Ancients: L. Cestius and C. Norbanus (43 BC). AV aureus (19mm, 8.05 gm, 8h). NGC AU 4/5 - 4/5....

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Senatorial Soldier's Pay Ordered by Supporters of Octavian

L. Cestius and C. Norbanus (43 BC). AV aureus (19mm, 8.05 gm, 8h). NGC AU 4/5 - 4/5. Rome, January-April 43 BC. C•NORBANVS / L•CESTIVS, draped bust of Sibyl (or Venus) right; P R in right field / S•C, Cybele on throne mounted on car of a biga pulled left by two lions, patera in right hand and resting left hand on tympanum. Crawford 491/2. Sydenham 1155. Cestia 3 and Norbana 5. Calicó 5. Satiny surfaces with bright underlying luster.

From the Monaco Collection. Ex Peter J. Merani Collection (Triton XXIV, 19 January 2021), lot 45; Cederlind 132 (4 October 2004), lot 155

This intriguing gold aureus belongs to the 12 months immediately following the assassination of Julius Caesar, which produced a chaotic situation in Rome, when the Senate briefly regained its preeminence and a host of unlikely alliances were formed and broken. Octavian, Caesar's young heir, allied himself with Cicero and the Senate against Marc Antony, who following the end of his Consulship, on 1 January 43 BC, took an army north to attack Decimus Albinus Brutus, one of the assassins, who had been appointed by the Senate as governor of Cisalpine Gaul. The new Consuls Hirtius and Pansa, in turn, raised a Senatorial army and set off to attack Antony, ostensibly with Octavian's support. Lucius Cestius and Gaius Norbanus, both Caesarians and supporters of Octavian, were elected Praetors for 43 BC, and ordered the striking of this issue of gold aurei to pay the Senatorial soldiers. The obverse female bust on this type is variously described as Venus or the Cumaean Sibyl; the latter seems more likely as depicting Venus (the legendary progenitor of the Julian clan) would have shown sympathy for the Caesarean cause. The Sibyl was a legendary prophetess whose poetical pronouncements, codified in three books kept at the Temple of Jupiter on Capitoline Hill, were consulted in times of crisis. During the Second Punic War (218-201 BC), the prophecies were consulted and found to recommend that a cult be established at Rome for the Phrygian mother goddess Cybele. The reverse depicts Cybele in a chariot pulled by lions.

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