Roman Republic - Cn. Lentulus
Roman Republic - Cn. Lentulus
Denarius - Rome (75/74).
3.89g - Cr. 393/1a
Superb at FDC - NGC CHOICE AU (5/5 and 4/5)
The date of the emission was suggested by Michael Crawford to be 75 BC. But, while the Crawford 393/1a program bears the rather simple reverse legend CN LEN Q EX SC ("Cnaeus Lentullus quaestor by decision of the Senate"), the 393/1b program bears the much more unusual legend LENT CVR X FL EX SC ("Lentullus curator denariis flandis ex senatus consulto"). This has been studied in depth, notably by Wilhelm Hollstein in 1993. In January 74 BC, Pompey had sent a letter to the Senate (as recorded in Sallust, hist. 2.98), claiming to have exhausted his own resources and begging for funds to pay for his troops in Hispania (Spain): he was indeed fighting Quintus Sertorius, a rebel Roman general who had been outlawed by Sulla but who was supported by a majority of Iberian tribes. These coins must have been the answer to Pompey's request, struck in Rome first by Gnaeus Cornelius Lentulus Marcellinus as quaestor urbanus, and then (for the second - rarer - emission) as paymaster. Automatically translated by DeepL. To see the original version, click here.
View it on
Estimate
Time, Location
Auction House
Roman Republic - Cn. Lentulus
Denarius - Rome (75/74).
3.89g - Cr. 393/1a
Superb at FDC - NGC CHOICE AU (5/5 and 4/5)
The date of the emission was suggested by Michael Crawford to be 75 BC. But, while the Crawford 393/1a program bears the rather simple reverse legend CN LEN Q EX SC ("Cnaeus Lentullus quaestor by decision of the Senate"), the 393/1b program bears the much more unusual legend LENT CVR X FL EX SC ("Lentullus curator denariis flandis ex senatus consulto"). This has been studied in depth, notably by Wilhelm Hollstein in 1993. In January 74 BC, Pompey had sent a letter to the Senate (as recorded in Sallust, hist. 2.98), claiming to have exhausted his own resources and begging for funds to pay for his troops in Hispania (Spain): he was indeed fighting Quintus Sertorius, a rebel Roman general who had been outlawed by Sulla but who was supported by a majority of Iberian tribes. These coins must have been the answer to Pompey's request, struck in Rome first by Gnaeus Cornelius Lentulus Marcellinus as quaestor urbanus, and then (for the second - rarer - emission) as paymaster. Automatically translated by DeepL. To see the original version, click here.
Estimate
Time, Location
Auction House
Similar Items
