Roman Republic Crawford 485/2 Silver Denarius

Monetary and Political Context

The production of Crawford 485/2 in 43 BC occurred during an acute political and fiscal crisis across the Roman world. Following the assassination of Julius Caesar in March 44 BC, the Roman state fractured into competing factions, pitting the senatorial coalition led by Cicero and the consuls Hirtius and Pansa against Mark Antony, while Octavian maneuvered for military supremacy. Caesar had earlier expanded the traditional college of tresviri monetales to a quattuorvirate of four magistrates in order to oversee the vast volume of coin production required by his campaigns and administrative reforms. In 43 BC, the college continued as a body of quattuorviri, with Lucius Flaminius Chilo serving as one of the appointed magistrates. The monetary system of the late Republic relied fundamentally on the silver denarius, tariffed at sixteen asses since the second century BC. During this phase of renewed civil conflict, the Roman treasury faced immense pressures to finance legionary mobilization, civic subsidies, and administrative obligations. Crawford 485/2 represented an official state issue produced within Rome before the consolidation of the triumviral monopoly over coinage, maintaining traditional Republican denomination standards while addressing the logistical necessities of state finance.

Production Technology and Mint Attribution

Crawford 485/2 was struck at the regular urban mint of Rome. The manufacturing technique followed the standard Republican method of manual striking with paired dies. Blank planchets were cast in molds to achieve the requisite weight standard before being struck between an anvil die and a mobile hammer die. The Republican denarius of this period targeted a theoretical weight standard of approximately 3.90 grams (roughly 1/84 of a Roman pound), with typical individual weights clustering between 3.60 and 4.05 grams due to minor manufacturing tolerances. Diameters for this issue typically range from 18 to 20 millimeters. Dies were engraved in relief by skilled urban artisans, producing a well-defined border of dots (granulation) encircling both faces. The die survival estimates compiled by Michael Crawford indicate a moderate scale of production for Chilo's non-portrait issue, notably smaller than the massive wartime strikings that would characterize the triumviral coinages later that year and in the immediate subsequent period.

Obverse Typology and Iconography

The obverse of Crawford 485/2 displays the head of the goddess Venus facing right, wearing a diadem, with her hair neatly gathered behind the neck. The entire motif is enclosed within a dotted border. Venus occupied a central place in late Republican political imagery, functioning not only as an ancient Roman deity of fertility and victory but especially as the ancestral patroness (Venus Genetrix) claimed by the Julian family through Iulus and Aeneas. By selecting Venus for the obverse, Lucius Flaminius Chilo acknowledged the powerful ideological currents established by Julius Caesar, while avoiding the direct monarchic implications of placing a living or recently deceased leader's portrait on the coin. The diadem reinforces her divine status, distinguishing the representation from mortal female personifications. The engraving style adheres to the classicizing, dignified manner typical of urban Roman die cutters in the mid-first century BC.

Reverse Typology and Iconography

The reverse depicts the winged goddess Victory driving a biga (two-horse chariot) galloping to the right. She holds the reins in her right hand and raises a laurel wreath in her left hand, symbolizing military triumph and divine favor. Below the chariot team, or in the exergue, appears the signature of the moneyer within a dotted outer border. The chariot motif had been a quintessential staple of Republican denarii for well over a century, originally featuring deities such as Luna, Diana, or Jupiter, and frequently Victory herself (victoriatus and bigatus traditions). On Crawford 485/2, the combination of Victory and the biga conveys a traditional message of national success and martial fortune, presenting an uncontroversial civic image of triumph that resonated with diverse political factions in Rome during the precarious spring and summer of 43 BC.

Epigraphy and Legends

The inscriptions on Crawford 485/2 provide crucial historical evidence regarding the organization of the mint and the identity of the magistrate. The obverse legend reads IIII VIR PRI FL, positioned around the portrait of Venus. This unusual formula abbreviates quattuorvir primus flavit (or primo flavit), denoting that Lucius Flaminius Chilo held the specific distinction of being the first among the college of four magistrates to strike or melt the coin metal during his term. The verb flare, traditionally paired with ferire in the full formal title tresviri aere argento auro flando feriundo, specifically refers to the casting or smelting of the flans. The reverse legend bears the personal name of the issuer, L FLAMIN CHILO, identifying Lucius Flaminius Chilo through his praenomen, abbreviated gentilicium, and cognomen. The lettering is executed in crisp Roman square capitals, characteristic of late Republican urban epigraphy.

Typological Classification and Chronological Placement

Within Michael Crawford's definitive corpus Roman Republican Coinage, issue 485 comprises two distinct denarius types struck under Lucius Flaminius Chilo in 43 BC. The first type, Crawford 485/1, features the laureate head of Julius Caesar on the obverse and a standing goddess (often identified as Venus or Pax) on the reverse, accompanied by the legend L FLAMINIVS IIII VIR. The second type, Crawford 485/2, omits the Caesarian portrait entirely, substituting Venus on the obverse and Victory in a biga on the reverse while introducing the unique title IIII VIR PRI FL. Earlier nineteenth- and twentieth-century catalogues, such as Edward Sydenham's The Coinage of the Roman Republic (Sydenham 1089) and Herbert Grueber's British Museum catalogue, also catalogued this distinct pair. Scholars have debated whether Crawford 485/2 preceded or followed the portrait type 485/1, with the formula PRI FL suggesting to some numismatists that this issue represented Chilo's inaugural production upon entering office before coordinating with the broader collegiate program.

Circulation, Hoard Evidence, and Survival

Denarii of Crawford 485/2 circulated widely across Italy and adjacent Mediterranean provinces alongside contemporary Republican and early imperial silver coinages. Hoard evidence indicates that issues struck during the 40s BC remained in active commercial circulation for decades, frequently appearing in hoards deposited during the Augustan and Julio-Claudian eras. Because Crawford 485/2 was struck in high-purity silver in accordance with Republican standards, it circulated without distinction alongside earlier Republican issues and the later triumviral issues of Octavian, Antony, and Lepidus. The wear patterns documented in aggregate find records demonstrate gradual attrition over generations of transactional use, with many specimens exhibiting moderate to heavy circulation wear before their final burial in military or domestic hoards.

References

1. Roman Republican Coinage. p. 496, no. 485/2
2. Coinage of the Roman Republic Online: RRC 485/2. rrc-485.2
3. Coins of the Roman Republic in the British Museum. Vol. I, p. 566, nos. 4201-4202
4. The Coinage of the Roman Republic. p. 180, no. 1089