DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.51762#0097
HISTORICAL ROMAN COINS
32. Obv. Similar to No. 30, but behind the head a
one-handled jug.
Rev. She-wolf suckling the twins Romulus and
Remus; in the background the ruminal
fig-tree with birds perched on it; on the
1. the shepherd Faustulus leaning on staff
and raising r. hand; around, SEXTOM-
[FOJSTLVS ; in exergue, ROMA.
Silver denarius. 3'89 grammes (60’0 grains). B.M.C. I., p. 132,
No. 927.
These three pieces serve well to illustrate the
character of the changes through which the denarius
passed in the first three quarters of the second cen-
tury. No. 30, according to de Salis’s classification,
belongs to the period 196—173 b.c. ; No. 31 to the
period 172—151; and No. 32 to the period 150—125.
The definitions of these periods are, it must be
remembered, somewhat conjectural; but it may be
taken as certain that all three coins belong to the first
75 years of the century, and that they are arranged,
relatively to each other, in chronological order.
The reverse of No. 30 gives us the earliest varia-
tion from the original denarius type of the Dioscuri.
The goddess is generally described as Diana ; some-
times as “ Diana or Luna.” It is, however, preferable
to distinguish her as Luna. The two deities were for
long kept distinct; and Diana, as worshipped at
Rome in early times, was the Latin goddess of the
57
32. Obv. Similar to No. 30, but behind the head a
one-handled jug.
Rev. She-wolf suckling the twins Romulus and
Remus; in the background the ruminal
fig-tree with birds perched on it; on the
1. the shepherd Faustulus leaning on staff
and raising r. hand; around, SEXTOM-
[FOJSTLVS ; in exergue, ROMA.
Silver denarius. 3'89 grammes (60’0 grains). B.M.C. I., p. 132,
No. 927.
These three pieces serve well to illustrate the
character of the changes through which the denarius
passed in the first three quarters of the second cen-
tury. No. 30, according to de Salis’s classification,
belongs to the period 196—173 b.c. ; No. 31 to the
period 172—151; and No. 32 to the period 150—125.
The definitions of these periods are, it must be
remembered, somewhat conjectural; but it may be
taken as certain that all three coins belong to the first
75 years of the century, and that they are arranged,
relatively to each other, in chronological order.
The reverse of No. 30 gives us the earliest varia-
tion from the original denarius type of the Dioscuri.
The goddess is generally described as Diana ; some-
times as “ Diana or Luna.” It is, however, preferable
to distinguish her as Luna. The two deities were for
long kept distinct; and Diana, as worshipped at
Rome in early times, was the Latin goddess of the
57