219/1e. Antestia (146 BC)

AR Denarius (Rome, 146 BC)

O/ Helmeted head of Roma right; C ANTESTI upwards behind head; X below chin.

R/ Dioscuri right; puppy with both forefeet raised below; ROMA in exergue.

3.83g; 19mm

Crawford 219/1e (105 obverse dies/131 reverse dies)

Gaius Antestius (C.f.?):

The plebeian gens Antestia (or Antistia) was of minor importance until the Principate; a few members are known during the Second Punic War, but none obtained curule magistacies.  Besides, our moneyer is only known through his coins.  He might be related to Antistia, the mother-in-law of Tiberius Gracchus (Plutarch, T. Gracchus, 4, 2).  He was possibly the elder brother of L. Antistius C.f., a senator mentioned in the Senatus Consultum de Agro Pergameno*, dated 101 BC, who was probably the moneyer of 136 BC (RRC 238).

The meaning of the puppy is unknown.  Crawford conjectured that it could have referred to a cognomen Catulus (puppy in Latin).  Another issue also features a dog (RRC 122), but without any name.  It is unknown whether the two moneyers were linked.

*Cf. Robert K. Sherk, The Text of the Senatus Consultum De Agro Pergameno, 1966.

Collezione : Roman Republic