Catalog
⅚ Unit - Juba I
| Issuer | Numidia |
|---|---|
| Year | 60 BC - 46 BC |
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| Currency | As |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | A lion passant right with head turned to face the viewer, rendered with naturalistic musculature and a prominent mane, occupying the central field. A retrograde Latin letter 'S' appears in the field, likely serving as a denomination or control mark. The design is boldly struck within an irregular flan, consistent with Numidian hammered silver coinage of the mid-first century BC. |
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| Edge | Plain |
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| Additional information |
Juba I ruled Numidia as a Roman client king but backed Pompey — and then the Pompeian remnants under Scipio — against Caesar during the civil war. When Caesar's forces defeated the combined army at Thapsus in 46 BC, Juba chose suicide over capture, reportedly fighting a fatal duel with the Roman general Petreius rather than face a triumph in Rome. The Numidian kingdom was immediately annexed as the province Africa Nova.
This fractional issue belongs to a silver coinage tied directly to that war period, struck to pay troops in a theater where Roman denarii were in short supply.