Quintus Cassius Longinus, silver denarius (Type II), 3.74 g.

Quintus Cassius Longinus, silver denarius (Type II), 3.74 g.

Quintus Cassius Longinus

c. 57 - 55 BCE

Obverse: Veiled and diademed head of Vesta facing right; to left, Q CASSIVS downwards; to right, VEST upwards. Border of dots.

Reverse: Temple of Vesta, surmounted by figure holding scepter and patera and flanked by antefixes; within, curule chair; to left, voting urn; to right, tablet inscribed A.C. (absolvo:condemno). Border of dots.

Style/Period: Roman Republic

Quintus Cassius Longinus was quaestor in 54 BCE under Pompey and then tribune to the plebeians in 49 with Marcus Antonius. With this coin he commemorates the successful prosecution of three Vestal Virgins accused of incest by his ancestor L. Cassius Longinus Ravilla. His ancestor condemned two of them, Licinia and Marcia. The reverse scene combines the imagery of the Vestals with the decisive power of the vote. Cassius depicts the Temple of Vesta next to a voting station similar to that used in the trial that either absolved or condemned the accused (see coin C041).
-- Bradford W. Wendel, LU '96

Bibliography: E. Babelon, Description historique et chronologique des monnaies de la republique romaine (Paris and London 1885-1886) Cassia, 9; H. A. Grueber, Coins of the Roman Republic in the British Museum (London 1910), I, 481-482, no. 3871; T. R. S. Broughton, The Magistrates of the Roman Republic, II (New York 1952) 435; E. A. Sydenham, The Coinage of the Roman Republic (London 1952) 152, no. 917; E. Nash, Pictorial Dictionary of Ancient Rome (Rome 1961-1962), II, 505-510, s.v. Vesta, Aedes; M. H. Crawford, Roman Republican Coinage (London 1974) 452, no. 428/1; J. P. C. Kent, Roman Coins (New York 1978) pl. 18, no. 68; R. A. G. Carson, Principal Coins of the Romans, I (London 1978) 54-55, no. 190.

Classics Department Collection

C038

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