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The Triumvirs. Mark Antony. Autumn 32-spring 31 BC. AR Denarius (17mm, 3.62 g, 1h). Legionary type. Patrae(?) mint. Praetorian galley right; ANT • AVG above, III • VIR • R • P • C below / Aquila between two signa; LEG XXXIII across lower field. Roma XIII, lot 696 (same dies); Otherwise, unpublished. Lightly toned, porous surfaces, scratch on obverse. Good VF. Only the second known example. Excessively rare.
The following note appeared in the Roma catalogue for the first example known: “At the close of the Civil War, Octavian found himself with several armies comprising elements of 60 legions, some of which had sworn loyalty to opposing factions. We only know the names and numbers of some of these legions - of those which were not retained after the disbanding and amalgamation of many legions, and the discharging of over 100,000 veterans mostly to old and newly founded colonies, very little information survives. The existence of several Marc Antony fleet denarii with numbers above 23 has long been debated by numismatists, though they have been largely dismissed as either fakes or die engraver's errors. The following numerations of legions unknown to history have been noted on fleet denarii by Sydenham in Roman Republican Coinage, 1952. p. 196, nos. 1247-1253: XXIV, XXV, XXVI, XXVII, XXVIII, XXIX and XXX; A. Banti and L. Simonetti, in Corpus Nummorum Romanorum II, pp. 38-41, no. 102-8) record denarii for legions: LEG XXIV (= Turin, Fava 1964, pl. 19, 3); LEG XXV (= Hamburger sale 32, 1933, 547); LEG XXVI (= Babelon 104); LEG XXVII (Paris, BnF); LEG XXVIII (= Babelon 143); LEG XXIX (= Paris, BnF); LEG XXX (= BMCRR II, pl. 116, 12; Brunacci collection, Santamaria sale 1958, 797 [struck over a denarius of Julius Caesar with P. Sepullius Macer]; Ratto sale 1924, 1392).
Antony is known to have commanded a Legio XXXV at the Battle of Mutina: in a remarkable passage in Servius Sulpicius Galba's 43 BC letter to Cicero we are provided with the only surviving evidence for this legion's existence: "on the 15th of April, the day on which Pansa was to arrive at the camp of Hirtius, with the former of whom I was - for I had gone along the road a hundred miles to hasten his arrival - Antony brought out two legions, the second and the thirty-fifth, and two praetorian cohorts...." (Epistulae ad Familiares 10.30). The existence therefore of legions in the service of Antony with numbers greater than XXIII which have escaped the notice of history is entirely possible; many of his units were never at full strength, and some may have effectively marched only on paper. Certainly, it seems to be the case that the suppressed Republican legions in Antony's service had their records completely erased after the war. It remains probable then that not all of these fleet denarii for legions over XXIII are false or errors as has been assumed, as is demonstrated by the present clearly genuine example unambiguously inscribed LEG XXXIII.”
The final winners of all Triton XXV lots will be determined at the live public sale that will be held on 11-12 January 2022. Triton XXV – Session Three – Roman Republican & Imperatorial Coinage through Byzantine Coinage will be held Wednesday morning, 12 January 2022 beginning at 9:00 AM ET.
Winning bids are subject to a 20% buyer's fee for bids placed on this website and 22.50% for all others.
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