Roma Numismatics Ltd
Auction XIX 26-27 Mar 2020
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Augustus AR Denarius. Rome, 19-18 BC. P. Petronius Turpilianus, moneyer. CAESAR AVGVSTVS, bare head right / P•PETR[ON•TVRP]ILIAN•III•VIR, Pegasus standing right with left foreleg and hoof raised. RIC 297; BMCRE 23-6 = BMCRR Rome 4536-9; RSC 491; BN 148 (same dies). 4.01g. 19mm, 7h.
Near Mint State; beautiful dark old cabinet tone. Very Rare.
From the Brian Henry Grover (1924-2015) Collection.
It is potentially no coincidence that the issue of IIIvir monetalis P. Petronius Turpilianus showing the image of what must have been a magnificent Greek statue of Pegasus as the horse of the Muses in act of striking the ground with his hoof coincided with the year of the epic poet Virgil's death. Virgil is known to have travelled to Greece in about 19 BC to revise the Aeneid, and after meeting Augustus in Athens returned thereafter to Italy, but caught a fever and died near Brundisium later that year on 21 September.
This reverse type may be considered to allude to the spring of the Muses, the Hippokrene ('Horse's Fountain'), on Mount Helikon, where the winged stallion had struck his hoof and the spring came forth. According to Pausanias (Description of Greece, 9.31.3) the water of this spring was supposed to give poetic inspiration when imbibed. The reverse type of this issue may thus plausibly be interpreted as a subtle yet elegant commemoration of the memory of Virgil as a champion of Roman culture in the Golden Age of Augustus wherein thrived a rich appreciation of all forms of Greek culture and myth.
Near Mint State; beautiful dark old cabinet tone. Very Rare.
From the Brian Henry Grover (1924-2015) Collection.
It is potentially no coincidence that the issue of IIIvir monetalis P. Petronius Turpilianus showing the image of what must have been a magnificent Greek statue of Pegasus as the horse of the Muses in act of striking the ground with his hoof coincided with the year of the epic poet Virgil's death. Virgil is known to have travelled to Greece in about 19 BC to revise the Aeneid, and after meeting Augustus in Athens returned thereafter to Italy, but caught a fever and died near Brundisium later that year on 21 September.
This reverse type may be considered to allude to the spring of the Muses, the Hippokrene ('Horse's Fountain'), on Mount Helikon, where the winged stallion had struck his hoof and the spring came forth. According to Pausanias (Description of Greece, 9.31.3) the water of this spring was supposed to give poetic inspiration when imbibed. The reverse type of this issue may thus plausibly be interpreted as a subtle yet elegant commemoration of the memory of Virgil as a champion of Roman culture in the Golden Age of Augustus wherein thrived a rich appreciation of all forms of Greek culture and myth.