L. MARCIUS PHILIPPUS. Denarius (57 BC). Rome.

Obv: ANCVS.
Diademed head of Ancus Marcius right; lituus to left.
Rev: PHILIPPVS / AQVAM R.
Equestrian statue on aqueduct right; flower below statue.

Crawford 425/1; RBW 1524.

This denarius was issued in 56 BC by L. Marcius Philippus in honor of his ancestor Q. Marcius Rex. On the obverse, the coin depicts the head of the fourth king of Rome, Ancus Marcius, identified by the legend, from whom the Marcia gens claimed to descend and who, according to a legend (reported by Pliny the Elder), was the first to provide an aqueduct to the city. The reverse depicts an equestrian statue (Marcius Rex) placed on an arched structure, clearly identified as an aqueduct by the legend. The aqueduct depicted here was built in 144 BC by Marcius Rex (to whom the statue refers), and supplied water to many areas of Rome. It was over 90 km long and mostly underground. As was common in the Republican period, the designs on both sides are purely propagandistic, aimed at celebrating the gens to which the monetary magistrate belonged, with references to mythical and historical ancestors, legitimizing his personal ambitions.

Condition: Very fine.

Weight: 4.00 g.
Diameter: 19 mm.