DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.14696#0435
368 Ianus bifrontal on coins
c. 92 B.C., have for obverse type a full-bearded head of Ianus
(fig. 267)1, while others of the gens Fonteia, struck c. 91 B.C., show a
Fig. 269.
slightly-bearded head (fig. 268)2, probably meant for Fontus, eponym
of the clan, who was said to have been a son of Ianus3. Heavy asses
1 Morell. Thes. Num. Fam. Rom. i. 189 f. pi. Furia, 3, Babelon Mown. rep. rom. i.
524 f. fig., Brit. Mus. Cat. Rom. Coins Rep. ii. 283 pi. 94, 5 and 6. Fig. 267 is from a
specimen in my collection.
2 Morell. Thes. Num. Fam. Rom. i. 180 f. pi. Fonteia, 1, Babelon Monn. re"p. rom.
i. 499 f. fig., Brit. Mus. Cat. Rom. Coins Rep. ii. 292 f. pi. 94, 12—14. Fig. 268 is from
a specimen of mine.
Since the Furii and the Fonteii are the only Roman families to put a Janiform head
on their denarii, and since both of them appear to have originated in Tusculum (for the
Furii see F. Miinzer in Pauly—Wissowa Real-Enc. vii. 315 ; for the Fonteii, eund. id. vi.
2841), it is possible that the double heads, like those of the Dioskouroi on other coins of
the gens Fonteia (id. ib. vi. 2841 : cp. M. Albert Le culte de Castor et Pollux en Italie
Paris 1883 p. 13 ff.), perpetuated the memory of a Tusculan cult.
3 Arnob. adv. nat. 3. 29 Ianum, quem ferunt Caelo atque Hecata procreatum in Italia
regnasse primum, Ianiculi oppidi conditorem, patrem Fonti, Vulturni generum, Iuturnae
maritum. This genealogy has been labelled ' spatere Kombination ' (Boehm in Pauly—
Wissowa Real-Enc. vi. 2839). But, m view of the ara Fontis (Cic. de leg. 2. 56) near the
Ianiculum (H. Jordan—C. Huelsen Topographie der Stadt Rom im Alterthum Berlin
c. 92 B.C., have for obverse type a full-bearded head of Ianus
(fig. 267)1, while others of the gens Fonteia, struck c. 91 B.C., show a
Fig. 269.
slightly-bearded head (fig. 268)2, probably meant for Fontus, eponym
of the clan, who was said to have been a son of Ianus3. Heavy asses
1 Morell. Thes. Num. Fam. Rom. i. 189 f. pi. Furia, 3, Babelon Mown. rep. rom. i.
524 f. fig., Brit. Mus. Cat. Rom. Coins Rep. ii. 283 pi. 94, 5 and 6. Fig. 267 is from a
specimen in my collection.
2 Morell. Thes. Num. Fam. Rom. i. 180 f. pi. Fonteia, 1, Babelon Monn. re"p. rom.
i. 499 f. fig., Brit. Mus. Cat. Rom. Coins Rep. ii. 292 f. pi. 94, 12—14. Fig. 268 is from
a specimen of mine.
Since the Furii and the Fonteii are the only Roman families to put a Janiform head
on their denarii, and since both of them appear to have originated in Tusculum (for the
Furii see F. Miinzer in Pauly—Wissowa Real-Enc. vii. 315 ; for the Fonteii, eund. id. vi.
2841), it is possible that the double heads, like those of the Dioskouroi on other coins of
the gens Fonteia (id. ib. vi. 2841 : cp. M. Albert Le culte de Castor et Pollux en Italie
Paris 1883 p. 13 ff.), perpetuated the memory of a Tusculan cult.
3 Arnob. adv. nat. 3. 29 Ianum, quem ferunt Caelo atque Hecata procreatum in Italia
regnasse primum, Ianiculi oppidi conditorem, patrem Fonti, Vulturni generum, Iuturnae
maritum. This genealogy has been labelled ' spatere Kombination ' (Boehm in Pauly—
Wissowa Real-Enc. vi. 2839). But, m view of the ara Fontis (Cic. de leg. 2. 56) near the
Ianiculum (H. Jordan—C. Huelsen Topographie der Stadt Rom im Alterthum Berlin