195/3. Junia? - triens (169-158 BC)

AE Triens (Rome, 169-158 BC)

O/ Helmeted head of Minerva right; four pellets above.

R/ Prow right; ass above; four pellets before; ROMA below.

8.14g; 21mm

Crawford 195/3 (6 specimens in Paris)

- Naville Numismatics Live Auction 36, lot 514.

Ass series (Decimus Junius M.f. M.n. Silanus?):

The ass doubtlessly refers to a moneyer, but is impossible to know for sure which one since there is not a single letter one the coins of this series.

There are three possibilities.  It could be a descendent of Gnaeus Cornelius Scipio Asina (she-ass in latin), who received this strange agnomen after his defeat against the Carthaginians near Lipara in 260 BC.  However Asina is not known to have had children, and they may have avoided using such an unflattering name.

The name of the gens Asinia likewise refers to a she-ass, but its first known member was only active during the Social war.  Moreover, the Asinii were probably not Roman citizens at this time as they originated from Teate, an Oscan city.

The animal also appears later on the coins of a Junii Silani, as it refers to the god Silenus (RRC 220/1).  One member is recorded in these years and could have therefore been our moneyer: Decimus Junius M.f. M.n. Silanus, a senator who later translated the works of Mago into Latin.  It is the most likely hypothesis.

Sammlung : Roman Republic