Roma Numismatics Ltd
Auction XVIII 29 Sep 2019
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L. Aemilius Buca AR Denarius. Rome, January 44 BC. Diademed head of Venus right, wearing earring and necklace, hair collected into a knot, falling in two locks down her neck; L•BVCA downwards behind / Sulla's dream: in the foreground on left, Sulla reclining right, his left arm supporting his head; before, Luna Lucifera, wearing crescent on head, descending to left from a mountain, her veil floating above her head and holding lit torch in right hand, Victory with spread wings standing facing in background, holding palm frond in raised right hand. Crawford 480/1; Alföldi Type I; CRI 164; Sydenham 1064; BMCRR Rome 4160-1; RSC Aemilia 12; FFC 132 (this coin). 3.64g, 19mm, 7h.
Mint State; light cabinet tone.
This coin published in Fernández, Fernández & Calicó, Catálogo Monográfico de los Denarios de la República Romana (2002);
Ex Alba Longa Collection.
The traditional interpretation of this reverse type is that it depicts a story related in Plutarch (Vit. Sull. 9.4) in which while Sulla was en route with his forces to challenge Marius at Rome, a goddess (probably the early Roman war goddess Bellona, but here represented by Luna) appeared to him in a dream and "to his thinking, stood by him, and put into his hand thunder and lightning, then naming his enemies one by one, bade him strike them." In this interpretation, Victory here represents the fulfilment of this prophetic dream, for Sulla indeed defeated Marius and proceeded to execute his perceived enemies: "Sulla now busied himself with slaughter, and murders without number or limit filled the city" (Vit. Sull. 31.1). That such an obscure episode should have been depicted on the coinage at this particular moment in history seems improbable. We must consider the inconsistencies in the representation: Luna is depicted, lacking any warlike thunderbolts; the reclining figure is merely draped to the waist, not in military attire as we might expect were this intended to be an obvious representation of Sulla, and he is furthermore reclining not on a camp bed or indeed any other type of bed, but rather what appears to be the top of a pyre. The alternative interpretation of this issue therefore is that it is "a very early Caesarian posthumous issue portraying the apotheosis of Julius Caesar" (Italo Vecchi, CNG 66, 1321). "A victorious and heroic figure reclining on a bier greeted by Luna, patroness of Caesar's great public spectacles, with the upright torch of immortality, may be seen as indicating the Divus Julius".
Mint State; light cabinet tone.
This coin published in Fernández, Fernández & Calicó, Catálogo Monográfico de los Denarios de la República Romana (2002);
Ex Alba Longa Collection.
The traditional interpretation of this reverse type is that it depicts a story related in Plutarch (Vit. Sull. 9.4) in which while Sulla was en route with his forces to challenge Marius at Rome, a goddess (probably the early Roman war goddess Bellona, but here represented by Luna) appeared to him in a dream and "to his thinking, stood by him, and put into his hand thunder and lightning, then naming his enemies one by one, bade him strike them." In this interpretation, Victory here represents the fulfilment of this prophetic dream, for Sulla indeed defeated Marius and proceeded to execute his perceived enemies: "Sulla now busied himself with slaughter, and murders without number or limit filled the city" (Vit. Sull. 31.1). That such an obscure episode should have been depicted on the coinage at this particular moment in history seems improbable. We must consider the inconsistencies in the representation: Luna is depicted, lacking any warlike thunderbolts; the reclining figure is merely draped to the waist, not in military attire as we might expect were this intended to be an obvious representation of Sulla, and he is furthermore reclining not on a camp bed or indeed any other type of bed, but rather what appears to be the top of a pyre. The alternative interpretation of this issue therefore is that it is "a very early Caesarian posthumous issue portraying the apotheosis of Julius Caesar" (Italo Vecchi, CNG 66, 1321). "A victorious and heroic figure reclining on a bier greeted by Luna, patroness of Caesar's great public spectacles, with the upright torch of immortality, may be seen as indicating the Divus Julius".