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Roman Republic, Denarius

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Roman Republic, Denarius (obverse) Roman Republic, Denarius (reverse)

The obverse of this coin shows the head of the goddess Roma with a (very worn) mint control mark behind. Roma's image, always presented in a belligerent fashion with a helmet, was used for a very long time on Roman denarii, until the end of the 2nd century BC with only small variations.

On the reverse the Roman denarii bore for a long time the Dioscuri Castor and Pollux, the two combative helpers of Rome. Yet as time went by the moneyers began to show gods and goddesses in chariots on their coins. The chariots were either bigae (chariots pulled by two horses) or quadrigae (four horses). The triga, however, a chariot drawn by three horses, as depicted on this coin, was very rare.

The coin was issued in the year 111 or 112 BC by T. MAL. AP. (Titus Manlius Macinus ?) and CL. Q. VR. (Appius Claudius Pulcher).

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