DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.51762#0218
HISTORICAL ROMAN COINS
beside the coins of 17 b.c. it cannot be said that it
looks “at home,” even if the portrait could possibly
be meant for a boy of three years. But if we bring
it down to a later date, we cannot place it after the
designation of Gaius as consul in 749 ; for such an
honour would surely have been mentioned.1 On the
other hand, we can hardly put it before his assump-
tion of the toga virilis early in that year, since we
know of no occasion which would have justified the
issue of a coin with his portrait before that event.
The fabric of the coin is somewhat peculiar, and is
unlike the Roman fabric of the year to which De Salis
assigned it; nor does it fit well with the Roman coins
of the last ten years of the century. It is just possible
that it was struck in Gaul. But if so, we are practi-
cally compelled to date it three years earlier, i.e., to
8 b.c., when Gaius accompanied Tiberius on his cam-
paign against the Sugambri. In that case, some other
explanation must be found for the reverse type.
GAIUS AND LUCIUS CAESARES.
CIRCA 2 B.C.
108. Obv. Head of Augustus r., laureate ; around,
CAESAR AVCVSTVS DIVI F PATER
PATRIAE.
1 A fortiori, the coin cannot commemorate his death, which would
have been in some way alluded to.
168
beside the coins of 17 b.c. it cannot be said that it
looks “at home,” even if the portrait could possibly
be meant for a boy of three years. But if we bring
it down to a later date, we cannot place it after the
designation of Gaius as consul in 749 ; for such an
honour would surely have been mentioned.1 On the
other hand, we can hardly put it before his assump-
tion of the toga virilis early in that year, since we
know of no occasion which would have justified the
issue of a coin with his portrait before that event.
The fabric of the coin is somewhat peculiar, and is
unlike the Roman fabric of the year to which De Salis
assigned it; nor does it fit well with the Roman coins
of the last ten years of the century. It is just possible
that it was struck in Gaul. But if so, we are practi-
cally compelled to date it three years earlier, i.e., to
8 b.c., when Gaius accompanied Tiberius on his cam-
paign against the Sugambri. In that case, some other
explanation must be found for the reverse type.
GAIUS AND LUCIUS CAESARES.
CIRCA 2 B.C.
108. Obv. Head of Augustus r., laureate ; around,
CAESAR AVCVSTVS DIVI F PATER
PATRIAE.
1 A fortiori, the coin cannot commemorate his death, which would
have been in some way alluded to.
168