Q. Marcius Philippus served as moneyer around 129 BC, a period when Rome was absorbing the administrative and political shockwaves following the assassination of Tiberius Gracchus in 133 BC. The gens Marcia claimed descent from the ancient king Ancus Marcius, and moneyers of the family consistently leveraged that lineage in their coinage — this issue being no exception in its dynastic posturing.
The spelling PILIPVS rather than PHILIPPVS is not an error but reflects the fluid orthographic conventions of mid-Republican epigraphy, where Greek-derived aspirates were frequently simplified in Latin inscriptions.
Q. Marcius Philippus served as moneyer around 129 BC, a period when Rome was absorbing the administrative and political shockwaves following the assassination of Tiberius Gracchus in 133 BC. The gens Marcia claimed descent from the ancient king Ancus Marcius, and moneyers of the family consistently leveraged that lineage in their coinage — this issue being no exception in its dynastic posturing.
The spelling PILIPVS rather than PHILIPPVS is not an error but reflects the fluid orthographic conventions of mid-Republican epigraphy, where Greek-derived aspirates were frequently simplified in Latin inscriptions.