This denarius was issued by a college of three moneyers — Gargilius, Ogulnius, and Vergilius — during one of the most turbulent years in late Republican history. The Social War had barely ended, Sulla was marching on Rome for the second time, and the city itself changed hands between Sullan and Marian factions within months of this coin's production. Moneyers of 86 BC were operating under the authority of the Marian government, which held Rome after Sulla departed east to fight Mithridates.
Ogulnius almost certainly belongs to the gens Ogulnia, the same family behind the aediles who commissioned the famous Capitoline wolf sculpture two centuries earlier.
This denarius was issued by a college of three moneyers — Gargilius, Ogulnius, and Vergilius — during one of the most turbulent years in late Republican history. The Social War had barely ended, Sulla was marching on Rome for the second time, and the city itself changed hands between Sullan and Marian factions within months of this coin's production. Moneyers of 86 BC were operating under the authority of the Marian government, which held Rome after Sulla departed east to fight Mithridates.
Ogulnius almost certainly belongs to the gens Ogulnia, the same family behind the aediles who commissioned the famous Capitoline wolf sculpture two centuries earlier.