309 (ill.), Grueber, BMCRR 2926-2976 (this control-number at BMCRR 2964), RRM I Ch. 6 at pp. 28-31 [Michael Harlan, Roman Republican Moneyers and their Coins, 81 BCE-64 BCE (2012)]. 19 mm., 3.92 g.*

* The moneyer is “not otherwise known” (Crawford p. 398), although he has been speculatively identified with the Sullan cavalry officer named Balbus, mentioned by Plutarch, who reached Rome in time to stop the Samnites’ advance on the Colline Gate. (Harlan at 28.) The deity on the obverse has most often been identified with Venus (Crawford p. 398, Harlan p. 30, RSC I p. 68. Sear RCV I p. 130), particularly given her claimed resemblance to Venus as depicted on earlier coins by Gaius Norbanus (Crawford 357) and Lucius Cornelius Sulla (Crawford 359) (see Crawford, id.).  If she is Venus, the depiction could be another allusion to the Sullan victory at the Colline Gate, which took place near the Temple of Venus Erycina. (Crawford and Harlan, id.) However, Grueber identifies the deity as Juno (see BMCRR p. 366), given the similar head expressly identified as Juno Moneta on a later coin of L. Plaetorius (Crawford 396).

This was a large issue (as was the next issue, the denarius of Ti. Claudius Ti.f. Ap.n. Nero, Crawford 383, which also bears the “Senatus Consulto” authorization).  According to Crawford, there were 280 obverse and 311 reverse dies of this issue in two subtypes, the first bearing the letters of the Latin alphabet on the obverse as control marks (type 382/1a), and the second bearing the letters of the Latin alphabet and the numerals from I to CCXXX on the reverse (type 382/1b, represented in this coin). See Sear RCV I at p. 130:”This and the following type represent further large outputs of coinage specially authorized by decree of the Senate, doubtless necessitated by the extensive military operations during the dictatorship of Sulla.” Specifically, according to Harlan (p. 29), this issue and the next were minted for the use of the proconsul Quintus Caecilius Metellus Pius (see Crawford 374/1, the Pietas with elephant reverse) for paying his troops in Sulla’s campaign against the rebellious Sertorius in Spain.

Sear also notes at p. 130 of RCV I that the three-horse chariot (triga) depicted on the reverse “is rarely depicted on the Republican coinage, the only other example being on a denarius of Ap. Claudius Pulcher issued in 111/110 BC” (Crawford 299/1). My example:

Harlan also states at RRM I pp. 30-31 that “[t]his is the second and last time that the triga appears on Repblican coinage.” At p. 31, Harlan cites Dionysus of Halicarnassus, who said that “the triga, used long ago by Homeric heroes, was completely out of fashion with the Greeks” by this time. The triga’s current use in Rome in the late second and first centuries BCE, when it was no longer used by the Greeks, “was only found in the celebration of the Ludi Romani, a religious and ceremonial survival of the games originally held by the dictator Aulus Postumius to commemorate [his] victory [over the Latins] at Lake Regillus” in the 490s BCE (famously aided by Castor and Pollux). Id. As the Roman practice in these games is described by Dionysius of Halicarnassus (7.73.2), the “third horse, joined to the team by a trace, runs alongside the two horses yoked together in the usual way” -- explaining why the third horse on the reverse looks back at the other two. According to Harlan, “Naevius’ imagery is intended to recall that ancient victory which established Roman imperium, echoing the caput rerum theme found on the coinage of Aulus Postumius Albinus [Crawford 372/1]. Victory driving the three-horse chariot shows that all efforts to dispute Roman rule were fated to end in Roman victory.” (Emphasis supplied.)

By contrast, as stated above, it is reasonable to interpret the first depiction of a triga, on Crawford 299/1a-1b, as representing the triumvirate of moneyers that issued the type. Indeed, as also noted above, there is a possible explanation for the only subsequent depiction of a triga (on the C. Naevius Balbus denarius, Crawford 382/1) that is much simpler than Harlan’s complicated theory of a symbolic represenatation of Roman imperium: assuming that the AP•CL who was one of the three moneyers named on Crawford 299 was the Appius Claudius Pulcher who was later Consul in 79 BCE, the fact that Crawford 382/1 was itself issued in 79 BCE strongly suggests that its otherwise unique depiction of a triga was no coincidence, but was a tribute to Appius Claudius Pulcher and his earlier issue as moneyer. See Yarrow, supra,  Section 2.1.1 n. 26 at p. 219: as an example of a moneyer’s issue having some “close connection with the consul” of that year (see id. p. 69), pointing out that “[Crawford] 382/1 copies the reverse of 299/1 in the very year the moneyer of 299/1 became himself consul.”

[expat]

@DonnaML thank you for a wonderful and informative write up, enabling me to better understand the coin issue. Great examples you have shown, much appreciated.

[red_spork]

Great coin expat! It also has an interesting little phenomenon going on that I've been trying to figure for years that you see on a lot of late Republican issues like this and that's the parallel scrapes at 3 o clock on the obverse. If you look closely at auctions you see a lot of coins like this and you can find even more if you search somewhere like ACSearch for scrapes. They always go over the fields and stop at the devices, mostly appear on the obverse and they're always parallel and about the same distance apart. They are on so many coins, and often toned just like the coin and often under the hoard/find patina on uncleaned coins so they have to be ancient but I've never seen an actual academic paper discussing them unfortunately. I suspect they're some sort of forgery detection measure, perhaps a special type of clamp that was able to measure the thickness of the not struck up portion of the flan and may have even served to scrape some of the plating off of fourees, but there may be more to them that I'm missing.

 

Sorry for the detour but I always find it interesting when I see those little scrapes

[expat]

2 hours ago, red_spork said:

Great coin expat! It also has an interesting little phenomenon going on that I've been trying to figure for years that you see on a lot of late Republican issues like this and that's the parallel scrapes at 3 o clock on the obverse. If you look closely at auctions you see a lot of coins like this and you can find even more if you search somewhere like ACSearch for scrapes. They always go over the fields and stop at the devices, mostly appear on the obverse and they're always parallel and about the same distance apart. They are on so many coins, and often toned just like the coin and often under the hoard/find patina on uncleaned coins so they have to be ancient but I've never seen an actual academic paper discussing them unfortunately. I suspect they're some sort of forgery detection measure, perhaps a special type of clamp that was able to measure the thickness of the not struck up portion of the flan and may have even served to scrape some of the plating off of fourees, but there may be more to them that I'm missing.

 

Sorry for the detour but I always find it interesting when I see those little scrapes

That is an interesting theory and not something I had thought about. I assumed they were die defects until you pointed out they appear on different series, types etc.

[Alegandron]

Like it a lot!


RR Naevius Balbus 79 BCE AR Den Venus SC TRIGA Sulla S 309 Cr 382-1

[Alegandron]

RR Pulcher Mallius Mancinus Urbinius 111-110 BCE AR Den TRIGA S 176 Cr 299-1a


And another of the same, that is AAAaall messed up! 


RR Clodius Pulcher T Mallius AR Den 111-110 BCE ERROR Flipover Double-Strike Roma Triga Cr 299-1b S 176

[Dafydd]

Here is a similar  coin for your interest @expat However this is Q.ANTONIUS BALBUS and not Gaius Naevius Balbus. Obvious differences are different deity, beard, and more enthusiastic horses!

 

Obv. Laur. head of Jupiter right , SC behind.

Appears to be the principal coinage of the faction opposed to the return of Sulla to Rome. Balbus strikes as praetor by special decree of the Senate.

Reverse. Victory in quadriga right holding wreath and palm. Control letter M below. 18 mm 3.88 g. Ex- Navilles 2014.  

 

Edited August 15, 2023 by Dafydd
typo

[Qcumbor]

Cool first one @expat

That was my first RR denarius, acquired fourty years ago, and gone away from my trays some years ago now (not my first roman though)

 

 

Q

[Roman Collector]

On 6/1/2023 at 5:29 AM, expat said:

The reverse appealed to me as it is slightly different.

Gaius Naevius Balbus in 79 BC was a supporter of Sulla and may have been a prefect in Sulla’s army at the Battle of the Colline Gate in 82 BC. The obverse of the coin depicts Venus, the patron Saint of Sulla, while the reverse shows Victory, alluding to Sulla’s victory games.

The gens Naevia, occasionally written Navia, was a plebeian or patrician family at ancient Rome. Members of this gens are first mentioned at the time of the Second Punic War, but the first of the Naevii to obtain the consulship was Lucius Naevius Surdinus, in AD 30.

The nomen Naevius is generally regarded as a patronymic surname derived from the praenomen Gnaeus indicating a birthmark.  Gnaeus and naevus, the usual form of the Latin word for a birthmark, were pronounced similarly, and a number of other Latin words could be spelled with either gn- or n-, such as gnatus and natus, "born".

In the time of the Republic, the principal cognomina of the Naevii were Balbus and Matho. Balbus, a common surname, originally signified one who stutters.

GENS NAEVIA. Denarius (Serratus) Ar. 3.89g/19mm. 79 BC Auxiliary workshop of Rome. (FFC 937; Crawford 382/1b). Obv: Diademed head of Venus right, S.C behind, dotted border. Rev: Victory in triga to the right, with one horse looking backwards. Control marker L, above. C NAE BALB in exergue, dotted border.

Very nice! Here's my triga:

 

Edited February 22 by Roman Collector
New photo

[ewomack]

Wow. These are all quite a bit nicer than my first Roman Republic coin, which I still have. I found it sitting in one of those spinning racks at a local coin store for $20. Amazed that I could obtain a 2,000 year old coin for such a pittance, I bought it. Though it didn't lead to a fascination with Roman Republics, it helped turn my interests away from moderns and towards ancients. So I still consider it a pivotal coin personally.

P. Clodius Turrinus Rome mint, 42 BC; Laureate head of Apollo right; lyre to left / Diana Lucifera standing facing, head right, bow and quiver on her shoulder, holding lighted torch in each hand; M • F at left, P • CLODIVS at right 3.5 g, 19 mm Crawford 494/23; Syd 1117

[maridvnvm]

My triga

C Naevius Balbus, AR Serrate Denarius

Obv:- Diademed head of Venus right, SC behind
Rev:- Victory in triga right; numeral CLVI above, C NAE BALB in ex.
Minted in Rome. 79 B.C.
Crawford 382/1b; Syd 769b. Naevia 6.

Uneven toning on obverse with a dark toned reverse.