Roma Numismatics Ltd
Auction XVI 26 Sep 2018
View prices realized
► Sale information
Find similar lots
Sextus Pompey AR Denarius. Uncertain mint in Sicily (Catania?), 42-40 BC. MAG•PIVS• IMP•ITER, diademed and bearded head of Neptune right; trident over left shoulder / Naval trophy set on anchor, top of trident visible above helmet; the arms composed of the stem of a prow in right and aplustre in left; heads of Scylla and Charybdis at base; PRAEF•CLAS•ET ORAE•MARIT•EX•S•C around. Crawford 511/2a; RSC 1a; Sydenham 1347; CRI 333. 3.74g, 19mm, 12h.
Good Extremely Fine; attractive old cabinet tone.
Ex Molard Collection, Switzerland.
It has been remarked that the coinage of Sextus Pompey was a step towards the propagandistic issues of the Roman emperors. Having decided upon an affinity with Neptune, he minted a series of coins depicting the god and continuing his theme of pietas. This virtue was highly valued in Roman society; the city's founder Aeneas' epithet is pius and tradition details that his piety was three-fold; to his father, his homeland and the gods.
Pompey was not the only imperator to draw upon the Aeneas myth on his coinage (see Crawford 458/1), however he was unique in commandeering a theme and using it repeatedly. His earliest denarii feature a personification of the goddess Pietas (Crawford 477/1a), but references become subtler and more complex on later issues as per the present example. Here, Pompey Magnus is remembered within the obverse legend, with Pietas also explicitly referenced. Sextus Pompey does not allow us to forget that it was the Senate who declared him praefectus classis et orae maritima, tying his patriotism in neatly. This military title lends itself obviously to Neptune, whose portrait is displayed on the obverse. The naval trophy not only alludes to Pompey's naval victories but also to his piety towards Neptune to whom he is reported to have sacrificed 100 bulls and in whose honour a live horse was flung into the sea, along with an offering of gold (Florus 2.18.3).
Good Extremely Fine; attractive old cabinet tone.
Ex Molard Collection, Switzerland.
It has been remarked that the coinage of Sextus Pompey was a step towards the propagandistic issues of the Roman emperors. Having decided upon an affinity with Neptune, he minted a series of coins depicting the god and continuing his theme of pietas. This virtue was highly valued in Roman society; the city's founder Aeneas' epithet is pius and tradition details that his piety was three-fold; to his father, his homeland and the gods.
Pompey was not the only imperator to draw upon the Aeneas myth on his coinage (see Crawford 458/1), however he was unique in commandeering a theme and using it repeatedly. His earliest denarii feature a personification of the goddess Pietas (Crawford 477/1a), but references become subtler and more complex on later issues as per the present example. Here, Pompey Magnus is remembered within the obverse legend, with Pietas also explicitly referenced. Sextus Pompey does not allow us to forget that it was the Senate who declared him praefectus classis et orae maritima, tying his patriotism in neatly. This military title lends itself obviously to Neptune, whose portrait is displayed on the obverse. The naval trophy not only alludes to Pompey's naval victories but also to his piety towards Neptune to whom he is reported to have sacrificed 100 bulls and in whose honour a live horse was flung into the sea, along with an offering of gold (Florus 2.18.3).