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Denier or Quinarius with helmeted head and carnyxes
| Issuer | Aulerci Cenomani |
|---|---|
| Year | 80 BC - 50 BC |
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| Composition | Silver |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | A free horse galloping to the left, depicted in the energetic, stylized manner typical of late Gaulish coinage. Two carnyxes — elongated Celtic war-trumpets with animal-head bells — are placed one above and one below the horse, flanking it on either side. Pellets and abstract linear devices animate the field around the central motif. The composition is characteristic of the Aulerci Cenomani series as catalogued under LT#5980 and DT#2369. No legend or inscription is present. |
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| Edge | Plain |
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| Additional information |
The Aulerci Cenomani occupied the territory around present-day Le Mans, a Gaulish civitas that maintained closer diplomatic ties with Rome than most of their neighbors — a relationship that almost certainly influenced the strongly Romanized imagery this people chose for their coinage. The carnyx, a bronze war trumpet used in battle to unsettle enemies, appears here not as decoration but as a deliberate assertion of martial identity at a moment when Roman military pressure on Gaul was intensifying toward Caesar's campaigns.
The quinarius denomination itself was borrowed directly from the Roman monetary system, an unusually frank adoption for a Gaulish issuer.