Thread by @DocCrom

Ancient Coin of the Day: Today we look at two coins from the opposing sides at the Battle of Pharsalus – starting with this denarius of Pompey the Great from 49 BC. #ACOTD #Roman #Pharsalus

Image: RRC 447/1a; British Museum (2002,0102.4425). Link - numismatics.org/crro/id/rrc-44…

The commanders of the two opposing sides at the Battle of Pharsalus – Julius Caesar and Pompey the Great – both understood the importance of coinage in the run up to the battle, not only for filling their war chests but also as propaganda.

Thus at this time we see Caesar’s famous ‘Elephant Denarius’ – on which see this earlier #ACOTD thread from back in January. The two competing coinages highlight that both parties considered themselves ‘states’.

https://twitter.com/DocCrom/status/1348259235885428736?s=20

But our first coin is issued by Pompey, or rather by Varro the proquaestor – one of his aides – whose name and official title appear on the Obverse alongside the diademed bust of Jupiter.

The Reverse names Pompey as a Proconsul, and shows a dolphin (left) and eagle (right) flanking an upright sceptre. The creatures may allude to Pompey's command, which encompassed both land and sea.

This idea is also clear from the inscription from Ilon (Supplementum Epigraphicum Graecum 46.1565), ca. 66 BC, which claimed that Pompey had "freed men from the barbarian wars [and the] dangers of pirates, and established peace and safety both by land and sea."

The telling element here of using the official state titles for both Varro and Pompey – proquaestor and proconsul respectively – marks a clear claim to legitimate constitutionally-ratified power, i.e. these coins are of the officers of the Republic.

However, these claims to legitimacy were of little significance in the face of Caesar’s legions, which leads us on to our second coin – a silver denarius of Caesar’s faction from 48 BC.

Image: RRC 449/4; British Museum (2002,0102.4451). Link - numismatics.org/crro/id/rrc-44…

This denarius was issued by C. Vibius Pansa Caetronianus, as the Legend on the Reverse indicates (C·PANSA·C·F·C·N), with the addition that he is "Son of Gaius, Grandson of Gaius", an associate of Caesar. He would hold the consulship for 43 BC, but die at the Battle of Mutina.

With an Obverse dominated by a laureate head of Libertas, with the accompanying Legend, the messaging of the coin is that of stressing the commitment of the Caesarean faction to the restoration of civil liberty.

This fits with claims Caesar himself made in conversation with P. Cornelius Lentulus Spinther in February 49 BC, that "he had not left his province with harmful intent, but to...liberate himself and the Roman people from the oppression of a faction of a few men" (Civil War 1.22).

However, the Reverse of the coin - showing Roma seated on a pile of arms, with her foot on the globe, being crowned by a flying Victory - reinforces that Libertas will only be restored by military victory.

For more on Pharsalus, see:

Wylle, Graham. “The Road to Pharsalus.” Latomus, vol. 51, no. 3, 1992, pp. 557–565.

jstor.org/stable/41541372

#ACOTD #Roman #Pharsalus