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Roma Numismatics Ltd
E-Sale 69  16 Apr 2020
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Lot 839

Estimate: 150 GBP
Price realized: 200 GBP
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L. Marcius Philippus AR Denarius. Rome, 56 BC. Head of Ancus Marcius right, wearing diadem; lituus behind, ANCVS below / Aqueduct on which stands equestrian statue, flower below; PHILIPPVS to left, AQVA MAR ligate within arches of aqueduct. Crawford 425/1; RSC Marcia 28. 3.95g, 19mm, 9h.

Near Extremely Fine; banker's marks to obv., lightly toned and lustrous.

From the inventory of a European dealer.

The Marcia gens claimed decent from Ancus Marcius, the fourth king of Rome, who is said to have been the first to bring water to Rome by means of an aqueduct. The equestrian statue is that of Q. Marcius Rex, who, when praetor in 144 BC, was commissioned by the Senate to repair the old aqueducts and to build one which would give a supply of water to the Capitol.

This aqueduct, known as the Aqua Marcia, still stands in parts today and together with the Aqua Anio Vetus, Aqua Anio Novus and Aqua Claudia, is regarded as one of the four great aqueducts of ancient Rome. Largely paid for by spoils from the recent Roman conquests of Corinth in 146 BC and the destruction of Carthage at the end of the Third Punic War, in the same year. The Aqua Marcia supplied water to the Viminal Hill in the north of Rome, and from there to the Caelian, Aventine, Palatine, and Capitoline regions of the city. Its extension to the Capitoline Hill caused a controversy at the time, because traditionalists were concerned about a passage in the Sibylline Books warning against bringing water there.
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