Lucius Cornelius Scipio Asiagenus, silver denarius serratus, 3.96 g.

Lucius Cornelius Scipio Asiagenus, silver denarius serratus, 3.96 g.

Lucius Cornelius Scipio Asiagenus

106 BCE

Obverse: Laureate head of Jupiter left; behind, control mark, L · . Border of dots.

Reverse: Jupiter in quadriga right, holding scepter and reins in left hand and hurling thunderbolt with right hand; in exergue, L SCIP ASIAG. Border of dots.

Style/Period: Roman Republic

Lucius Cornelius Scipio Asiagenus was consul in 83 BCE and was a member of the Marian party. In this coin he commemorates his ancestor L. Cornelius Scipio, the son of Scipio Africanus who defeated Antiochus of Syria at Mount Sipylus in 190 BCE. When he returned to Rome, he was given the title Asiaticus, which his family later changed to Asiagenus. The emphasis upon Jupiter on both the obverse and reverse of the coin shows the great veneration of the god by the family of Cornelius. The serrated edge signifies that the coin was a special issue for use in the northern provinces (see coin C013).
-- Bradford W. Wendel, LU '96

Bibliography: E. Babelon, Description historique et chronologique des monnaies de la republique romaine (Paris and London 1885-1885) Cornelia, 24; H. A. Grueber, Coins of the Roman Republic in the British Museum (London 1910), I, 206-207, no. 1365; T. R. S. Broughton, The Magistrates of the Roman Republic, II (New York 1952) 437; E. A. Sydenham, The Coinage of the Roman Republic (London 1952) 79, no. 576; M. H. Crawford, Roman Republican Coinage (London 1974) 319, no. 311/1a; J. P. C. Kent, Roman Coins (New York 1978), pl. 13, no. 39.

Classics Department Collection

C024

Wriston Art Center Galleries, Lawrence University, Appleton, WI,wriston-gallery@lawrence.edu,920-832-6890