340/1. Calpurnia (90 BC)

AR Denarius (Rome, 90 BC)

O/ Laureate head of Apollo right; unidentified control-symbol behind (possibly a hive, apparently unpublished).

R/ Horseman with palm-branch right; control-letter K above; L PISO FRVGI below; tongs in exergue.

3.76g; 19.5mm

Crawford 340/1 (864 obverse dies/1080 reverse dies); RRSC D200.1 (C)

- Ex collection of Elvira Elisa Clain-Stefanelli (1914-2001), former director of the National Numismatic Collection (part of the Smithsonian Institute).

- Naville Numismatics Live Auction 36, lot 545.

Lucius Calpurnius L.f. L.n. Piso Frugi:

Piso Frugi belonged to the gens Calpurnia, one of the most successful plebeian gentes of the late Republic. His homonymous grandfather was Consul in 133, historian, and the first Censor of the gens in 120. His father Lucius was on track to a successful career, but he died in Spain during his praetorship in about 112 (Appian, Iberia, 99; Cicero, In Verrem 2, IV, 25).

The little we know on Piso's life principally comes from his friend Cicero, whose daughter married his son. Tribune of the Plebs in 89, he created two new tribes in order to reward some allies during the Social War. This measure was apparently opposed by the Praetor Publius Gabinius, with whom Piso had an enmity (Cicero, Divination in Caecilium, 64).

He then became Praetor in 74 in Sicily, where he fought the infamous Verres, who was his colleague (In Verrem 2, I, 46). Verres' trial took place in 70; this is probably where Cicero and Piso met, because the former mentions in a letter to Atticus that he has betrothed his daughter Tullia to Piso's son in January 67 (Ad Atticum, I, 3).

This type refers to the Ludi Apollinares, permanently established by Gaius Calpurnius Piso, Praetor in 211 (Livy, XXVI, 23). It is the most common of the Republic -- Crawford gives an estimation of more than a thousand reverse dies ! -- and possibly the Empire (the only other contender would be the "Tribute Penny" of Tiberius). Gaius, Piso's son, and Cicero's son-in-law, reused the same type for his denarii, but they are not as common. Crawford initially intended to publish a vast study of this rich issue, but he never found the time to complete it.

Reference : 340/1

Collection : Roman Republic