Featured Roman Republican Nos. 58-60: Licinius Nerva, Aurelius Cotta, & Nonius Sufenas

I have finally accepted that I'm probably never going to get further in writing up these three coins -- all purchased at least a few months ago -- than I have already. And since I've already gone past them by posting the write-up of my recently-purchased Lucretius Trio denarius (Sol/Crescent moon & 7 stars), I might as well go ahead now and post the three with their incomplete write-ups. My apologies in advance for omitting additional information, such as different interpretations, that may be relevant and that I may (or may not) have originally intended to include -- but have utterly forgotten by this time!

58. Roman Republic, P. Nerva, AR Denarius, Rome Mint, 113-112 BCE. Obv: Bust of Roma left wearing crested helmet with feather or aigrette (instead of wing) and single-drop earring, holding shield (ornamented with image of horseman galloping) against left shoulder with left hand, and spear over right shoulder with right hand, crescent moon above, star (*) [= monogrammed XVI; mark of value] before; behind, ROMA upwards / Rev. Voting scene inside Comitium in Forum: one togate voter to left of pons [bridge/walkway to place for depositing ballot tablet] receives ballot from attendant below; another togate voter to right of pons drops ballot in cista (voting basket); two lines behind voting scene and bar near top of reverse (described as “screen” by Sear) mark off voting area (denoting the barrier dividing a given tribe’s enclosure [saepta] from those allotted to different tribes), with bar or screen surmounted by marker/tabella inscribed with the initial “P” (possibly representing a particular voting tribe); P • NERVA [NE ligate] across field beneath bar (or beneath top of screen per Sear). Crawford 292/1; BMCRR II Italy 526 (at p. 274); RSC I [Babelon] Licinia 7 (ill.); Sear RCV I 169 (ill.); Sydenham 548; Yarrow 4.40 at p. 195 (ill.) [Liv Mariah Yarrow, The Roman Republic to 49 BCE: Using Coins as Sources (2021)]. 17.21 mm., 3.87 g., 7 h. David R. Sear Certificate of Authenticity, May 2, 2013, No. 811CY/RR/A/CR (issued to Steve Peterson, noting “flan flaw on edge of reverse not affecting the type”).* Purchased at JAZ Numismatics Auction # 186, Lot 4, June 2021; ex. J.B. DePew Collection; ex. Steve Peterson Collection; ex. CNG Auction 295, Jan. 30, 2013, Lot 361; ex. Bruce R. Brace Collection.**






*David Sear describes this issue as “[o]ne of the most celebrated types of the entire Republican coinage,” depicting “the actual voting process in the political assembly of the Roman People in the Comitium, where citizens voted on business presented to them by magistrates. The area occupied by the Comitium was consecrated ground, like a temple, and was located in front of the Senate House [Curia] in the forum.” Sear RCV I at p. 105; see also Sear Certificate; Jones, John Melville, A Dictionary of Ancient Roman Coins (Seaby, London, 1990), entry for “Comitium” at p. 64: “From coire, ‘go together,’ the name of the area on the edge of the Forum at Rome which was used as a place of public assembly and where elections took place (the plural, comitia, was used as the name of the assemblies which were held there). A denarius of 113-[11]2 BC [this issue] shows a voting scene in the Comitium, with a voter crossing a narrow walkway, the pons, to cast his vote without being observed.” See also the Sear Certificate, explaining that “[t]he pons was a bridge in the Comitium which voters had to cross in order to cast their ballots and it kept them from any potential interference”; Crawford p. 307 (“it is not clear what the purpose of the pons was if not to isolate the voters”).

The standard view of the “P” on the marker or tablet surmounting the barrier or screen is that it represents the initial of a particular voting tribe. See Crawford Vol. I p. 307. For a different opinion, see E.E. Clain-Stefanelli, Life in Republican Rome on its Coinage (1999) at p. 16: “above to the right is a tablet inscribed with a P (provoco -- I appeal),” referring to the right of appeal in criminal proceedings; accord BMCRR II Italy p. 275 n. 2. Prof. Yarrow has yet a different opinion: see Sec. 4.41 of her book at pp. 193-194, stating that electoral ballots as depicted on the Republican coinage (as opposed to ballots in criminal proceedings) “seem[] to be hinged-like representations of wax-writing tablets; one side of the tablet is inscribed with a P and the other has the initials (or space for the initials) of the candidate [citing, inter alia, the illustration of this coin at Fig. 4.40]. The P may resolve as pro, in the sense of a vote ‘for’ or ‘in support of’ the named candidate.” (This explanation may account for the fact that on less worn examples, the open “P” on the rectangular tablet or marker seems to be to the far left, with the remainder blank.)

The moneyer is “presumably” Publius Licinius Nerva, Praetor in Sicily (i.e., its governor) in 104/103 BCE at the time of the Second Servile War. See Crawford I. p. 306; Sear Certificate; BMCRR II Italy p. 274 n. 2. The Sear Certificate states that “[t]he reason for Nerva’s selection of this type is not easy to establish, though it may refer back to a measure concerning enfranchisement carried by an ancestor of the moneyer’s as well as being a more contemporary reference to the Marian law of 119 BC by which the width of the pons was narrowed.” Crawford prefers the Marian explanation; see Vol I p. 307.

** Bruce R. Brace "was a scholar and by many considered to be a dean of Roman Numismatics in Canada. Coins from his extensive collection were sold by CNG in 2012 and 2013." https://www.vcoins.com/en/stores/an..._ex_bruce_r_brace_library/630746/Default.aspx . According to Google, he was the former General Chairman of the Canadian Numismatic Association, the recipient of their J.D. Ferguson Award in 1984, and the former honorary curator of the McMaster University Museum of Art coin collection, at least a portion of which is now known as the Bruce R. Brace Coin Collection.

PS: I have one other Roman Republican coin with a voting scene (my Roman Republican No. 45), posted here without the footnote to my description.

Roman Republic, L. Cassius Longinus, AR Denarius, 63 or 60 BCE, Rome Mint. Obv. Veiled and diademed head of Vesta left, control-letter “A” before her, kylix (two-handled cup) behind her / Rev. Togate figure standing left, dropping a voting tablet favorable to proposed legislation, inscribed “V” (Vti Rogas [= “as you propose”]) into a cista before him, LONGIN III•V downwards behind him. Crawford 413/1, RSC I Cassia 10 (ill.), Sear RCV I 364 (ill.), Sydenham 935, Harlan, RRM II Ch. 6 at pp.49-53, BMCRR 3929 (control-letter “A”); see also id. 3930-3936 (other control letters). 3.96 g., 19 mm., 6 h. Formerly in NGC slab, Cert. No.4280866-009, Graded Ch. XF, Strike: 4/5, Surface 4/5.) [For the full description, including the footnote, see https://www.cointalk.com/threads/roman-republican-denarius-45.374815/#post-6245666.]



59. Roman Republic, L. Aurelius Cotta*, AR serrate Denarius, 105 BCE, Rome Mint. Obv. Draped bust of Vulcan right, wearing conical cap (pileus) bound with laurel wreath, tongs behind shoulder with * [= XVI; mark of value] above; beneath chin, control mark “D” with single pellet below**; all within myrtle-wreath / Rev. Eagle standing three-quarters right on thunderbolt with wings spread and head left; in exergue, L • COT; laurel-wreath around.*** Crawford 314/1b, RSC I Aurelia 21 (ill.); BMCRR 1296, Sydenham 577, Sear RCV I 191 (ill.). 19 mm., 3.74 g. Purchased from Ken Dorney June 2021; with old coin ticket from 1950s/1960s [with Sydenham number but not Crawford].



*”The moneyer is presumably L. Aurelius Cotta, Tr. Pl. 103 and Pr. ?95.” Crawford Vol. I p. 322.

*The control marks on [314/]1b are the letters of the Latin alphabet, alone or accompanied by up to two dots.” Id.

***”The obverse type [depicting Vulcan] recalls the standard obverse type of the coinage of Lipara, captured by C. Aurelius Cotta, Cos. 252; the reverse type alludes to the triumph celebrated in consequence.” Id. But see Prof. Yarrow’s blog post dated July 17, 2013 (https://livyarrow.org/2013/07/17/visual-parallels-debunking-historical-allusions/), arguing that an examination of the coins of Lipara “doesn’t instill confidence in this claim” (illustration at link). She points instead to an example of a (2nd Century BCE?) bronze coin of Malaka in Spain also portraying Vulcan on the obverse, with Helios on the reverse (illustration also at link), asserting that “the parallel [of the Vulcan on Aurelius Cotta’s coin] with Malaka in Spain is nearly perfect, right down to the wreath and the placement of the tongs behind the head,” and that “I think we can be sure the Spanish coin is the prototype, and not vi[ce] versa, as the Malakan bronze has Punic lettering.” However, Prof. Yarrow offers no explanation for the moneyer’s theorized choice of a Spanish prototype: “So far I’m hard pressed to find a Cotta with a Spanish connection. The poor L. Aurelius Cotta, cos. 144, was denied the opportunity to go to Spain (Val. Max. 6.4.2).” Id. She suggests instead that the image may perhaps have “provided an attractive model for representing Hephaistos, the smith god, for some other reason,” unspecified in her blog post. (This coin does not appear to be discussed in Prof. Yarrow’s new book)

60. Roman Republi, M. Nonius Sufenas*, AR Denarius, 59 BCE (or 57 BCE according to Hersh and Walker & Harlan), Rome Mint. Obv. Bearded head of Saturn right, with long hair; behind head, harpa with conical stone (baetyl)** beneath it and S•C upwards above it; before, SVFENAS downwards / Rev. Roma seated left on pile of shields, holding scepter in right hand and sword in left hand; behind, Victory left, crowning Roma with wreath and holding palm-branch extending behind her over right shoulder; around to left from 4:00, PR•L• - V• - P•F; in exergue, SEX•NONI [The two parts of the reverse legend, together, stand for Sex. Noni[us] pr[aetor] L[udi] V[ictoriae] p[rimus] f[ecit, meaning Sex. Nonius, praetor, first held the games of Victory.].*** Crawford 421/1, RSC Nonia1(ill.), BMCRR 3820, Sear RCV I 377 (ill.), Sydenham 885, Harlan, RRM II Ch. 13 at pp. 104-111[Harlan, Michael, Roman Republican Moneyers and their Coins 63 BCE - 49 BCE (2d ed. 2015)], RBW Collection 1517. 19 mm., 3.95 g.



*”The moneyer is doubtless M. Nonius Sufenas, Pr. 55.” Crawford Vol. I p. 445. But see Liv Mariah Yarrow, The Roman Republic to 49 BCE: Using Coins as Sources (2021), Fig. 3.53 at p. 158, suggesting that in the alternative, the moneyer was “perhaps his son.” M. Nonius Sufenas’s “father, Sextus Nonius Sufenas, was Sulla’s nephew, making the moneyer Faustus’ first cousin once removed.” Id. (Faustus was Sulla’s son.) See also Harlan RRM II at pp. 109-110.

After his term as moneyer, Nonius Sufenas is mentioned in one of Cicero’s letters to Atticus in July 54 BCE: “Now for the news at Rome. On the fourth of July, Sufenas and Cato were acquitted, Procilius condemned. Clearly our stern judges care not one whit about bribery, the elections, the interregnum, treason, or the whole Republic." Cicero, Ad Atticum, 4.15.4. See Harlan RRM II at pp. 104-106 for a proposed identification of the election which was the subject of the prosecution, namely the consular election of 56 BCE.

** See Harlan RRM II at p. 107: "The head of Saturn clearly identified by the harpa and the conical stone beside his head is on the obverse of the coin. The harpa recalls the castration of his father Uranus that resulted in the birth of Venus and the conical stone recalls that Saturn swallowed a stone thinking it was his infant son Jupiter whom he was trying to keep from growing up to replace him."

"Saturn, always identified by the harpa, appeared five times on Republican denarii." Id. Harlan suggests (id. pp. 107-108) that, as on other coins on which Saturn appears, his image on this coin was intended to signal the moneyer’s past or present position holding office as urban quaestor, and, as such, “responsible for the treasury located in Saturn’s temple.”

***This reverse legend, as illustrated by the reverse image, “records the first celebration by an ancestor of the moneyer of the Ludi Victoriae of Sulla.” Crawford Vol. I pp. 445-446. (That ancestor was the aforementioned Sextus Nonius Sufenas, Pr. 81 BCE, the moneyer’s father [or grandfather] and Sulla’s nephew.)

Please post whatever you think is relevant, whether it be a voting scene, a depiction of Vulcan or Saturn, or anything else.

And please don't hesitate to point out any errors or omissions in my draft write-ups of these three coins, made final by the passage of time!

 

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Absolutely wonderful P. Nerva voting scene denarius. That one is high on my target list. Fun post!

Here is my only depiction of Vulcan (Hephaestus) showing the same pileus cap and laurel as your coin. I discuss the mythology behind this iconography here.

IONIA, Magnesia ad Maeandrum
Themistokles, AR Hemiobol, struck ca. 465-459 BC
Dia.: 8 mm
Wt.: 0.24 g
Obv.: Head of Hephaistos right, wearing laureate pilos; Θ-E flanking /
Rev.: ΘE monogram in dotted square border within incuse square.
Ref.: Nollé & Wenninger 5a; Cahn & Gerin 8 = SNG München 585; SNG Copenhagen;
Very rare.
Ex Plankenhorn Collection of Ionian Coins

 

Great example. I just have a budget example.

Love the Aurelius Cotta too.


P. Licinia Nerva (113-112 B.C.)
AR Denarius
O: Helmeted bust of Roma left, holding shield and spear over shoulder; crescent above, mark of value to left.
R: Three citizens voting on comitium: one voter receives ballot from attendant below, another voter places ballot in cista; [P] on tablet above bar.
Rome Mint
17mm
3.3g
Crawford 292/1, Sydenham 548; Licinia 7

 

One specific question about a subject I didn't address, concerning the first coin posted, the denarius of Licinius Nerva. Does anyone have an interpretation for the crescent moon above Roma on the obverse? I distinctly remember reading a theory somewhere, but can't remember where, or what it was!

 

Thanks. I will read your explanation tomorrow!

 

@DonnaML Very nice. I especially like the Cassius Longinus denarius. I think the Vesta portrait is quite nice.

 

I found an answer to my own question. The association of Roma with the symbolism of Diana (including on this coin) is discussed at Crawford Vol. II p. 725. I knew I'd seen it somewhere! I will post a quotation tomorrow.

 

M. Nonius Sufenas Ar Denarius 57 BC Obv Head of Saturn right Rv Roma seated left on pile of arms being crowned by Victory who is standing behind her. Crawford 421/1 RBW 1517 3.84 grms 18 mm Photo by W. Hansen Little is known about this moneyer. He is thought to be the "bag of puss" mentioned in a poem by
Catullus (Compared to today Roman political discourse was sooo civilized) The reverse is likely a reference to the Victory Games instituted by Sulla to celebrate his victory over Marius.

 

A wonderful example, @Terence Cheesman! Does Catullus's poem explain the reason for the use of that colorful description? I wonder if it has anything to do with this moneyer's prosecution for illegal election activities, noted above.

 

Here is Crawford's discussion of the association, describing it rather than attempting to explain why that association -- which I hadn't previously read about -- existed in the first place:

"The association with Roma of the symbolism of Diana is curious. It is clearest on the bronze half-piece of the Apollo horse ROMA bronze (no. 26/4); a head of Roma forms the obverse type, the reverse type is a dog, normally the animal of Diana. The crescent above the head of Roma on the denarii of P. Nerva (no. 292/1) also recalls Diana. It is also worth remarking that the head of Roma first appears on a semis associated with an as portraying Diana's brother Apollo and that on a late unica (no. 285/7) the head of Roma is replaced, by way of artistic variation, by a head of Apollo. The conclusion is thus that, in spite of borrowings from the iconography of Pallas [Athena] (see p. 722 n. 2), the Romans throughout regarded Roma as having close affinities with Diana. But the female helmeted head which I regard as that of Roma cannot be identified as that of Diana; it is not Diana in the later Republic and there is no reason to regard it as Diana in the earlier period."

Crawford Vol. II p. 725 (footnotes omitted, boldfaced emphasis supplied, italicized emphasis in original).

Any thoughts on this association would certainly be appreciated. (I've discussed in other threads the close association between the iconographies of Roma and Virtus; see https://www.cointalk.com/threads/virtus-vanity.381940/#post-7662141 and the two articles cited.) Regardless of the reason, however, I think that Roma looks very stylish on my coin with a crescent moon above her helmet. She should have appeared like that more often!

 

As always, splendid Republican denarii and write-ups!

I very much like the RRC 292/1 voting scene and am on the look for an example myself - so far without success, though.

Yet I can contribute my Sufenas denarius to this thread. With the Sullan reference and the complex depiction of Saturn, this is a rather interesting type. One of my favorite 2020 purchases:

Roman Republic, moneyer: M. Nonius Sufenas, AR denarius, 59 BC, Rome mint. Obv: S·C SVFENAS; head of Saturn r.; behind, harpa and conical stone (baetylus). Rev: PR·L·V·P·F; SEX·NONI: Roma seated l. on pile of armour, holding sceptre in r. hand and sword in l. hand; behind, Victory holding palm-branch in l. hand and crowning Roma with r. hand. Ref: RRC 421/1. 19mm, 3.92g.

 

Great looking coins @DonnaML - the blue iridescence on the M. Nonius Sufenas is striking, and the Longinus is amazing. I have a little collection (4 so far) of voting related RR denarii written up here: Roman Voting Laws. Also, I will share this recent add with "voting urn" by an earlier Longinus.

C. Cassius Longinus, AR denarius, 126,
Obv: Head of Roma with winged helmet right; behind, mark of value * and voting-urn
Rev: C. CASSI / ROMA, Libertas in quadriga right, holding reins, rod and pileus
Ref: Crawford 266/1, Syd. 502

 

I enjoyed that Donna...and the subsequent postings. Well done folks!!

 

Compliments for the adds and the write-ups @DonnaML ! I’m still looking for a Nerva like yours…
About the iconography, IMHO there’s no reason to think to Diana; nor the helmet neither the spear and the shirld are Diana’s attributes, and you won’t find a RR denarius portraiting Diana in that way.

 

Thanks. You don't buy Crawford's theory that an association exists? I admit that it isn't based on much (as opposed to the association between Roma and Virtus).

 

With all the due reverence to the Author, when a statement isn’t supported by evidence or at least explained, I skip it. In this case I simply don’t understand why Diana, there is no link to her and the iconography isn’t attested neither in coinage nor elsewhere (at my knowledge). Roma, on the contrary, hasn’t fixed attributes apart the helmet.