316/1. Thoria (105 BC)

AR Denarius (Rome, 105 BC)

O/ Head of Juno right, wearing goat-skin; I S M R downwards behind.

R/ Bull charging right; control-mark O above; L THORIVS below; BALBVS in exergue.

Crawford 316/1 (450 obverse dies/562 reverse dies).

3.7g; 20mm

Same dies as Stack's, Coin Galleries Sep. 2008, lot 195.

Lucius Thorius Balbus:

Balbus belonged to the obscure gens Thoria, of which he is the only known member alongside his elder brother, or father, Spurius, Tribune of the Plebs c.111.

The obverse refers to the cult of Juno Sospita, who was worshiped in Lanuvium, the hometown of Balbus. This cult must have been particularly significant for the city since two other moneyers from Lanuvium, Lucius Procilius and Lucius Roscius Fabatus, also chose to feature her on their coins (RRC 379 and 412 respectively). "I S M R" probably stands for Ivno Sospita Mater Regina.

Balbus' devotion looks rather strange considering that Cicero described in lengths his lack of faith and how he even mocked the shrines of Juno Sospita in Lanuvium (De Finibus, 20-22). Nevertheless, Cicero also adds that he was "extremely popular", so his use of the goddess on this denarius might have only been motivated by political gain. Of his political career, we however know very little.

He was a possible brother of Spurius Thorius, an enigmatic Tribune of the Plebs in c.111, who might have continued the agrarian legislation of the Gracchi, thus possibly explaining the popularity of Thorius (cf. discussion in Broughton, I, p.542, note 3).

Ancient sources do not mention any Thorius during the two following decades, but Balbus is found again as legate under Metellus Pius in Spain during the Sertorian War. Plutarch tells that he was killed by Sertorius during a battle at Consabura (now Consuegra, south of Madrid) in 79 after having been sent by Metellus Pius to help the Propraetor Marcus Domitius Calvinus, also killed by Sertorius (Sertorius, 12).

The bull on the reverse is a punning allusion on the moneyer's nomen Thorius.

Sammlung : Roman Republic