Crawford 511/3a

Moneyer:  Sextus Pompey, 43-35 BC.

Denomination: Denarius

Obverse: MAG PIVS IMP ITER Bare head of Cneus Pompeius Magnus to right; to left, jug; to right, lituus.

Reverse: PRAEF / CLAS ET OR[AE] / [MAR]IT EX [S C] Neptune standing left, holding aplustre in his right hand and resting his right foot on prow; to left and right, the brothers Anapias and Amphinomus, with their parents on their shoulders, running in opposite directions.

Reference: Crawford 511/3a

Mint: military mint in Sicily, 37-36 BC

Weight: 

Note: This type is interesting in that it expresses filial piety. As the Catanian brothers Anapias and Amphinomus rescued their aged parents from the eruption of Mt. Aetna in Sicily, Sextus Pompey honors his father by placing his portrait on this coin and alluding to his freeing the waters around Sicily from pirates.

This coin of Sextus Pompey is rich with symbolism. The reverse alludes not only to Sextus' command of the seas and the probable location of the mint through the legend of Amphinomus and Anapias, but is also a reference to the piety of Sextus Pompey in upholding the Republican ideals of his late father, who is depicted on the obverse.

This coin shows the iconography of the famous saga of the Sicilian brothers (in later sources referred to as Anphinomus and Anapias). In the most ancient version of this legend written by the Greek orator Lycurgus (In Leocr. 95 s.) there is actually no mention of names, and moreover there is but one pious hero, a fact which does not correlate with the classification eusebon choron (alms-place), as the spot where this event took place came to be known. The same event was also the inspiration for the final excursus of the pseudo-Virgilian poem "Aetna". Lycurgus retells the story thus: "It is said that in Sicily a river of fire erupted forth from Etna flowing throughout the area and towards one nearby city in particular; everyone tried to flee in an attempt to save themselves, but one young man, on seeing that his elderly father was unable to run from the torrent of lava, which had almost reached him, lifted the old man up onto his shoulders and carried him away. Weighed down by his burden, I think, the lava flow caught up with him too. Here, one can observe the benevolence of the gods towards virtuous men: the story says that the fire encircled the area and that they alone were saved. As a result, the place was dubbed 'seat of the pious', a name it still retains. The others who, in their haste to flee, abandoned their parents, all met a painful death".

Collection : 16 Roman Republic