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Gold Stater with anthropomorphic horse and winged figure
| Issuer | Aulerci Cenomani |
|---|---|
| Year | 80 BC - 50 BC |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Reference(s) | LT#6823, DT#2146 |
| Obverse description | Stylized male head facing right, rendered in the La Tène Gaulish artistic tradition derived from Hellenistic prototypes. The hair is elaborately rendered in deeply engraved parallel ridges and volutes swept back from the brow, surmounted by a prominent diadem or torque-like headband. The facial features are boldly modeled with a strong nose, almond-shaped eye, and fleshy lips. Pellet ornaments appear at the cheek and along the hairline, characteristic of the Cenomani die-cutting style. The flan is irregular, with the design centered within the broad, slightly convex field. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | Stylized anthropomorphic horse galloping left, its body rendered with exaggerated musculature and schematized limbs terminating in pellet-and-comma ornaments typical of Armorican and Maine Gaulish coinage. Above the horse, a winged figure or disjointed human bust with flowing hair is depicted, a hallmark motif of Aulerci Cenomani staters. Beneath the horse, a ground line composed of hatched or ladder-pattern elements is visible, along with scattered pellets and curvilinear ornaments filling the field. The overall composition reflects the characteristic Gaulish abstraction of the chariot-and-driver type ultimately derived from Macedonian gold staters of Philip II. No legible inscription is present on the reverse. |
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| Additional information |
The Aulerci Cenomani occupied territory roughly corresponding to the modern Sarthe department, with their principal center at Vindinum — present-day Le Mans. Their gold coinage derives ultimately from Macedonian prototypes brought west by Celtic mercenaries returning from service in the Hellenistic world, though by this stage the original imagery had undergone generations of abstraction into forms that bear only genealogical resemblance to their source.
DT#2146 is among the better-documented Cenomanic types. The progressive stylistic dissolution visible across the series has been used by scholars including Delestrée to build relative chronologies in the absence of written mint records.