Denarius Pomponia: Quintus Pomponius Musa, Q•POMPONI MVSA, Terpsichore

Quintus Pomponius Musa issued a remarkable series of ten denarii in 66 BC, each reverse depicting one of the nine Muses plus Apollo Musagetes — an unusual programmatic choice almost certainly driven by the moneyer's own cognomen, Musa. This piece, assigned to Terpsichore, is among the more frequently encountered in the series, though complete matched sets in comparable condition remain genuinely difficult to assemble. The wordplay between family name and divine subject was deliberate self-promotion, a common moneyer strategy in the late Republic when coin designs were largely left to the individual magistrate's discretion.