Maison Palombo
Auction 19 12 Dec 2020
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République romaine - Quintus Labienus
Denier - Asie Mineure (40).
D'une grande rareté - Quelques rayures.
Vendu avec son certificat d'authenticité de la maison NAC.
3.55g - Cr. 524/2 - Sear Imperators 341
Pratiquement TTB – VF
Considering that Caesar had killed his father, the general Titus Labienus, at the Battle of Munda in 45 BC, it is not surprising that Quintus Labienus joined Cassius and Brutus after his murder in March 44 BC. Sent in the winter of 43-42 BC to ask for the help of the Parthian King Orodes II, against the Caesarians, Labienus learnt from Ctesiphon of the Battle of Philippi (October 42 BC), which resulted in the proscription of political opponents by the triumvirs, and he convinced the king to attack the Romans: the Parthian army of 20,000 men, led by Labienus and Prince Pacorus (son of Orodes II), joined by veterans of the legions of Cassius and Brutus, invaded Syria in early 40 BC. It must be then that this coin was struck, to pay for the rebel troops, possibly in the mint of Antioch - considering the quality of the engraving. The message issued by Q. LABIENVS PARTHICVS IMP is very clear, and would have been striking to the Romans who remembered the way in which the Parthian cavalry defeated Crassus' army at Carrhae thirteen years before. And the cavalry horse on the reverse is clearly that of a Parthian horse-archer, as Roman horses were not equipped with such a bowcase and quiver affixed to the saddle. Faced with this major threat, Mark Antony and Octavian reconciled in October 40 BC, and sent an army led by P. Ventidius Bassus to repel the invasion. In 39 BC, Quintus invaded southern Asia Minor, and Pacorus invaded Palestine and Phoenicia. After several defeats in 39- 38 BC, Roman peace was restored in the East, and Labienus was captured in Cilicia (in modern Turkey) by a freedman of Caesar in 39 BC. His coins were supposedly melted after his defeat, in consideration of their great rarity. Rather than a traitor to the Romans, Labienus should rather be seen as the last of the Liberators to have fought - to the death - to defend the res publica against the Caesarian tyranny which finally resulted in the Roman Empire.
Biblio.: Charles Hersh, " The coinage of Quintus Labienus Parthicus", in Revue Suisse de numismatique 59 (1980), pp. 41-49, pls 4-5; John Curran,
" The Ambitions of Quintus Labienus Parthicus", in Antichton 41 (2007), pp. 33-53.
Denier - Asie Mineure (40).
D'une grande rareté - Quelques rayures.
Vendu avec son certificat d'authenticité de la maison NAC.
3.55g - Cr. 524/2 - Sear Imperators 341
Pratiquement TTB – VF
Considering that Caesar had killed his father, the general Titus Labienus, at the Battle of Munda in 45 BC, it is not surprising that Quintus Labienus joined Cassius and Brutus after his murder in March 44 BC. Sent in the winter of 43-42 BC to ask for the help of the Parthian King Orodes II, against the Caesarians, Labienus learnt from Ctesiphon of the Battle of Philippi (October 42 BC), which resulted in the proscription of political opponents by the triumvirs, and he convinced the king to attack the Romans: the Parthian army of 20,000 men, led by Labienus and Prince Pacorus (son of Orodes II), joined by veterans of the legions of Cassius and Brutus, invaded Syria in early 40 BC. It must be then that this coin was struck, to pay for the rebel troops, possibly in the mint of Antioch - considering the quality of the engraving. The message issued by Q. LABIENVS PARTHICVS IMP is very clear, and would have been striking to the Romans who remembered the way in which the Parthian cavalry defeated Crassus' army at Carrhae thirteen years before. And the cavalry horse on the reverse is clearly that of a Parthian horse-archer, as Roman horses were not equipped with such a bowcase and quiver affixed to the saddle. Faced with this major threat, Mark Antony and Octavian reconciled in October 40 BC, and sent an army led by P. Ventidius Bassus to repel the invasion. In 39 BC, Quintus invaded southern Asia Minor, and Pacorus invaded Palestine and Phoenicia. After several defeats in 39- 38 BC, Roman peace was restored in the East, and Labienus was captured in Cilicia (in modern Turkey) by a freedman of Caesar in 39 BC. His coins were supposedly melted after his defeat, in consideration of their great rarity. Rather than a traitor to the Romans, Labienus should rather be seen as the last of the Liberators to have fought - to the death - to defend the res publica against the Caesarian tyranny which finally resulted in the Roman Empire.
Biblio.: Charles Hersh, " The coinage of Quintus Labienus Parthicus", in Revue Suisse de numismatique 59 (1980), pp. 41-49, pls 4-5; John Curran,
" The Ambitions of Quintus Labienus Parthicus", in Antichton 41 (2007), pp. 33-53.