RRC340/1 (L. Calpurnius Piso Frugi)

Obv. Laureate head of Apollo right, control number XXXII behind,; no mark of value;
Rev. L. PISO FRVGI below horseman galloping right, holding palm, control number XXXXII above, monogram of beneath legend
Rome, 90 B.C.
17 mm, 3.89 gr.
References: RRC340/1, Sear 235/1, SC Calpurnia 12

L. Calpurnius Piso Frugi was the grandson of the consul of 133 B.C., and the father of a moneyer of the same name. He rose to become praetor in 74 B.C., together with Verres.

It has been assumed that the rider, together with the head of Apollo on the obverse, refers to the Ludi Apollinares, created by the praetor L. Calpurnius Piso in 212 B.C. This, at least, is Livy’s suggestion: “The Games of Apollo had been exhibited the previous year, and when the question of their repetition the next year was moved by the praetor Calpurnius, the Senate passed a decree that they should be observed for all time (...) such is the origin of the Apollinarian Games, which were instituted for the cause of victory and not, as it is generally thought, in the interest of public health” (Livy, Per. 25.3). The ‘public health’ issue mentioned by Livy may have been a plague in 208 B.C.; Apollo as a healer-god would have been a natural choice to appeal to. The date of the creation of the games falls into the Punic Wars, and may have served as a distraction from the war. The Ludi started on July 13th and lasted 9 days.

The largest issue of coinage known from the Republic, the denarii of Piso come in over 300 varieties. In 91. B.C. the Italian allies rebelled against Rome, forming a separate and independent nation. The massive issue of coinage minted by L. Calpurnius was required to pay Rome’s soldiers, as she was suddenly confronted by the uprising of her allies. In 90 B.C., with L. Iulius Caesar and P. Rutilius Lupus as consuls, the war remained undecided. Pompeius Strabo managed to capture Asculum, but Caepio was defeated, and Rutilius lost a battle and his life at the river Liris, attempting to attack the Marsi with an untrained army (Appian, B. Civ. 43). By 88 B.C., the war was over, and only the Samnites continued to offer a token resistance. Many of the allies had however acquired Roman citizenship.