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Denarius Acilia: Manius Acilius Balbus, BALBVS ROMA / MN•ACILI
| Issuer | Roman Republic (509 BC - 27 BC) |
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| Year | 125 BC |
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| Composition | Silver (.950) |
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| Obverse description | Helmeted bust of Roma facing right, encircled by a laurel wreath border. Beneath the chin appears the XVI value mark rendered as a monogram (Ӿ), indicating the coin's tariffing at sixteen asses. In the left field, the partial moneyer's control mark features the letters AL in ligature. The portrait is rendered in the vigorous, high-relief style characteristic of late Roman Republican coinage. |
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| Mintage | ND (-125) |
| Additional information |
Manius Acilius Balbus served as moneyer around 125 BC, a period when Roman senatorial families were exploiting the mint to broadcast ancestral prestige. The Acilii claimed descent from the healer-god Valetudo, a connection the family had been cultivating in Roman religious life for generations. This issue belongs to a moment of mounting political tension — just three years after the death of Tiberius Gracchus and with Gaius's tribunate approaching — when the moneyer class was acutely aware that coinage could carry a message beyond its face value.