GELLIA gens.―Whether of the patrician or plebeian order is uncertain. There are three varieties in its denarii, on each of which appears the name of GELlius. The following two are coins belonging to this family: ―
1. Galeated head of Rome; behind it X; within a crown of laurel.―Rev. A galeated soldier, in a rapid quadriga, embracing with his right arm a woman, as if to retain her with him in the car; on his left arm is a shield.―CN. GEL. below the horses. ROMA on the exergue.
Every attempt to interpret with certainty the type of the above reverse (pregnant with meaning, either mythological or historical, as it would appear to be), has to hitherto signally failed; and it is even doubtful who was the Cn. Gellius, whose name is stamped on this denarius.―See Vaillant on the one hand, and Havercamp, in Morell. on the other, and compare with Cavedoni, cited by Riccio, p. 99.
2. M. ANT. IMP. AVG(VR) IIIVIR. R.P.C. C.L. GEL(LIVS) Q. P. Bare head of Mark Antony, behind which is the præfericulum.―Rev.―CAESAR IMP. PONT. IIIVIR. R.P.C. Bare head of Octavianus, behind which is the lituus. This is a denarius of some rarity.
The letters Q.P. affixed to GEL. on the obverse, are considered by Eckhel to signify Quæstor Provinciæ. ―Riccio, however, adopting the latter opinion, says―Lucius Gellius (Poplicola) was provincial questor of Mark Antony, at the time when that famous Triumvir Reipublicæ Constituendæ was amicably colleagued with Octavianus, and coined the medal above described. He was also consul with M. Coccius Nerva, in 718 (B.C. 36).― This same Gellius, however, was one of the most inconsistent and faithless of men, passing over, in a treacherous manner, from the friendship of Brutus and Cassius to that of Antony, and from the party of Antony to that of Augustus.
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