Imagines Italicae: Sample Entries

	Imagines Italicae Institute of Classical Studies, London
Home About the Project News and Puzzles Discussion Group Sample Entries References Ancient Communities Contact	Social War Coinage The coinage of the Italians in the Social War, of which the fullest corpus is by A. Campana, La monetazione degli insorti italici durante la guerra sociale (91-87 a.C.) (Soliera, 1987), consisted of silver coins of the weight and fabric of the Roman denarius, supplemented by a single gold issue of Attic weight standard (the one known example weighs 8.47 gm.). This is substantially lighter than the gold issues of Sulla of a decade or so later, which were produced at 30 to the Roman pound, 10.80 gm. While Sulla clearly integrated his gold issues into the Roman monetary system, the Italians used a weight standard, which anyone familiar with the Greek east would have known (see below). The coinage of the Italians belongs at least to the period 90-89 BC, the two years of the Social War; it may have continued later, but there is no certain evidence. It has three distinctive features, against which the legends used must be viewed: at the beginning, it was produced at a central mint, with synchronised issues for both the Oscan-speaking and the Latin-speaking areas; the silver coins were not only compatible with, but also circulated with Roman denarii; and the types were in part deliberately chosen, in part borrowed from those of Roman denarii. The first point emerges from the description of the coinage below; as for the second, the different groups of the coinage appear together and with Roman denarii in hoards, and isolated specimens were hoarded occasionally long after the Social War was over (see Campana, p. 37; add Moiano near Airola, RRCH, no. 223; note also isolated finds of no. 409 from Campli (M.H. Crawford, forthcoming), no. 415, c, from Gravina di Puglia (Museo Nazionale di Taranto) and of no. 425 from Labico (F. Ficoroni, Memorie di Labico (Rome, 1745), p. 84)). Of the borrowed types, some were presumably invested with new significance: Italia on nos. 407-8, 410-15 and 423, owes a great deal to Apollo on the issues of, e.g., L. Pomponius Molo and A. Albinus, etc. (RRC, nos. 334-5), on no. 421 to the issue of M. Cato (RRC, no. 343), on no. 422 to early Dioscuri denarii, on no. 424 to the issue of M. Acilius M.f. (RRC, no. 255), on no. 426 to the issue of C. Serveilius M.f. (RRC, no. 239); the seated Italia on nos. 412 and 414 copies the seated Roma of A. Albinus, etc. (RRC, no. 335), the Italia in a biga on no. 417 copies the Victory in a biga of D. Silanus L.f. (RRC, no. 337); but all presumably reflect the immense significance to the Italians of the concept Italia and the federal capital called Italia at Corfinium, described by Diodorus Siculus (XXXVII, 2). (The reverse types, Dioscuri riding right and Dioscuri riding apart (nos. 422 and 426) perhaps have no Italian resonances.) Associated with the idea of Italia is the bull as the symbol of Italia (see E. Dench, From Barbarians to New Men (Oxford, 1995), pp. 213-16; M. Pobjoy, in E. Herring & K. Lomas, The Emergence of State Identities in Italy (London, 2000), pp. 187-211, 'The first Italia'), either reclining beside an Italian warrior or goring the Roman wolf. The use by enemies of Rome of the image of the wolf to symbolize their hatred of the predatory power of Rome is dramatically portrayed in Velleius Paterculus II, 27, and Justin XXXVIII, 6, 7. Minerva on nos. 416, 418 and 419, copied from denarii of P. Servilius Rullus (RRC, no. 328), and Mars, on no. 428, copied from denarii of Q.Thermus M.f. (RRC, no. 319), on no. 425, copied from denarii of Ti. Veturius (RRC, no. 234), have a universal significance as warrior deities. (On no. 409, the helmeted head is kitted out with a necklace and is perhaps intended as Italia.) Victory understandably appears frequently, whether as a substantive type on no. 421, copied from denarii of M. Cato (RRC, no. 343), or crowning Minerva (nos. 416 and 418), or symbolized by a trophy. As types to be considered, there remain Bacchus (no. 427) or emblems of Bacchus as symbols of libertas, oath-taking scenes as symbols of loyalty to the cause of the allies (nos. 408, 411, 413, 415, 423, 425, 428), the scene showing a man being greeted as he descends from a ship, perhaps an emissary from Mithridates VI (no. 416: see on no. 406 below), and finally an isolated and puzzling bust of one of the Dioscuri (no. 417). See also A. Burnett, in id., U. Wartenberg, R. Witschonke (edd.), Coins of Macedonia and Rome. Essays in Honour of Charles Hersh (London, 1998), pp. 165-72, 'The coinage of the Social War', and J.H.C. Williams, ibid., pp. 173-83, 'Coinage, credit and the aerarium in the 80s BC'. Of the individuals named on the coins, Q. Silo (no. 411) and C. Papius C.f. Mutilus (nos. 409 and 424-8) are well-known, while Mi. Ieius Mi.f. (no. 406) and Ni. Loucius M.f. (no. 410) are otherwise unknown. On the epigraphic and other documentation for the family of C. Papius, see the sometimes speculative account of A. La Regina, in S. Capini & A. De Niro (edd.), Samnium. Archeologia del Molise (Rome, 1991), pp. 149-52, 'C. Papius C.F. Mutilus Imp.'. In describing the types, our running numbers are those of N.K. Rutter (ed.), Historia Numorum. Italy (London, 2001); we have also given references to Campana, first his series number, then his die-combination numbers. The horizontal hasta on the í is sometimes rather sketchily engraved. There is no evidence that Sydenham, no. 626, with Obv: Head of Italia, viteliú, Rev.: Oath-taking scene, has ever existed. Gold stater No. 406 Obv.: Head of Bacchus right Rev.: Thyrsus and fawn skin on cista mystica; below, right to left, mi.ieíis.mi G.F. Nott Collection -> Thomas Thomas Collection -> Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale (J. Babelon, Catalogue de la Collection de Luynes (Paris, 1924), no. 31) Campana, D, pp. 135-6 The argument of J. Friedländer, Die oskischen Münzen (Leipzig, 1850), pp. 73-5, for the authenticity of this unique coin remains powerful, and can indeed be strengthened, namely that knowledge of Oscan when the coin is first attested would not have been adequate to produce the perfect Oscan legend on the coin. Friedländer believed that it had become known when it was bought in 1830 by G.F. Nott from F. Capranesi (so already Annali dell'Instituto di Corrispondenza Archeologica 1846, pp. 147-8, 'Osservazioni sopra la moneta d'oro della Guerra Sociale'; the cast of the coin had been presented by Mommsen: Bullettino dell'Instituto di Corrispondenza Archeologica 1846, p. 99); but it was in fact known already in 1827, in the hands of Nott, appearing at the very end of the second volume of the Repertorio numismatico of Francesco de Dominicis (Naples, 1827), p. 417: 'Testa di Bacco giovane cinta di edera, a dr.; Leggenda no. 124 [= mi.ieíis mi]. Ara ornata di tre ghirlande; su cui una pelle di Lupo o pantera, ed un tirso ornato di bandelettes. (Esiste presso il signor Gio. Federico Nott, Inglese.)' Friedländer had spoken to Capranesi, and presumably the latter had given the former an imprecise date for his sale of the coin to Nott. (Capranesi's insistence to Friedländer that the coin was genuine obviously carries no weight: he would say that, wouldn't he!) Knowledge of the Oscan language and script was extremely limited before the works of the trinity of Klenze, Lepsius, who corrected over 250 mistakes in the 980 letters of the Abella-Nola agreement, and Mommsen. [[1]] As a contrast to the impeccable character of our coin, note, e.g., G. Rucca, Capua vetere, o sia Descrizione di tutti i monumenti di Capua antica (Naples, 1828), p. 23, '... Osco, o Etrusco che si voglia, poichè i caratteri di queste due lingue poco o nulla disconvengono tra se nella forma'. The argument can be made even more precise: after Lachmann had published those pieces of work by Klenze that could be regarded as complete, he passed the remaining notes to Lepsius (p. x), who goes on to tell us (p. 142):[[2]] In Osca litteratura ab i, lineola addita, distinguitur í. Quum in iisdem semper verbis haec littera repetatur, manifestum est indicium, diversam esse a i simplice. Nihilo minus neque ab O. Müllero, neque a quoquam alio haec varietas hucusque observata est. Grotefendus qui interdum lineolam observavit soni quidem varietatem esse non suspicatus ... nummi osci et paucae aliae inscriptiones Klenzii perspicitati suffecerunt, ut quum i et í litteras, tum u et ú recte distingueret ... In Oscan writing, í is distinguished from i by the addition of a little line. Since this letter always occurs in the same words, it is a clear proof that it is different from plain i. Nonetheless, this distinction has not hitherto been noticed either by O. Müller or by anyone else. Grotefend, who sometimes noticed the little line, yet did not suspect that it involved a distinction in pronunciation ... the Oscan coinage and a few other inscriptions were enough for the perceptiveness of Klenze to distinguish both i from í and u from ú ... In contrast to the perfection of the legend mi.ieíis.mi, there also stands the crudity of the two forged Oscan inscriptions from 'Nersae' and Torre di Taglio, which emerged in 1859 and 1880. [[3]] The first sustained critique of the genuineness of the coin is that of S.L. Cesano, RIN 57, 1955, pp. 35-69, 'Di Uranio Antonino e di altre falsificazioni', at pp. 42-5 (attributing the coin to the Bott collection): When the coin was catalogued by Thomas Burgon for the Thomas Thomas sale (S. Leigh Sotheby & Co., 8-20 July 1844), he described it as false and suggested that the forger had used 'the type of a silver denarius of the Vibia family'. Burgon did not give a precise reference, but presumably meant the denarius of C. Vibius Varus of 42 BC (RRC, no. 494/36), to which Friedländer had referred by citing Riccio, Pl. XLIX, 22. But neither the head of Liber there nor that on the denarius of C. Vibius Pansa of 49 BC (RRC, no. 449/2-3), is particularly close to that of the Social War gold piece; a closer parallel is to be found in the head of Liber on the denarius of Q. Titius of 90 BC (RRC, no. 341/2), notably in the fall of the lock of hair on the neck, a coin which could easily have served as a model for a Social War aureus. The argument from Burgon's judgment is in any case worthless: precisely in this period and precisely in relation to Oscan material, it is easy to document a tendency to reject as false anything which was out of the ordinary (Friedländer went so far as to claim that the judgment was taken over by Burgon 'von gewissen Napolitanischen Sammlern', who were in the habit of condemning coins they did not possess out of jealousy). Thus Lepsius of course condemned not only the well-known Lerpirior forgery, and the Cortona forgery (CIE, 474), unwisely purchased by the British Museum; but he also condemned Vetter 161, 173 and 176 (Pl. XXVII, nos. 3, 4, and 7), along with the famous Messapic inscription from Vaste originally published by Galateo (Corpus Inscriptionum Messapicarum 149 = Vaste 22.21), along with the pastiche of it invented by J.A. Summonte (Pl. XXVII, 5 and 6). Both were condemned because they did not fit the conception that Lepsius had of what an Oscan inscription was. Even more to the point, Lepsius rejected the silver coin of Phistelia with Greek legend on one side and Oscan legend on the other (Pl. XXX), of which there are numerous specimens of undoubted genuineness; and he went on to condemn almost the whole of the Social War denarius coinage (pp. 122-6). The issue is anomalous for its place and period; I return to this argument below. The coin is imitated from a bronze of Amisus (BMC Pontus, Amisus, nos. 51-6), but has 'né la semplicità né la genuinità' (along with much more stylistic nonsense of the same tenor) of the original; actually, although the types are the same as those of the bronze in question, the design of the two coins is very different (see Figs. 000 and 000). (For evidence of links between the Italians and Mithridates VI, see Diodorus Siculus XXXVII, 2, 11, and Posidonius, fr. 253 (E-K), lines 89-92.) Campana, pp. 135-7, argued (at times copying word for word from Cesano): A gold coin on the Attic weight standard in Italy in the period in question is an 'evidente assurdità'; the argument makes more explicit the second argument advanced by Cesano. But it is actually no odder that the Italian allies should have struck gold, than that Sulla should have struck gold for circulation in Italy, as he undoubtedly did. And given both the familiarity that large numbers of Italians had with the Greek east and the absence of any model in Italy to copy, it is perfectly intelligible that they should have chosen the Attic weight standard: the Greco-Roman world had long operated with a rough and ready equation of the denarius and the Attic drachma. The blank from which the coin was struck is of irregular thickness, the coin has been cleaned in the modern period, the style is mediocre; so what? So much for the 'incongruenze stilistiche e metrologiche già segnalate' cited by A. La Regina, in Italia omnium terrarum parens (Milan, 1989), p. 331, who also observes that the Oscan legends of the Social War denarius issues end in the genitive -i, in Roman fashion, not -íis, and suggests that the legend was invented on the basis of Muratori, 80.7 = CIL IX, 4182, ... Q. Orfio Fulcinio C. Iegio aed. .... But there is nothing anomalous in the use of the Oscan nominative, as in the Latin legends of the contemporary Roman denarii of C. Vibius C.f. Pansa (RRC, no. 342). It is in any case rather hard to believe that the coin was forged to create a new Oscan legend: although de Dominicis had the legend right apart from one interpunct, when the coin, still in the Nott collection, was communicated by the Duc de Luynes to Mérimée and entered the general consciousness of scholars, it was wrongly believed to bear the legend g.paapí (P. Mérimée, Essai sur la guerre sociale (Paris, 1841), p. 387). Denarii Nos. 407-8, identical in style and with similar systems of control-letters, are clearly in effect a bilingual issue from a single mint; together they form the largest single block of the Social War coinage, and each generated a number of derivative groups. (Very small variants are ignored.) No. 407 Obv: Head of Italia left; at right, right to left, víteliú downwards (wrong in HN) Rev.: Warrior with spear and sword standing, left foot on uncertain object; at right, reclining bull; in exergue, Oscan control-letter, a, b, g, d, e, v, z, h, i, k, l, m, n, p Campana 9b/120-6, 130-47 (126 is misprinted as 182) No. 408 Obv.: Head of Italia left; at right, ITALIA upwards Rev.: Oath-taking scene of eight warriors, four on each side of pig held by attendant; behind, standard; in exergue, Latin control-letter Campana 3d/58-74 The following issue is associated with no. 407: no. 407bis, a and b, may both have been created by copying a specimen of no. 407; the style of no. 407bis, a, leads on to that of nos. 409-10, that of no. 407bis, b, to that of no. 415, a and b. No. 407bis a Obv.: Similar to no. 407 Rev.: Similar to no. 407; Oscan control-letter, a Campana 9b/119 b Obv.: Similar to no. 407 Rev.: Similar to no. 407; Oscan control-letter, d Campana 9b/127-9 No. 409 Obv.: Helmeted head left, wearing necklace; below or at left, right to left, g.mutíl (wrong in HN) Rev.: Warrior with spear and sword standing, left foot on uncertain object; at right, reclining bull; at left, right to left, safinim downwards; at right, Oscan control-letter, a, b Campana 11/149-50 For the reverse legend, see H. Rix, Beiträge zur Namenforschung 8 (1957), p. 127. No. 410 Obv.: Head of Italia left; at left, X; at right, right to left, víteliú upwards Rev.: Warrior and bull as last; at left above, right to left, ni.lúvki.mr; in exergue, Oscan control-letter, a, b Campana 9a/117-18 No. 411 Obv.: Head of Italia right; at left, ITALIA downwards Rev.: Oath-taking scene of eight warriors, four on each side of pig held by attendant; behind, standard; in exergue, Q. SILO Campana 3g/82 No. 412 Obv.: Head of Italia right Rev.: Italia seated left on pile of shields, crowned by Victory a Obv.: at left, ITALIA downwards; at right, X Rev.: in exergue, control-letter, A or B Campana 7a/104-5 b Obv.: no legend; at right, X Rev.: at left, control-letter, C, , or F; in exergue, ITALIA Campana 7b/106-8 In the following issue, a, b-c, and d, form three stylistic groups, although the control-letters used suggest that it was produced as a unit; the first group is perhaps distantly derived from the style of nos. 409 and 410, and the last leads on to that of no. 414. No. 413 Obv.: Type as last; at left, (I)TALIA upwards Rev.: Oath-taking scene of eight warriors, four on each side of pig held by attendant a Obv.: head left Rev.: above, A X Campana 3e/75-7 b Obv.: head left Rev.: in exergue, A X Campana 3e/78 c Obv.: head right Rev.: in exergue, B V Campana 3e/79 d Obv.: head right Rev.: in exergue, C T or D S Campana 3e/80-1 No. 414 Obv.: Head of Italia right; at left, ITALIA downwards; at right, XVI upwards Rev.: Italia seated left on pile of shields, crowned by Victory; in exergue, Latin control-letter Campana 7c/109-15 In the following issue, no. 415, a and b, are of similar style and perhaps form one continuous series; no. 415, c, is of a quite different style, although the control-numbers used suggest that it was produced with the rest. There seems to have been an attempt at a bilingual issue, combining the Latin legend ITALIA with Oscan numerals. No. 415 Obv.: Head of Italia left Rev.: Oath-taking scene of eight warriors, four on each side of pig held by attendant a Obv.: at right, ITALIA upwards; below chin, I Rev.: in exergue, III, or no control-mark Campana 3b/35-7 b Obv.: similar, but no legend or I Rev.: in exergue, Oscan control-numerals, II, IIII, Λ, IΛ, IIIIΛ, X, IX, IIX, IIIX, IIIIX, ΛX, IΛX, IIΛX, IIIΛX, IIIIΛX, XX, IXX, or no control-mark Campana 3a/7-34 c Obv.: at right, ITALIA upwards Rev.: in exergue, Latin control-numeral with dot to right: II, IIII, or V Campana 3b/38-54 So far we have had two issues that form what is in effect one bilingual issue (nos. 407 and 408), and a group of derivative issues: "bilingual" (no. 415), Oscan (nos. 407bis, 409, 410) and Latin (nos. 411, 412, 413, and 414); analogous is a group formed from nos. 416-21, perhaps two bilingual, two Oscan and two Latin, which can be plausibly placed together on stylistic grounds; the style of nos. 416, 418, 419, and the bulk of 417 is identical; a secondary style in no. 417 then leads on to nos. 420 and 421 (compare no. 415, a and b). No. 416 Obv.: Bust of Minerva right, wearing helmet and aegis and crowned by Victory Rev.: Warrior with spear and sword greeting warrior with sword; at right, forepart of ship which bears thyrsus; in exergue, control-letter, A (wrong in Campana), or Oscan control numeral, I, II, III, IIII, Λ, IIΛ, IIIΛ, IIIIΛ Campana 15/174-82 No. 417 Obv.: Bust of one of the Dioscuri right; above, star Rev.: Italia in biga right, with spear and shield; below, control-mark: T, star, star and III, star and IIII, bucranium, bucranium and two dots, bucranium and three dots, ram's head and , head of Juno Sospita Campana 12/151-62 No. 418 Obv.: Bust of Minerva left, wearing helmet and aegis and crowned by Victory Rev.: Warrior with spear and sword standing, left foot on uncertain object; at right, forepart of charging bull; at left, trophy; in exergue, Oscan control-numeral, I, II, V, IV, IIV, IIIV, IIIIV, XI Campana 14/164-73 Although it is impossible to be certain, the following issue is perhaps Latin. No. 419 Obv.: Bust of Minerva left, wearing helmet and aegis; at right, I Rev.: Bacchus standing with spear, holding hand over panther at left Campana 13/163 No. 420 Obv.: Head of Bacchus right, within wreath Rev.: Bull goring wolf right; in exergue, right to left, vítelliú (wrong in HN); above, Oscan control-letter, a Campana 6c/103 No. 421 Obv.: Head of Italia right, laureate Rev.: Victory seated right, holding palm-branch; in exergue, ITALIA Campana 8/116 The next two issues, one Oscan and one Latin, are both anonymous and are unrelated stylistically to each other or to any other issue. No. 422 Obv.: Head of Italia right; at right, X Rev.: Dioscuri riding right; in exergue, right to left, víteliú (wrong in HN) Campana 1/1-2 No. 423 Obv.: Head of Italia right; at left, ITALIA downwards Rev.: Oath-taking scene of eight warriors, four on each side of pig held by attendant; behind, standard; in exergue, Latin control-numerals with dot to right: I, III Campana 3c/55-7 The following issues are of C. Papius C.f. Mutilus: two issues, nos. 424 and 425, stylistically unrelated to each other or to any other issue; an interesting bilingual issue, no. 426; and nos. 427 and 428, which describe him as imperator. No. 424 Obv.: Head of Italia right, wearing helmet; around, right to left, g.paapií.g.mutíl (wrong in HN) Rev.: Warrior with spear and sword standing, left foot on uncertain object; at right, reclining bull; at left, right to left, víteliú (wrong in HN) Campana 10/148 No. 425 Obv.: Bust of Mars right, wearing helmet; at left, X and, right to left, víteliú downwards (wrong in HN) Rev.: Oath-taking scene of four warriors, two on each side of pig held by attendant; in exergue, right to left, g.paapií.g. (wrong in HN) Campana 4/83-5 (note the closing interpunct) No. 426 Obv.: Head of Italia right, wearing helmet Rev.: Dioscuri riding apart a Obv.: at left, wreath; below, and ITALIA Rev.: in exergue, ITALIA Campana 2b/6 b Obv.: similar Rev.: in exergue, right to left, g.paapi.g. (wrong in HN) Campana 2b/5 (note the closing interpunct) c Obv.: similar, but below, and, right to left, mutíl (wrong in HN) Rev.: in exergue, right to left, g.paapi.g or g.paapi.g. (wrong in HN) Campana 2a/3-4 (note the closing interpunct) No. 427 Obv.: Head of Bacchus right; at right, right to left, mutíl.embratur downwards (wrong in HN) Rev.: Bull goring wolf left or right; in exergue, right to left, g.paapi (wrong in HN) Campana 6a/98-101; 6b/102 No. 428 Obv.: Head of Mars left, wearing helmet; at left, right to left, mutíl.embratur upwards (wrong in HN) Rev.: Oath-taking scene of two warriors, one each side of pig held by attendant; in exergue, right to left, g.paapi.g. (note the closing interpunct, sometimes missing) or g.paapi (wrong in HN) Campana 5/86-97 Footnotes [[1]] See Oskische Studien, 4-5, for the point just made about Lepsius. [[2]] C. R. Lepsius, Inscriptiones Umbricae et Oscae (Leipzig 1841). [[3]] Bibliography and a doomed attempt at resuscitation in A. Morandi, AC 36, 1984, pp. 299-328, 'Epigrafia latino-italica del Cicolano. Per una definizione etnica degli Equicoli', at pp. 304-6. Last updated 2004-03-25 © 2003 Institute of Classical Studies

Social War Coinage

The coinage of the Italians in the Social War, of which the fullest corpus is by A. Campana, La monetazione degli insorti italici durante la guerra sociale (91-87 a.C.) (Soliera, 1987), consisted of silver coins of the weight and fabric of the Roman denarius, supplemented by a single gold issue of Attic weight standard (the one known example weighs 8.47 gm.). This is substantially lighter than the gold issues of Sulla of a decade or so later, which were produced at 30 to the Roman pound, 10.80 gm. While Sulla clearly integrated his gold issues into the Roman monetary system, the Italians used a weight standard, which anyone familiar with the Greek east would have known (see below).

The coinage of the Italians belongs at least to the period 90-89 BC, the two years of the Social War; it may have continued later, but there is no certain evidence. It has three distinctive features, against which the legends used must be viewed: at the beginning, it was produced at a central mint, with synchronised issues for both the Oscan-speaking and the Latin-speaking areas; the silver coins were not only compatible with, but also circulated with Roman denarii; and the types were in part deliberately chosen, in part borrowed from those of Roman denarii.

The first point emerges from the description of the coinage below; as for the second, the different groups of the coinage appear together and with Roman denarii in hoards, and isolated specimens were hoarded occasionally long after the Social War was over (see Campana, p. 37; add Moiano near Airola, RRCH, no. 223; note also isolated finds of no. 409 from Campli (M.H. Crawford, forthcoming), no. 415, c, from Gravina di Puglia (Museo Nazionale di Taranto) and of no. 425 from Labico (F. Ficoroni, Memorie di Labico (Rome, 1745), p. 84)).

Of the borrowed types, some were presumably invested with new significance: Italia on nos. 407-8, 410-15 and 423, owes a great deal to Apollo on the issues of, e.g., L. Pomponius Molo and A. Albinus, etc. (RRC, nos. 334-5), on no. 421 to the issue of M. Cato (RRC, no. 343), on no. 422 to early Dioscuri denarii, on no. 424 to the issue of M. Acilius M.f. (RRC, no. 255), on no. 426 to the issue of C. Serveilius M.f. (RRC, no. 239); the seated Italia on nos. 412 and 414 copies the seated Roma of A. Albinus, etc. (RRC, no. 335), the Italia in a biga on no. 417 copies the Victory in a biga of D. Silanus L.f. (RRC, no. 337); but all presumably reflect the immense significance to the Italians of the concept Italia and the federal capital called Italia at Corfinium, described by Diodorus Siculus (XXXVII, 2). (The reverse types, Dioscuri riding right and Dioscuri riding apart (nos. 422 and 426) perhaps have no Italian resonances.)

Associated with the idea of Italia is the bull as the symbol of Italia (see E. Dench, From Barbarians to New Men (Oxford, 1995), pp. 213-16; M. Pobjoy, in E. Herring & K. Lomas, The Emergence of State Identities in Italy (London, 2000), pp. 187-211, 'The first Italia'), either reclining beside an Italian warrior or goring the Roman wolf. The use by enemies of Rome of the image of the wolf to symbolize their hatred of the predatory power of Rome is dramatically portrayed in Velleius Paterculus II, 27, and Justin XXXVIII, 6, 7.

Minerva on nos. 416, 418 and 419, copied from denarii of P. Servilius Rullus (RRC, no. 328), and Mars, on no. 428, copied from denarii of Q.Thermus M.f. (RRC, no. 319), on no. 425, copied from denarii of Ti. Veturius (RRC, no. 234), have a universal significance as warrior deities. (On no. 409, the helmeted head is kitted out with a necklace and is perhaps intended as Italia.) Victory understandably appears frequently, whether as a substantive type on no. 421, copied from denarii of M. Cato (RRC, no. 343), or crowning Minerva (nos. 416 and 418), or symbolized by a trophy. As types to be considered, there remain Bacchus (no. 427) or emblems of Bacchus as symbols of libertas, oath-taking scenes as symbols of loyalty to the cause of the allies (nos. 408, 411, 413, 415, 423, 425, 428), the scene showing a man being greeted as he descends from a ship, perhaps an emissary from Mithridates VI (no. 416: see on no. 406 below), and finally an isolated and puzzling bust of one of the Dioscuri (no. 417).

See also A. Burnett, in id., U. Wartenberg, R. Witschonke (edd.), Coins of Macedonia and Rome. Essays in Honour of Charles Hersh (London, 1998), pp. 165-72, 'The coinage of the Social War', and J.H.C. Williams, ibid., pp. 173-83, 'Coinage, credit and the aerarium in the 80s BC'. Of the individuals named on the coins, Q. Silo (no. 411) and C. Papius C.f. Mutilus (nos. 409 and 424-8) are well-known, while Mi. Ieius Mi.f. (no. 406) and Ni. Loucius M.f. (no. 410) are otherwise unknown. On the epigraphic and other documentation for the family of C. Papius, see the sometimes speculative account of A. La Regina, in S. Capini & A. De Niro (edd.), Samnium. Archeologia del Molise (Rome, 1991), pp. 149-52, 'C. Papius C.F. Mutilus Imp.'.

In describing the types, our running numbers are those of N.K. Rutter (ed.), Historia Numorum. Italy (London, 2001); we have also given references to Campana, first his series number, then his die-combination numbers. The horizontal hasta on the í is sometimes rather sketchily engraved. There is no evidence that Sydenham, no. 626, with Obv: Head of Italia, viteliú, Rev.: Oath-taking scene, has ever existed.

Gold stater

No. 406

Obv.: Head of Bacchus right

Rev.: Thyrsus and fawn skin on cista mystica; below, right to left, mi.ieíis.mi
G.F. Nott Collection -> Thomas Thomas Collection -> Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale (J. Babelon, Catalogue de la Collection de Luynes (Paris, 1924), no. 31)
Campana, D, pp. 135-6

The argument of J. Friedländer, Die oskischen Münzen (Leipzig, 1850), pp. 73-5, for the authenticity of this unique coin remains powerful, and can indeed be strengthened, namely that knowledge of Oscan when the coin is first attested would not have been adequate to produce the perfect Oscan legend on the coin. Friedländer believed that it had become known when it was bought in 1830 by G.F. Nott from F. Capranesi (so already Annali dell'Instituto di Corrispondenza Archeologica 1846, pp. 147-8, 'Osservazioni sopra la moneta d'oro della Guerra Sociale'; the cast of the coin had been presented by Mommsen: Bullettino dell'Instituto di Corrispondenza Archeologica 1846, p. 99); but it was in fact known already in 1827, in the hands of Nott, appearing at the very end of the second volume of the Repertorio numismatico of Francesco de Dominicis (Naples, 1827), p. 417: 'Testa di Bacco giovane cinta di edera, a dr.; Leggenda no. 124 [= mi.ieíis mi]. Ara ornata di tre ghirlande; su cui una pelle di Lupo o pantera, ed un tirso ornato di bandelettes. (Esiste presso il signor Gio. Federico Nott, Inglese.)' Friedländer had spoken to Capranesi, and presumably the latter had given the former an imprecise date for his sale of the coin to Nott. (Capranesi's insistence to Friedländer that the coin was genuine obviously carries no weight: he would say that, wouldn't he!)

Knowledge of the Oscan language and script was extremely limited before the works of the trinity of Klenze, Lepsius, who corrected over 250 mistakes in the 980 letters of the Abella-Nola agreement, and Mommsen. [[1]] As a contrast to the impeccable character of our coin, note, e.g., G. Rucca, Capua vetere, o sia Descrizione di tutti i monumenti di Capua antica (Naples, 1828), p. 23, '... Osco, o Etrusco che si voglia, poichè i caratteri di queste due lingue poco o nulla disconvengono tra se nella forma'. The argument can be made even more precise: after Lachmann had published those pieces of work by Klenze that could be regarded as complete, he passed the remaining notes to Lepsius (p. x), who goes on to tell us (p. 142):[[2]]

In Osca litteratura ab i, lineola addita, distinguitur í. Quum in iisdem semper verbis haec littera repetatur, manifestum est indicium, diversam esse a i simplice. Nihilo minus neque ab O. Müllero, neque a quoquam alio haec varietas hucusque observata est. Grotefendus qui interdum lineolam observavit soni quidem varietatem esse non suspicatus ... nummi osci et paucae aliae inscriptiones Klenzii perspicitati suffecerunt, ut quum i et í litteras, tum u et ú recte distingueret ...

In Oscan writing, í is distinguished from i by the addition of a little line. Since this letter always occurs in the same words, it is a clear proof that it is different from plain i. Nonetheless, this distinction has not hitherto been noticed either by O. Müller or by anyone else. Grotefend, who sometimes noticed the little line, yet did not suspect that it involved a distinction in pronunciation ... the Oscan coinage and a few other inscriptions were enough for the perceptiveness of Klenze to distinguish both i from í and u from ú ...

In contrast to the perfection of the legend mi.ieíis.mi, there also stands the crudity of the two forged Oscan inscriptions from 'Nersae' and Torre di Taglio, which emerged in 1859 and 1880. [[3]]

The first sustained critique of the genuineness of the coin is that of S.L. Cesano, RIN 57, 1955, pp. 35-69, 'Di Uranio Antonino e di altre falsificazioni', at pp. 42-5 (attributing the coin to the Bott collection):

When the coin was catalogued by Thomas Burgon for the Thomas Thomas sale (S. Leigh Sotheby & Co., 8-20 July 1844), he described it as false and suggested that the forger had used 'the type of a silver denarius of the Vibia family'. Burgon did not give a precise reference, but presumably meant the denarius of C. Vibius Varus of 42 BC (RRC, no. 494/36), to which Friedländer had referred by citing Riccio, Pl. XLIX, 22. But neither the head of Liber there nor that on the denarius of C. Vibius Pansa of 49 BC (RRC, no. 449/2-3), is particularly close to that of the Social War gold piece; a closer parallel is to be found in the head of Liber on the denarius of Q. Titius of 90 BC (RRC, no. 341/2), notably in the fall of the lock of hair on the neck, a coin which could easily have served as a model for a Social War aureus. The argument from Burgon's judgment is in any case worthless: precisely in this period and precisely in relation to Oscan material, it is easy to document a tendency to reject as false anything which was out of the ordinary (Friedländer went so far as to claim that the judgment was taken over by Burgon 'von gewissen Napolitanischen Sammlern', who were in the habit of condemning coins they did not possess out of jealousy). Thus Lepsius of course condemned not only the well-known Lerpirior forgery, and the Cortona forgery (CIE, 474), unwisely purchased by the British Museum; but he also condemned Vetter 161, 173 and 176 (Pl. XXVII, nos. 3, 4, and 7), along with the famous Messapic inscription from Vaste originally published by Galateo (Corpus Inscriptionum Messapicarum 149 = Vaste 22.21), along with the pastiche of it invented by J.A. Summonte (Pl. XXVII, 5 and 6). Both were condemned because they did not fit the conception that Lepsius had of what an Oscan inscription was. Even more to the point, Lepsius rejected the silver coin of Phistelia with Greek legend on one side and Oscan legend on the other (Pl. XXX), of which there are numerous specimens of undoubted genuineness; and he went on to condemn almost the whole of the Social War denarius coinage (pp. 122-6).
The issue is anomalous for its place and period; I return to this argument below.
The coin is imitated from a bronze of Amisus (BMC Pontus, Amisus, nos. 51-6), but has 'né la semplicità né la genuinità' (along with much more stylistic nonsense of the same tenor) of the original; actually, although the types are the same as those of the bronze in question, the design of the two coins is very different (see Figs. 000 and 000). (For evidence of links between the Italians and Mithridates VI, see Diodorus Siculus XXXVII, 2, 11, and Posidonius, fr. 253 (E-K), lines 89-92.)

Campana, pp. 135-7, argued (at times copying word for word from Cesano):

A gold coin on the Attic weight standard in Italy in the period in question is an 'evidente assurdità'; the argument makes more explicit the second argument advanced by Cesano. But it is actually no odder that the Italian allies should have struck gold, than that Sulla should have struck gold for circulation in Italy, as he undoubtedly did. And given both the familiarity that large numbers of Italians had with the Greek east and the absence of any model in Italy to copy, it is perfectly intelligible that they should have chosen the Attic weight standard: the Greco-Roman world had long operated with a rough and ready equation of the denarius and the Attic drachma.
The blank from which the coin was struck is of irregular thickness, the coin has been cleaned in the modern period, the style is mediocre; so what?

So much for the 'incongruenze stilistiche e metrologiche già segnalate' cited by A. La Regina, in Italia omnium terrarum parens (Milan, 1989), p. 331, who also observes that the Oscan legends of the Social War denarius issues end in the genitive -i, in Roman fashion, not -íis, and suggests that the legend was invented on the basis of Muratori, 80.7 = CIL IX, 4182, ... Q. Orfio Fulcinio C. Iegio aed. .... But there is nothing anomalous in the use of the Oscan nominative, as in the Latin legends of the contemporary Roman denarii of C. Vibius C.f. Pansa (RRC, no. 342). It is in any case rather hard to believe that the coin was forged to create a new Oscan legend: although de Dominicis had the legend right apart from one interpunct, when the coin, still in the Nott collection, was communicated by the Duc de Luynes to Mérimée and entered the general consciousness of scholars, it was wrongly believed to bear the legend g.paapí (P. Mérimée, Essai sur la guerre sociale (Paris, 1841), p. 387).

Denarii

Nos. 407-8, identical in style and with similar systems of control-letters, are clearly in effect a bilingual issue from a single mint; together they form the largest single block of the Social War coinage, and each generated a number of derivative groups. (Very small variants are ignored.)

No. 407

Obv: Head of Italia left; at right, right to left, víteliú downwards (wrong in HN)

Rev.: Warrior with spear and sword standing, left foot on uncertain object; at right, reclining bull; in exergue, Oscan control-letter, a, b, g, d, e, v, z, h, i, k, l, m, n, p
Campana 9b/120-6, 130-47 (126 is misprinted as 182)

No. 408

Obv.: Head of Italia left; at right, ITALIA upwards

Rev.: Oath-taking scene of eight warriors, four on each side of pig held by attendant; behind, standard; in exergue, Latin control-letter
Campana 3d/58-74

The following issue is associated with no. 407: no. 407bis, a and b, may both have been created by copying a specimen of no. 407; the style of no. 407bis, a, leads on to that of nos. 409-10, that of no. 407bis, b, to that of no. 415, a and b.

No. 407bis

Obv.: Similar to no. 407

Rev.: Similar to no. 407; Oscan control-letter, a
Campana 9b/119

Obv.: Similar to no. 407

Rev.: Similar to no. 407; Oscan control-letter, d
Campana 9b/127-9

No. 409

Obv.: Helmeted head left, wearing necklace; below or at left, right to left, g.mutíl (wrong in HN)

Rev.: Warrior with spear and sword standing, left foot on uncertain object; at right, reclining bull; at left, right to left, safinim downwards; at right, Oscan control-letter, a, b
Campana 11/149-50
For the reverse legend, see H. Rix, Beiträge zur Namenforschung 8 (1957), p. 127.

No. 410

Obv.: Head of Italia left; at left, X; at right, right to left, víteliú upwards

Rev.: Warrior and bull as last; at left above, right to left, ni.lúvki.mr; in exergue, Oscan control-letter, a, b
Campana 9a/117-18

No. 411

Obv.: Head of Italia right; at left, ITALIA downwards

Rev.: Oath-taking scene of eight warriors, four on each side of pig held by attendant; behind, standard; in exergue, Q. SILO
Campana 3g/82

No. 412

Obv.: Head of Italia right

Rev.: Italia seated left on pile of shields, crowned by Victory

Obv.: at left, ITALIA downwards; at right, X

Rev.: in exergue, control-letter, A or B
Campana 7a/104-5

Obv.: no legend; at right, X

Rev.: at left, control-letter, C, , or F; in exergue, ITALIA
Campana 7b/106-8

In the following issue, a, b-c, and d, form three stylistic groups, although the control-letters used suggest that it was produced as a unit; the first group is perhaps distantly derived from the style of nos. 409 and 410, and the last leads on to that of no. 414.

No. 413

Obv.: Type as last; at left, (I)TALIA upwards

Rev.: Oath-taking scene of eight warriors, four on each side of pig held by attendant

Obv.: head left

Rev.: above, A X
Campana 3e/75-7

Obv.: head left

Rev.: in exergue, A X
Campana 3e/78

Obv.: head right

Rev.: in exergue, B V
Campana 3e/79

Obv.: head right

Rev.: in exergue, C T or D S
Campana 3e/80-1

No. 414

Obv.: Head of Italia right; at left, ITALIA downwards; at right, XVI upwards

Rev.: Italia seated left on pile of shields, crowned by Victory; in exergue, Latin control-letter
Campana 7c/109-15

In the following issue, no. 415, a and b, are of similar style and perhaps form one continuous series; no. 415, c, is of a quite different style, although the control-numbers used suggest that it was produced with the rest. There seems to have been an attempt at a bilingual issue, combining the Latin legend ITALIA with Oscan numerals.

No. 415

Obv.: Head of Italia left

Rev.: Oath-taking scene of eight warriors, four on each side of pig held by attendant

Obv.: at right, ITALIA upwards; below chin, I

Rev.: in exergue, III, or no control-mark
Campana 3b/35-7

Obv.: similar, but no legend or I

Rev.: in exergue, Oscan control-numerals, II, IIII, Λ, IΛ, IIIIΛ, X, IX, IIX, IIIX, IIIIX, ΛX, IΛX, IIΛX, IIIΛX, IIIIΛX, XX, IXX, or no control-mark
Campana 3a/7-34

Obv.: at right, ITALIA upwards

Rev.: in exergue, Latin control-numeral with dot to right: II, IIII, or V
Campana 3b/38-54

So far we have had two issues that form what is in effect one bilingual issue (nos. 407 and 408), and a group of derivative issues: "bilingual" (no. 415), Oscan (nos. 407bis, 409, 410) and Latin (nos. 411, 412, 413, and 414); analogous is a group formed from nos. 416-21, perhaps two bilingual, two Oscan and two Latin, which can be plausibly placed together on stylistic grounds; the style of nos. 416, 418, 419, and the bulk of 417 is identical; a secondary style in no. 417 then leads on to nos. 420 and 421 (compare no. 415, a and b).

No. 416

Obv.: Bust of Minerva right, wearing helmet and aegis and crowned by Victory

Rev.: Warrior with spear and sword greeting warrior with sword; at right, forepart of ship which bears thyrsus; in exergue, control-letter, A (wrong in Campana), or Oscan control numeral, I, II, III, IIII, Λ, IIΛ, IIIΛ, IIIIΛ
Campana 15/174-82

No. 417

Obv.: Bust of one of the Dioscuri right; above, star

Rev.: Italia in biga right, with spear and shield; below, control-mark: T, star, star and III, star and IIII, bucranium, bucranium and two dots, bucranium and three dots, ram's head and , head of Juno Sospita
Campana 12/151-62

No. 418

Obv.: Bust of Minerva left, wearing helmet and aegis and crowned by Victory

Rev.: Warrior with spear and sword standing, left foot on uncertain object; at right, forepart of charging bull; at left, trophy; in exergue, Oscan control-numeral, I, II, V, IV, IIV, IIIV, IIIIV, XI
Campana 14/164-73

Although it is impossible to be certain, the following issue is perhaps Latin.

No. 419

Obv.: Bust of Minerva left, wearing helmet and aegis; at right, I

Rev.: Bacchus standing with spear, holding hand over panther at left
Campana 13/163

No. 420

Obv.: Head of Bacchus right, within wreath

Rev.: Bull goring wolf right; in exergue, right to left, vítelliú (wrong in HN); above, Oscan control-letter, a
Campana 6c/103

No. 421

Obv.: Head of Italia right, laureate

Rev.: Victory seated right, holding palm-branch; in exergue, ITALIA
Campana 8/116

The next two issues, one Oscan and one Latin, are both anonymous and are unrelated stylistically to each other or to any other issue.

No. 422

Obv.: Head of Italia right; at right, X

Rev.: Dioscuri riding right; in exergue, right to left, víteliú (wrong in HN)
Campana 1/1-2

No. 423

Obv.: Head of Italia right; at left, ITALIA downwards

Rev.: Oath-taking scene of eight warriors, four on each side of pig held by attendant; behind, standard; in exergue, Latin control-numerals with dot to right: I, III
Campana 3c/55-7

The following issues are of C. Papius C.f. Mutilus: two issues, nos. 424 and 425, stylistically unrelated to each other or to any other issue; an interesting bilingual issue, no. 426; and nos. 427 and 428, which describe him as imperator.

No. 424

Obv.: Head of Italia right, wearing helmet; around, right to left, g.paapií.g.mutíl (wrong in HN)

Rev.: Warrior with spear and sword standing, left foot on uncertain object; at right, reclining bull; at left, right to left, víteliú (wrong in HN)
Campana 10/148

No. 425

Obv.: Bust of Mars right, wearing helmet; at left, X and, right to left, víteliú downwards (wrong in HN)

Rev.: Oath-taking scene of four warriors, two on each side of pig held by attendant; in exergue, right to left, g.paapií.g. (wrong in HN)
Campana 4/83-5 (note the closing interpunct)

No. 426

Obv.: Head of Italia right, wearing helmet

Rev.: Dioscuri riding apart

Obv.: at left, wreath; below, and ITALIA

Rev.: in exergue, ITALIA
Campana 2b/6

Obv.: similar

Rev.: in exergue, right to left, g.paapi.g. (wrong in HN)
Campana 2b/5 (note the closing interpunct)

Obv.: similar, but below, and, right to left, mutíl (wrong in HN)

Rev.: in exergue, right to left, g.paapi.g or g.paapi.g. (wrong in HN)
Campana 2a/3-4 (note the closing interpunct)

No. 427

Obv.: Head of Bacchus right; at right, right to left, mutíl.embratur downwards (wrong in HN)

Rev.: Bull goring wolf left or right; in exergue, right to left, g.paapi (wrong in HN)
Campana 6a/98-101; 6b/102

No. 428

Obv.: Head of Mars left, wearing helmet; at left, right to left, mutíl.embratur upwards (wrong in HN)

Rev.: Oath-taking scene of two warriors, one each side of pig held by attendant; in exergue, right to left, g.paapi.g. (note the closing interpunct, sometimes missing) or g.paapi (wrong in HN)
Campana 5/86-97

Footnotes

[[1]] See Oskische Studien, 4-5, for the point just made about Lepsius.

[[2]] C. R. Lepsius, Inscriptiones Umbricae et Oscae (Leipzig 1841).

[[3]] Bibliography and a doomed attempt at resuscitation in A. Morandi, AC 36, 1984, pp. 299-328, 'Epigrafia latino-italica del Cicolano. Per una definizione etnica degli Equicoli', at pp. 304-6.