Catalog
Denarius - Juba II and Cleopatra Selene Caesarea
| Issuer | Mauretania |
|---|---|
| Year | 20 BC - 24 AD |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Denarius (25BC-40AD) |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Weight | Log in to see details |
| Diameter | Log in to see details |
| Thickness | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Log in to see details |
| Technique | Log in to see details |
| Orientation | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | Log in to see details |
| Obverse description | Bare-headed and diademed effigy of King Juba II facing right, with curly hair rendered in fine detail and a sceptre visible before the neck. The legend REX IVBA in Latin characters is disposed around the portrait, REX to the left and IVBA to the right of the field. The bust is draped at the shoulder, and the portraiture reflects a Hellenistic artistic idiom blending royal dignity with naturalistic facial features characteristic of the Mauretanian royal coinage. |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Central field occupied by the Isiac headdress — a combination of the sistrum (ritual rattle of Isis) on the right and the uraeus-surmounted globe flanked by two feathers (the headdress of Isis) on the left — emblems reflecting the Egyptian religious heritage of Queen Cleopatra Selene II. The Greek legend BACIΛI KΛЄΟΠΑΤΡA, meaning 'Queen Cleopatra', is arranged in two lines, with BACIΛI above and KΛЄΟΠΑΤΡA below, separated by a row of pellets. A line border frames the lower portion of the design. The reverse iconography deliberately evokes the queen's Ptolemaic lineage and her role as co-ruler of Mauretania. |
| Reverse script | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Edge | Log in to see details |
| Mint | Log in to see details |
| Mintage | Log in to see details |
| Additional information |
Juba II was installed as client king of Mauretania by Augustus around 25 BC — not a native ruler reclaiming ancestral lands, but a Numidian prince raised and educated in Rome who had literally grown up in Julius Caesar's household after his father's defeat at Thapsus in 46 BC. His queen, Cleopatra Selene, was the daughter of Antony and Cleopatra VII, brought to Rome as a child to walk in chains during Octavian's triumph. Their joint coinage was a calculated Augustan project: two dynastic orphans of the civil wars, repackaged as loyal Mediterranean monarchs.
The Caesarea mint struck denarii across a reign spanning nearly five decades, making precise dating within the series difficult without cross-referencing regnal year legends where present.