This week we look at a series of three coins from 91 BCE, near the start of the Social War or Marsic War. In this war, Sulla distinguished himself as a general, building on his successes in the Jugurthine War. Sulla and Marius fought side-by-side in the first year.
"Cornelius Sulla and Gaius Marius defeated the Marsians, who had attacked them. They pursued the enemy vigorously as far as the walls enclosing their vineyards. The Marsians scaled these walls with heavy loss, but Marius and Sulla did not deem it wise to follow them farther. Cornelius Sulla was encamped on the other side of these enclosures, and when he knew what had happened he came out to meet the Marsians, as they tried to escape, and he also killed a great number. More than 6000 Marsians were slain that day, and the arms of a still greater number were captured by the Romans."
-Appian, The Civil Wars, 1.40Later Sulla had more victories in the south:
"Sulla moved against the Samnites, not where Mutilus, the Samnite general, guarded the roads, but by another circuitous route where his coming was not expected. He fell upon them suddenly, killed many, and scattered the rest in disorderly flight. Mutilus was wounded and took refuge with a few followers in Aesernia. Sulla destroyed his camp and moved against Bovanum, where the common council of the rebels was held. The city had three citadels. While the inhabitants were intently watching Sulla from one of these citadels, he ordered a detachment to capture whichever of the other two they could, and then to make a signal by means of smoke. When the smoke was seen he made an attack in front and, after a severe fight of three hours, took the city."
-Appian,The Civil Wars, 50.1His popularity fueled by his military success, Sulla was elected and served as consul for the first time in 88 BCE at the end of the Social War. The next conflict for Rome with Mithridates would lead to civil war and turn Marius and Sulla into hardened enemies.
Silenus
Silenus and the Satyrs, c. 1505-1510, Cima da Conegliano (Giovanni Battista Cima). Italian painter, active in Venice and the Veneto region, 1459/60–1517/18. Public domain image with thanks to the Philadelphia Museum of Art. This oil on panel is a fragment of a larger work that would have decorated a bedchamber or study.
In Greek & Roman mythology, Silenos or Silenus is the tutor of Dionysus (a.k.a. Liber), the god of wine, festivity, and ecstasy. Silenos is typically depicted as an elderly man with a potbelly, bald head, and a full beard, often adorned with a wreath of ivy leaves. In this painting from Giovanni Battista Cima he is shown young and drinking. Silenos embodies the spirit of revelry and is frequently associated with drunkenness and the carefree enjoyment of life. His physical appearance is sometimes comical and satirical, highlighting his jovial and mischievous nature.
Dionysus has multiple origin myths, in two entries from Gaius Julius Hyginus the author of Fabulae (The Fables), a compilation of myths and genealogies from the time of Augustus, he is born from the union of Zeus and a mortal, Semele. (Hyginus, Fabulae, 167 & 179)
Apollodorus (circa 180-120 BCE) wrote this version of events in which Dionysus is nurtured in Zeus' thigh before being turned over to the nymphs of Nysa.
But Zeus loved Semele and bedded with her unknown to Hera. Now Zeus had agreed to do for her whatever she asked, and deceived by Hera she asked that he would come to her as he came when he was wooing Hera. Unable to refuse, Zeus came to her bridal chamber in a chariot, with lightnings and thunderings, and launched a thunderbolt. But Semele expired of fright, and Zeus, snatching the sixth-month abortive child from the fire, sewed it in his thigh. On the death of Semele the other daughters of Cadmus spread a report that Semele had bedded with a mortal man, and had falsely accused Zeus, and that therefore she had been blasted by thunder. But at the proper time Zeus undid the stitches and gave birth to Dionysus, and entrusted him to Hermes. And he conveyed him to Ino and Athamas, and persuaded them to rear him as a girl. But Hera indignantly drove them mad, and Athamas hunted his elder son Learchus as a deer and killed him, and Ino threw Melicertes into a boiling cauldron, then carrying it with the dead child she sprang into the deep. And she herself is called Leucothea, and the boy is called Palaemon, such being the names they get from sailors; for they succour storm-tossed mariners. And the Isthmian games were instituted by Sisyphus in honor of Melicertes. But Zeus eluded the wrath of Hera by turning Dionysus into a kid, and Hermes took him and brought him to the nymphs who dwelt at Nysa in Asia, whom Zeus afterwards changed into stars and named them the Hyades."
-Apollodorus, Library, 3.4.3-4
Silenus with the child Dionysos. Detail of a marble sculpture, a Roman copy of the middle 2nd century CE after a Greek original by Lysippos (circa 300 BC). Public domain image from Wikimedia Commons, of a statue from the Louvre in Paris.
Silanus
It was not unusual for moneyers to advertise their family history on their coins and make puns with their names. This series was minted near the start of the Social War (91-86 BCE) which started with a rebellion in Asculum in late 91 BCE. After the was the Italians eventually gain rights as Roman citizens. Sulla distinguished himself as a general in these wars and his rivalry with Marius escalated. Sulla became consul in 88 BC.
On the obverse of this coin, Silenus is depicted as a play on the name of the moneyer D. Junius Silanus.
Roman Republican, D. Silanus L.f., Rome, 91 BC. AR Denarius (18 mm, 3.87 g).
Obv: Mask of Silenus right; plow below; all within an ornamented torque.
Rev: Victory driving galloping biga r., holding whip, palm branch, and reins; carnyx (Gallic trumpet) below.
Ref: Crawford 337/1a; RBW 1230; RSC Junia 19
The plow could make reference to the Iunii Bubulci. Bubulcus literally means "ploughman", or perhaps to Decimus Junius Silanus, relative of the moneyer, and the translator of a Carthaginian book in Punic on agriculture by a Carthaginian author named Mago.
Victory and the carnyx on the reverse are references to a relative's Gallic victory. A carnyx was a Gallic war trumpet.
See this video to hear a modern playing of a carnyx:
The torque on the obverse is a reference to the family connection to Manlius Torquatus. The second son of Titus Manlius Torquatus, consul in 165 BCE, was adopted by the translator of Mago, Decimus Junius Silanus, and took the name of his adoptive father as Decimus Junius Silanus Manlianus. This is the first recorded example of a patrician adopted into a plebeian family. "Manlianus" was praetor in Macedonia in 141 or 142.
"Titus Manlius Torquatus condemned his son Decimus Silanus for his conduct in Macedonia, did not attend his funeral, and on that very day gave answers to those who consulted him in his home.
-Livy, Summaries, Book 54Manlianus hanged himself in dishonor the day that his father privately found him guilty of accepting bribes. (See: Valerius Maximus, Memorable Doings and Sayings, 5.3) Cicero references this as an example of a citizen putting their duty before their personal interests.
“Then, think of the Titus Torquatus who was consul with Gnaeus Octavius; when he dealt so sternly with the son who had passed out of his paternal control through his adoption by Decius Silanus—when he summoned him into his presence to answer to the charge preferred against him by a deputation from Macedonia, of accepting bribes while praetor in that province—when, after hearing both sides of the case, he gave judgment that he found his son guilty of having conducted himself in office in a manner unworthy of his ancestry, and banished him for ever from his sight,—think you he had any regard for his own pleasure?"
-Cicero, De Finibus, Book 1.24This denarius is from the same series with Salus in place of Silenus.
D. Junius L. f. Silanus, AR denarius, Rome, 91 BC
Obv: Diademed bust of Salus to right; SALVS (ligated) below, D (control letter) below chin, all within torque
Rev: Victory driving biga to right; ROMA below, D•SILANVS•L•F in exergue.
Ref: Crawford 337/2c; BMCRR Rome 1842; RSC Junia 18a.
Salus is connected to the building of a temple of Salus by another relative, Gaius Junius Silanus Bubulcus, the censor of 307 BC.
"In the same year (307-306 BCS) the censor Gaius Junius Bubulcus let the contract for the temple of Safety, which he had vowed, while consul, during the Samnite war."
- Livy, History of Rome, Book 9.XLIIIBoth of the coins above are more scarce than this coin from the same series (337/1 Crawford reports 19 obverse dies and for 337/2 all types have 61 obverse dies, compared to 337/3 for which he reports 597 obverse dies. Here is my example of 337/3.
D. Silanus L.f., 91 BC, AR Denarius, Rome mint.
Obv: Helmeted head of Roma right; E to left
Rev: Victory, holding reins, driving galloping biga right; XIIII above.
Ref: Crawford 337/3; Sydenham 646; Junia 15
References
Crawford, Michael H. Roman Republican Coinage. 2 vols. Reprint, Cambridge University Press, 2019.
Keaveney, Arthur. Sulla: The Last Republican. Routledge, 2005.
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