Crawford 519/2

Moneyer: Gneus Domitius Ahenobarbus

Denomination: Denarius

Obverse: AHENOBAR; Male head right, slightly bearded

Reverse: CN DOMITIVS IMP Trophy with two spears and shield standing facing on prow right

Reference: Crawford 519/2

Mint: Military mint moving with Gn. Domitius Ahenobarbus 41-40 BC, 

Weight: 3,30 g

Note: Gnaeus Domitius Ahenobarbus (‘bronze beard’; "miedzianobrody") was well acquainted with the risks and rewards that faced noblemen in times of civil war, for his father Lucius had opposed the First Triumvirate and paid for it with his life at the Battle of Pharsalus in 48 B.C.

Ahenobarbus was present at Pharsalus, but unlike his father he survived and was pardoned by Julius Caesar. The self-serving purpose of Caesar’s mercy did not fool him, and after Caesar was struck down on the Ides of March, he fled to Macedon with Brutus. When he was named in Octavian’s proscriptions of 43 B.C. Ahenobarbus had little option but to cast his lot with the cause of Brutus and Cassius.

Ahenobarbus patrolled the Adriatic for the Republicans, and together with Murcus, the naval commander of Cassius, he defeated the Caesarean Calvinus in a sea battle. For this critical victory, which prevented additional supplies and men from reaching the main forces of Antony and Octavian in Illyria, Ahenobarbus was hailed Imperator. Since this coin bears the inscription IMP we must date it to soon after that event at the earliest.

After Brutus and Cassius were defeated at Philippi in October, 42 B.C., Ahenobarbus patrolled the seas until 40 B.C., when the political tide shifted yet again, and he allied himself with Marc Antony just when war between Antony and Octavian seemed imminent. The Treaty of Brundisium restored peace, Ahenobarbus was made governor of Bithynia and then witnessed Antony’s disastrous campaign against the Parthians in 36 B.C., and in the following year helped capture the renegade Sextus Pompey.

Having thus far survived the civil war, Ahenobarbus was returned to Rome to assume the consulship in 32 B.C. However, the inevitable showdown between Antony and Octavian began when Octavian marched on Rome and forced the consuls Ahenobarbus and Sosius to flee to the East along with some 300 senators who opposed Octavian. By this stage of his life Ahenobarbus’ health was suffering and he was not enthusiastic about throwing his lot in with Cleopatra, so he defected to Octavian just before the battle of Actium took place on September 2, 31 B.C. He did not long survive, dying of natural causes late in 31, or early in 30 B.C.

Aside from his involvement in the civil wars that racked Rome in the latter half of the first century BC, Ahenobarbus is also remembered for being the paternal great-grandfather of the future emperor Nero. 

The rare coinage of Ahenobarbus belongs to his stint as a "pirate king" 42-40 BC. This silver denarius bears an appropriately nautical reverse celebrating his victories at sea. The balding, bearded portrait on the obverse remains enigmatic; it may represent Gnaeus himself, or one of his ancestors.

Summing up, Gnaeus Domitius Ahenobarbus accompanied his father at Corfinium and Pharsalus on the side of Pompey. After his pardon by Julius Caesar, he retired to Rome in 46 BC. After Caesar's assassination, Ahenobarbus supported Brutus and Cassius, and in 43 BC was condemned under the terms of the Lex Pedia for complicity in the assassination. Ahenobarbus achieved considerable naval success against the Second Triumvirate in the Ionian theater, during which time this denarius was minted, but finally, through the mediation of Gaius Asinius Pollio, he reconciled with Mark Antony, who thereupon made him governor of Bithynia. He participated in Antony's campaign against the Parthians and was consul in 32 BC. When war broke out between Antony and Octavian, Ahenobarbus initially supported Antony but, disgusted by Antony's relationship with Cleopatra, sided with Octavian shortly before Actium. His only child, Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus, was married to Antonia Maior, the daughter of Mark Antony and Octavia. Their son, Gnaeus Domitius Ahenobarbus, married Agrippina Minor, the sister of the emperor Caligula, and was the father of the emperor Nero.

Collezione : 16 Roman Republic