L. Cestius and C. Norbanus (43 BC). AV aureus (19mm, 8.05 gm, 9h). NGC MS 5/5 - 3/5. Rome, January-April 43 BC. C•NORBANVS / L•CESTIVS, draped bust of Sibyl (or Venus) right; P R in right field / S•C, Cybele on throne mounted on car of a biga pulled left by two lions, patera in right hand and resting left hand on tympanum. Crawford 491/2. Sydenham 1155. Cestia 3 and Norbana 5. Calicó 5. Lightly matte surfaces with bright underlying luster. Ex Heritage Auctions, Auction 3066 Philadelphia ANA (17 Augustus 2018), lot 30090; Numismatica Ars Classica 41 (20 November 2007), lot 23; Marian A. Sinton Collection (Triton III, 30 December 1999), lot 829 This intriguing gold aureus belongs to the 12 months immediately following the assassination of Julius Caesar, which produced a chaotic situation in Rome when the Senate briefly regained its preeminence and a host of unlikely alliances were formed and broken up. Octavian, Caesar's young heir, allied himself with Cicero and the Senate against Marc Antony, who following the end of his Consulship on January 1, 43 BC took an army north to attack Decimus Albinus Brutus, one of the assassins, who had been appointed by the Senate as governor of Cisalpine Gaul. The new Consuls Hirtius and Pansa, in turn, raised a Senatorial army and set off to attack Antony, ostensibly with Octavian's support. Lucius Cestius and Gaius Norbanus, both Caesarians and supporters of Octavian, were elected Praetors for 43 BC and ordered the striking of this issue of gold aurei to pay the Senatorial soldiers. The obverse female bust on this type is variously described as Venus or the Cumaean Sibyl; the latter seems more likely as depicting Venus (the legendary progenitor of the Julian clan) would have shown sympathy for the Caesarean cause. The Sibyl was a legendary prophetess whose poetical pronouncements, codified in three books kept at the Temple of Jupiter on Capitoline Hill, were consulted in times of crisis. During the Second Punic War (218-201 BC), the prophecies were consulted and found to recommend that a cult be established at Rome for the Phrygian mother goddess Cybele. The reverse depicts Cybele in a chariot pulled by lions.

HID09801242017

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