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Cr 401/1 AR Denarius Mn. Aquillius Mn.f. Mn.n
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o: VIRTVS - III VIR Helmeted and draped bust of Virtus to right, with large head
r: MN F MN N / MN AQVIL / SICIL. Mn. Aquilius (Cos. 101) raising fallen Sicily
65 BCE Denarius Serratus (19 mm, 3.82 g, 6 h), Rome.
Babelon (Aquilia) 2. Crawford 401/1. Sydenham 798. Toned and struck on a broad flan.
This coin is somewhat unintentionally ironic. The moneyer's honored grandfather was accused of fleecing the people of Sicily, when he was governor of the province after the slave revolts. He later managed to antagonize Mithridates VI of Pontus, leading to widespread slaughter of Romans in Asia.
As Wikipedia summarizes the aftermath: "Mithridates defeated Aquillius in 88 near Protostachium. Aquillius was attempting to make his way back to Italy and managed to make it to Lesbos, where he was delivered to Mithridates by the inhabitants of Mytilene. After being taken to the mainland, he was then placed on a donkey and paraded back to Pergamon. On the trip, he was forced to confess his supposed crimes against the peoples of Anatolia. Aquillius's father, the elder Manius Aquillius, was a former Roman governor of Pergamon and was hated for the egregious taxes that he imposed. It was generally thought that Manius Aquillius the younger would follow in the footsteps of his father as a tax profiteer and was hated by some of the local peoples."
Grandpa was thereafter killed by Mithridates by having molten gold poured down his throat.
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