297/1b. Quinctia (112-111 BC)

AR Denarius (Rome, 112-111 BC)

O/ Bust of Hercules seen from behind, with head turned to left and club over shoulder.

R/ Desultor right, wearing cuirass; control-mark behind; rat right between TI Q below; D.S.S. incuse on tablet in exergue.

3.82g; 118mm

Crawford 297/1b (87 obverse dies/109 reverse dies)

- Naville Numismatics Live Auction 36, lot 534.

Tiberius Quinctius:

The attribution of this issue to a Tiberius Quinctius is dubious as the few letters on the reverse could mean different things.  Crawford rules out the possibility that the Q stands for Quaestor, so it should only be the first letter of a nomen, hence the attribution to a Quinctius.  However a Quinctilius is also possible.

The significance of the rat below the horses is an enigma.  It apparently cannot be related to any cognomen; Crawford may be right to reject previous attempts to link it to a name -- the solution is probably not as easy as simply translating "rat", "mouse" or "rodent" in Latin.  Mus ("mouse") was nonetheless an attested cognomen, but the gens Decia that bore it was already extinct by the end of the 2nd century.

The reverse with the desultor was perhaps a statue, as the legend DSS stands for de Senatus Sententia, usually found on public monuments.

Sammlung : Roman Republic