Publius Cornelius Lentulus Marcellinus (RE: 232) was the son of Gnaeus Cornelius Lentulus Marcellinus (RE: 228). The Cornelii Lentuli, his family, were an influential line of the gens Cornelia, notable for their significant political and military roles during the Roman Republic.
Father: Gnaeus Cornelius Lentulus Marcellinus (RE: 228), minted coins as a moneyer around 88 BCE and served as Quaestor in 74 BCE.
Grandfather: Publius Cornelius Lentulus Marcellinus, minted coins in 100 BCE (Crawford 329/1a).
His first name, "Publius", is attested only by the name of his son, (RE: 233) who became consul in 18 BCE under Augustus.
The Moneyer's Grandfather
This coin was issued by the moneyer's grandfather. It provides evidence of the adoption that connects the Cornelius-Lentulii to Marcus Claudius Marcellus. The name "Marcellinus" (little Marcellus) comes from the adoption of the son of Marcellus into the family of Lentulus Cornelius. Adoptions in ancient Rome served the purpose of ensuring an heir. For more on this story see: Decrypting Crawford.
Cicero describes the grandfather, P. Cornelius Lentulus Marcellinus, and his father, M. Marcellus, favorably as a speakers. And the brother of the moneyer was “Aeserninus”.
“M. Marcellus, the father of Aeserninus, though not reckoned a professed pleader, was a prompt, and, in some degree, a practiced speaker; as was also his son P. Lentulus.”
-Cicero, Brutus, 136
P. Cornelius Lentulus Marcellinus, 100 BC, AR Denarius (17.5mm, 3.08 g, 11h), Rome mint
Obv: Bareheaded bust of young Hercules right, seen from behind, wearing lion skin and holding club; to left, shield and •/R /
Rev: LENT.MAR.F. Roma standing facing, holding spear, being crowned by Genius of the Roman People, holding wreath and cornucopia; •/R between them; all within laurel wreath
Ref: Crawford 329/1a; Sydenham 604; Cornelia 25; RBW 1186 var. (control letter)
Note: ex CNG, from the "Benito Collection", formed by the Spanish ambassador Ramón Sáenz de Heredia y Alonso, who passed away in 2016.
The Moneyer's Father
These two denarii were issued by the moneyer's father (Gnaeus). Cicero praised Gnaeus as consul in 56 BCE.
"Cn. Lentulus Marcellinus, who was never reckoned an in-eloquent speaker, was esteemed as highly articulate in his consulship [56 B.C.]. He wanted neither sentiment, nor expression; his voice was sweet and sonorous; and he had a sufficient stock of humour."
-Cicero, Brutus, 247Amid the political upheaval of the late Roman Republic, Cn. Cornelius Lentulus Marcellinus stood out as a principled statesman and skilled orator. Born into the distinguished Cornelii Lentuli family, he first emerged in public life as a moneyer in 84 BCE and later quaestor in 74 BCE.
By 67 BCE, he served under Pompey in the war against Mediterranean pirates, earning a statue in Cyrene for his success. But his true battleground was politics. In 61 BCE, he helped prosecute P. Clodius for religious misconduct, and as praetor in 60 BCE, he governed Syria, defending it against Arab raids.
Cn. Lentulus Clodianus (RE: 228), 88 BCE, AR Denarius, Rome mint
Obv: Helmeted bust of Mars right, seen from behind, wearing balteus over right shoulder with parazonium, vertical spear behind left shoulder
Rev: Victory, holding wreath and reins, driving galloping biga right
Ref: Crawford 345/1; Sydenham 702; Cornelia 50;
Cn. Lentulus Clodianus (RE: 228), 76-75 BC, AR Denarius, Mint in Spain(?)
Obv: Diademed and draped bust of Genius Populi Romani right, scepter over shoulder
Rev: EX SC, Scepter with wreath, globe, and rudder
Ref: Crawford 393/1a; Sydenham 752; Mommsen Münzwesen 605 no. 282, Cornelia 54; RBW 1432.
Marcellinus reached his peak as Consul in 56 BCE, fiercely opposing Clodius and resisting the growing dominance of the First Triumvirate—Caesar, Pompey, and Crassus. While many senators capitulated to the new political order, Marcellinus dared to speak out against the unchecked authority of Pompey and Crassus, confronting them openly about their secret agreements at Luca. (see: Dio Cassius, Roman History 39.30.1ff ; Plutarch, Life of Pompey 51.4ff; Plutarch, Life of Crassus 15.2; Plutarch, Apophthegmata Pompeii 12).
"When his (Pompey's) falling-out with Caesar came to light, one Marcellinus, who was among those reputed to have been advanced by Pompey but had gone over to Caesar, inveighed against him at great length in the Senate.
"Marcellinus," said Pompey, "are you not ashamed to revile me, when it is all owing to me that you, from being inarticulate, have become so fluent, and from being a starveling, are now able to eat and disgorge and eat again?
-Plutarch, Apophthegmata Pompeii 12His opposition to the Triumvirate likely led to his withdrawal from public life after his consulship. Perhaps he died shortly afterward, as he is no longer mentioned in historical records.
The Moneyer and the Civil War (50–48 BCE)
By 50 BCE, the Roman Republic was on the brink of civil war. Julius Caesar, having completed his conquest of Gaul, was confronted by a Senate led by Pompey the Great, demanding he disband his armies. Caesar instead crossed the Rubicon in January 49 BCE, initiating civil war.
Many members of the Cornelii Lentuli, as members of the influential and ancient gens Cornelia, sided with the conservative senatorial faction (the “optimates”). For example, Lucius Cornelius Lentulus Crus, consul in 49 BC, was a staunch Pompeian who fled Rome with Pompey and helped issue coins to fund Pompey’s forces. Gnaeus Cornelius Lentulus Marcellinus likely the father of the moneyer and consul in 56 BC, spoke out against the triumvirate and had connections to Pompey’s circle as a commander in the war against the pirates.
Contrasting with his family members, Publius Cornelius Lentulus Marcellinus aligned himself with Caesar. Marcellinus served Caesar as quaestor in 48 BCE, commanding fortifications at Dyrrachium with Caesar's Ninth Legion. When Pompey attacked, Marcellinus’s troops suffered heavy losses, and Marcellinus possibly died in this engagement (Caesar, Bellum Civile III, 62.4; 63–65; Orosius VI, 15.18-19).
Meanwhile, at Dyrrachium many kings of the East joined Pompey with reinforcements. When Caesar arrived there, he besieged him in vain, blockading him on the land side by a ditch fifteen miles long, though the sea remained open to him. Pompey overthrew a certain fortress near the sea, which Marcellinus was guarding, and he killed the garrison stationed there by Caesar. Caesar then set out to attack Torquatus and his single legion.
-Orosius VI, 15.18-19Caesar notably references Marcellinus’s ill health at the time.
"At these entrenchments Caesar had his quaestor Lentulus Marcellinus posted with the Ninth Legion, and as he was in unsatisfactory health, he had sent up Fulvius Postumus to assist him."
-Julius Caesar, Bellum Civile, III, 62.4
The Coin and Its Imagery
Around 50 BCE, Marcellinus struck coins honoring his illustrious ancestor, Marcus Claudius Marcellus, victor over Viridomarus (222 BCE) and conqueror of Syracuse (212 BCE).
P. Cornelius Lentulus Marcellinus, 49 BC, AR Denarius (19mm, 3.71g, 3h), Rome mint.
Obv: Portrait of Marcus Claudius Marcellus facing right, inscribed "MARCELLINVS," with a Sicilian triskeles symbolizing Sicily (Syracuse).
Rev: Marcellus depicted striding right, carrying spolia opima (captured enemy armor) into the tetrastyle temple of Jupiter Feretrius.
Ref: Crawford 439/1; Mommsen, Münzwesen 648, no. 303
The Obverse depicts a portrait of the moneyer's ancestor, M. Claudius Marcellus. Marcellus is shown as an older, stern statesman with a gravitas befitting a Republican hero, perhaps based on family busts or statues. Behind the head is a triskeles, three bent legs radiating from a center, a traditional symbol of the Sicily.
By the late Republic, it had become increasingly common for moneyers to place ancestors’ portraits on coins as a way of advertising their family’s legacy to the public.
Roman Republican portraiture aimed for physical realism, accurately depicting features and signs of age. G. Hafner proposed the identification of a sculptural portrait of M. Claudius Marcellus, categorizing it among significant portraits of notable statesmen from the third and second centuries BC. However, his identification is not considered to be definitively proven, given direct inscriptions are absent.
The Reverse design depicts a figure (Marcellus) striding right, carrying a military trophy (a captured suit of enemy arms) into a tetrastyle temple (a temple with four columns). Marcellus earned the spolia opima, the rare honor of stripping the arms and armor from an enemy commander slain in single combat. Marcellus earned the spolia opima in 222 BC, before the conquest of Syracuse, when as consul he killed Viridomarus, Chief of the Insubres, a Gallic tribe in Northern Italy, during the Battle of Clastidium. Marcellus was only the third (and last) Roman in history to achieve this honor.
"The Veientines were defeated and put to flight; the city of Caenina was captured and plundered. Moreover, Romulus with his own hands bore to Jupiter Feretrius the "spoils of honour" won from their king Agron."
-Florus, Epitopme of Roman History, 1.10 According to Roman tradition, starting with Romulus, a general who won a duel single combat with an enemy commander was required to dedicate the captured arms to Jupiter Feretrius in the god’s ancient temple at Rome. The legend on this coin MARCELLVS COS QVINQ (“Marcellus, five-time consul”) emphasizes his ancestor's extraordinary five consulships.
Symbolism and Political Propaganda
Marcellinus’s coinage had significant political implications. At a time when Caesar and Pompey competed for political legitimacy, the depiction of Marcellus—renowned for military victories crucial to Roman survival during the Punic Wars—linked Caesar’s regime to Republican traditions.
The founding of the Temple of Jupiter Feretrius by Romulus for the first spolia opima, would have supported Caesar’s self-image as a second Romulus refounding Rome.
In 50 BC, control of Sicily was strategically important in the Caesar–Pompey conflict, and both sides invoked Sicilian imagery as a form of propaganda. The Pompeian faction in 49 BC had issued coins invoking Sicily – one Pompeian denarius depicts a triskeles with a Gorgon’s head, symbolizing their control of Sicily’s resources. In response, Caesar’s regime in Rome might have struck Marcellinus’s Syracuse denarius to claim Marcellus (and Sicily’s legacy) for the Caesarian cause.
The Capture of Syracuse (213–212 BCE)
The imagery explicitly recalls Marcellus’s legendary capture of Syracuse during the Second Punic War. Syracuse was a wealthy Greek city allied with Carthage, and its siege was prolonged by Archimedes’ ingenious defensive machines, as detailed by Polybius (Book 8, Sections 3–6 ).
Despite setbacks, Marcellus successfully took the city due to internal betrayal, resulting in immense spoils of war that rejuvenated Rome’s strained finances after disastrous defeats like Cannae (216 BCE).
One tragic casualty of the siege was Archimedes. Despite Marcellus’s order that the great inventor be spared, Archimedes was killed by a Roman soldier in the confusion of the city’s capture. Marcellus arranged honorable funerals and ensured Archimedes’ family was protected, a gesture of respect for the old sage’s genius.
Plutarch (Life of Marcellus, 19) describes Marcellus’s conflicted response to the city's destruction, highlighting his compassion and respect, exemplified by his orders to no enslave free citizens, and attempts to spare Archimedes.
When these parts also were in his possession, at break of day Marcellus went down into the city through the Hexapyla, congratulated by the officers under him. He himself, however, as he looked down from the heights and surveyed the great and beautiful city, is said to have wept much in commiseration of its impending fate, bearing in mind how greatly its form and appearance would change in a little while, after his army had sacked it. For among his officers there was not a man who had the courage to oppose the soldiers' demand for a harvest of plunder, nay, many of them actually urged that the city should be burned and razed to the ground.
This proposal, however, Marcellus would not tolerate at all, but much against his will, and under compulsion, he permitted booty to be made of property and slaves, although he forbade his men to lay hands on the free citizens, and strictly ordered them neither to kill nor outrage nor enslave any Syracusan.
-Plutarch, Life of Marcellus, 19The fall of Syracuse had wide-ranging consequences. From 212 BC onward, Sicily became a firmly held Roman province and the breadbasket of the Republic. The influx of wealth was enormous. Ancient accounts claim that the booty from Syracuse was staggering – later Romans believed that no less treasure was taken from sacking Syracuse than would be taken from the fall of Carthage some 46 years later. This windfall came at a crucial time when Rome had been reeling from Hannibal’s victories (including the disaster at Cannae in 216 BC). The infusion of Syracuse’s gold, silver helped to keep Rome in the fight.
Culturally, the victory also ushered a wave of Greek art and craftsmanship into Rome – Marcellus famously brought back countless artworks and treasures, enriching Roman temples and villas with Hellenistic culture.
Conclusion
There is one more connection between this denarius of P. Cornelius Lentulus Marcellinus, Sicily and the defeat of Syracuse: the first denarii produced by Rome, after the capture of Syracuse in 212 BC, were minted with the influx of Sicilian silver from the spoils of Syracuse.
The coin served as a reminder of past glory, implicitly suggesting Caesar's alignment with Roman traditions of valor, patriotism, and divine favor symbolized by the dedication of spolia opima to Jupiter Feretrius. It thus represented "nostalgia politics," evoking the unity and triumph of Rome’s past amid contemporary civil discord.
Bibliography
Crawford, Michael H. Roman Republican Coinage. Vol. 1. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1974.
Arma et Nummi, Forschungen zur römischen Finanzgeschichte und Münzprägung der Jahre 49 bis 42 v. Chr. , ÖAW, Bernhard WOYTEK, ISBN-13: 978-3-7001-3159-5 ISBN-13 Online: 978-3-7001-3525-8
Lynda Evans' website "Key to Rome" entry for "Temple of Jupiter Feretrius"
Caesar, Gaius Julius. Commentarii de Bello Civili (Commentaries on the Civil War). Translated by W. A. McDevitte and W. S. Bohn. Specifically Book 3, Chapter 62.(Mentions Lentulus Marcellinus commanding the Ninth Legion.)
Classical Numismatic Group. "P. Cornelius Lentulus Marcellinus, AR Denarius (18mm, 3.74 g, 1h), Rome mint." Example of this coin from the Gemini VIII Sale, April 2011.
Harlan, Michael. Roman Republican Moneyers and Their Coins, 63 BC–49 BC. Revised Second Edition, London: Spink, 2015.
Kopij, Kamil. "Propaganda War over Sicily? Sicily in Roman Coinage During the Civil War (49–45 BC)." Studies in Ancient Art and Civilization 12 (2008): 197–258.
Livy (Titus Livius). Ab Urbe Condita (History of Rome). Translated by B.O. Foster. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1940. Book 25, Chapter 23.
Mommsen, Theodor. Geschichte des Römischen Münzwesens. Berlin: Weidmann, 1860.
Plutarch. "Life of Marcellus." In Parallel Lives. Translated by Bernadotte Perrin. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1917. Specifically Chapter 19.
Polybius. Histories. Translated by W.R. Paton. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1927. Specifically Book 8, Sections 3–6 (Siege of Syracuse)
Matthews, Rupert. "Siege of Syracuse (214–212 BCE)." Encyclopaedia Britannica, 2015. https://www.britannica.com/event/Siege-of-Syracuse-214-212-BCE.
DPRR today (Digital Prosopography of the Roman Republic)
John Harris Va;da, "Marcellus Duel with Virdumarus", color lithograph, published in Walter Hutchinson's History of The Nations, 1895, vol.2 p.600
This crude modern fake found on EBay is clearly recognizable as not genuine, I give the creative modern moneyer credit for what appears to be an attempt to learn the ancient engraver's art.
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