Crawford 439/1

Moneyer: P. Cornelius Lentulus Marcellinus, 50 BC

Denomination: Denarius

Obverse: MARCELLINVS; Bare head of the consul Marcus Claudius Marcellus to right; behind, triskeles (symbol of Sicily). 

Reverse:  Figure of Marcus Claudius Marcellus (consul 222 BC), walking right, carrying with two hands a trophy into tetrastyle temple; in right and left fields, downwards inscription: MARCELLVS / COS•QVINQ (Marcellus Consul Quintum: = Marcellus, Consul for the fifth times)

Reference: Crawford 439/1

Mint: Rome

Notes: This moneyer, presumably the quaestor of 48 BC, here honors his most famous ancestor, the holder of five consulships and one of the principal Roman heroes of the Second Punic War: Marcus Claudius Marcellus, the general who conquered Syracuse in 211 BC. The triskeles (symbol of Sicily) alludes to his conquest of Sicily in 212-210 BC, the spoils from which rescued the state from imminent bankruptcy. 

The reverse type commemorates his spolia opima, the arms won in 222 BC when, as consul, he slew a Gallic military leader of the Gaesatae hired by the Insubres who were fighting the Romans (Viridomarus or Britomartus as translations vary) with his own hands in the course of the Roman conquest of Cisalpine Gaul. The reverse shows Marcus Claudius Marcellus bringing a trophy from that victory into the temple of Jupiter Feretrius, traditionally the first temple to have been built in Rome.

The portrait itself could well go back to an image made in the general’s lifetime; there was also a statue erected in his honor in the first half of the 2nd century on which the head on the coin could have been based.

The spolia opima ("rich spoils"; "święte łupy") were the armour, arms, and other effects that an ancient Roman general stripped from the body of an opposing commander slain in single combat. The spolia opima were regarded as the most honourable of the several kinds of war trophies a commander could obtain, including enemy military standards and the peaks of warships.

The Romans recognized only three instances when spolia opima were taken. The precedent was imagined in Rome's mythical history, which tells that in 752 BC Romulus defeated and stripped Acron, king of the Caeninenses, following the Rape of the Sabine Women.In the second instance, Aulus Cornelius Cossus obtained the spolia opima from Lars Tolumnius, king of the Veientes, during Rome's semi-legendary fifth century BC.

The third and most historically grounded occurred before the Second Punic War when Marcus Claudius Marcellus (consul 222 BC) galloped forward beyond his battle line and speared the Celtic warrior Viridomarus, a king of the Gaesatae, before stripping him of his armour on the battlefield.

The ceremony of the spolia opima was a ritual of state religion that was supposed to emulate the archaic ceremonies carried out by the founder Romulus. The victor affixed the stripped armor to the trunk of an oak tree, carried it himself in a procession to the Capitoline, and dedicated it at the Temple of Jupiter Feretrius.

To dedicate the spoils to Jupiter Feretrius, one needed be the commander of a Roman army. 

During the early years of the imperial regime, in 27 BC, M Licinius Crassus (grandson of the triumvir) after victories in Macedonia requested a triumph and right to dedicate spolia opima due to his slaying of an enemy chieftain in hand-to-hand combat. Dedication rights were denied by Augustus.Crassus' illustrious political lineage made him a potential rival to Augustus. While Crassus' triumph was granted, it was required to be a joint triumph with Augustus who may have argued he deserved it due to his also holding imperium in Macedonia.

Collection : 16 Roman Republic