Date: 62 BCE
Type: Silver Denarius.
Obverse: Veiled and diademed head of Concord facing right.
Inscription - PAVLLVS LEPIDUS CONCORDIA.
Reverse: Trophy flanked by Perseus and sons, and L. Aemilius Paullus standing to the right. Inscription TER (third) at the top PAVLLVS at the bottom.
Lucius Aemilius Lepidus Paullus was the brother of triumvir Marcus Aemilius Lepidus and son to an elder Marcus Aemilius Lepidus.
The coin was struck honoring his ancestor, Lucius Aemilius Paullus, and his third victory over Perseus of Macedon and the reference to Concordia as an appeal for harmony during the political struggles he was involved in.
He supported Cicero during the Catiline Conspiracy and never supported Pompey. Paullus was quaestor in 59 BC, aedile in 55 BC, praetor in 53 BC and consul in 50 BC. During his consulship, Julius Caesar bribed him for his support. He reconstructed the Basilica Aemilia in Rome, with part of his bribery money.
Paullus opposed the second triumvirate. Marcus Aemilius Lepidus, who was a member of the second triumvirate alongside Mark Antony and Octavian (later Augustus) was his brother. Paullus joined the political rebel Marcus Junius Brutus and after Brutus' suicide in 42 BC, Paullus was pardoned and lived his remaining years at Miletus.
Paullus certainly lived in very interesting and turbulent times and this coin, now 2071 years old is an interesting link to that past era.
3 comments:
"Paullus certainly lived in very interesting and turbulent times and this coin, now 2071 years old is an interesting link to that past era. "
2071 years - and to think that my oldest coin is an 1870's Morgan Dollar.
Sounds like Paullus not only lived in interesting times, he was smack dab in the middle of the interesting times!
Enjoyed the post!
As someone with an abiding interest in Roman history and a smattering of Roman coins, I really like these posts...
Thanks for the kind comments. I had a great opportunity to photograph my coins this weekend and I'll be posting them with commentary on a weekly basis.
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