★ An extremely rare tessera of Gaius Cassius Longinus (?) ★

SYRIA, Seleucis and Pieria. Apamea. Tessera (Lead, 23 mm, 7.34 g, 12 h), CY 24 = 43/2 BC. Bare imperatorial head (Gaius Cassius Longinus?) to right. Rev. [AΠAMEΩN / THΣ IEPAΣ - KAI AΣYΛOY] Elephant walking right; in field to right, [ΔΚ]. Leu Numismatik Web Auction 12 (2020), 959. An extremely rare piece of great historical interest. Fine.

From a European collection, formed before 2005.

The number 24 on the reverse of this intriguing tessera likely corresponds to the Pompeian Era, dating it to 43/2 BC - a year marked by the expulsion of Quintus Caecilius Bassus from Apameia by Gaius Cassius Longinus and a significant shift in the city's coinage, moving from the old autonomous Zeus/elephant types to the Athena/Nike issues. Unlike the civic reverse, the obverse of this tessera features a head that appears distinctly imperatorial and may depict either Bassus or, more likely, Longinus, one of the two principal assassins of Julius Caesar.