382/1a. Naevia (79 BC)

AR Denarius (Rome, 79 BC)

O/ Diademed head of Venus right; S-C behind; control-letter K before.

R/ Victory driving galloping triga right; C NAE BALB in exergue.

3.77g; 19mm

Crawford 382/1a (280 obverse dies/311 reverse dies, both varieties)

- Naville Numismatics Live Auction 39, lot 453.

Gnaeus Naevius Balbus:

Balbus came from the small plebeian gens Naevia, and was possibly related to Gnaeus Naevius (c.270-c.201 BC), one of the first prominent writers in Latin. Balbus might have also been a descendant of the senator Lucius Naevius Balbus mentioned by Livy in 168 BC (ixv, 13), who might have also been a moneyer (RRC 179).  Balbus' subsequent career is unknown, but as moneyer in 79 BC, he was doubtless a supporter of Sulla.  Besides, Plutarch also mentions a Balbus fighting for Sulla during the Colline Gate Battle (Sulla, 29).

The reverse features a triga, which was seldom depicted in the Roman coinage.  These chariots were perhaps only used for special occasions, such as the Ludi Victoriae Sullanae, established by Sextus Nonius Sufenas in 81.  The only other denarius with a triga was that of Appius Claudius Pulcher (RRC 299), who was precisely the consul of 79.  It is therefore possible that the consul had an influence on the coinage of the moneyer, as suggested by Andrew Burnett*.

*Andrew Burnett, "The Authority to Coin in the Late Republic and Early Empire", in The Numismatic Chronicle, 1977, pp. 37-63.

Collection : Roman Republic