Your coin is almost certainly Gaius Sosius. I am not sure from the picture you posted, but there should be a Q under the
altar about halfway to the bottom of the coin. This is a symbol of a Questor.
From
CNGASIA MINOR, Uncertain. Gaius Sosius(?). Circa 39 BC. Æ
Bare head right / Fiscus, sella, quaestoria and
hasta; Q below.
RPC I 5409;
Laffaille 324;
FITA p. 13.
This issue has previously been attributed to a Macedonian
mint with
identification of the
portrait as
Brutus (Friedlander) or
Caesar (Grant).
RPC presents a case for a Cilician or Syrian origin, supported by find data, with a suggestion that the
portrait is
Octavian. Issues of similar
portrait style, perhaps by the same engraver, include the Princeps
Felix coinage,
RPC 4082-3, from
Cilicia.
It is possible that both sets of Cilician or Syrian issues portray Sosius, a leading general of
Mark Antony. Sosius was
quaestor (symbolized on this coinage with a Q and the
symbols of the office) in 39 BC. The island of
Zacynthus, a fleet station of Antony's, issued coins in the name of C SOSIVS Q (
RPC 1290), C SOSIVS
IMP (
RPC 1291), C SOSIVS
COS DESIG (
RPC 1292), and C SOSIVS
COS (
RPC 1293). The first of these issues coincides with the dating of this coin. Note that both include the "Q" for questor.
Sosius was governor of
Syria in 38 BC. Antony supported
Herod the Great against
his rival
Antigonus, and Josephus describes how Sosius commanded the
Roman forces in support of Herod's claim. Sosius captured the island and town of Aradus in 38 BC and Jerusalem in July of 37 BC, for which he was acclaimed
Imperator. Josephus notes that he was about to allow the soldiers to loot the fallen city and slay its inhabitants, when Herod intervened. Herod asked if the
Romans, by emptying the city of
money and
men,
had a mind to leave him to become
king of a desert and paid the troops a donative instead, with Sosius himself receiving a "most royal bounty". Sosius called the defeated
king the feminine name "Antigona" and imprisoned him for Antony to later execute.
In 36 BC, Sosius assisted
Octavian and
Agrippa against
Sextus Pompey and afterward probably stayed in
Rome, where he celebrated a triumph in 34 BC and was
consul along with Domitius Ahenobarbus in 32 BC. During
his consulship, he rebuilt the Temple of
Apollo, which
had been constructed in 431 BC. He introduced a measure in the Senate to censure
Octavian, but this was vetoed by a tribune. As war between
Octavian and Antony approached, Sosius fled
Octavian and
Rome along with some 300 senators. At
Actium in 31 BC, Sosius commanded the left wing of Antony's naval forces. This wing of heavy
ships entered the battle first, but was overwhelmed by the smaller, faster
ships of
Agrippa, commander of Octavian's fleet. Meanwhile,
Cleopatra and Antony escaped through the opening created by the movement. Sosius fought on, eventually surrendered, and was spared by
Octavian.