Roman Republican silver denarius ...

In 509 BC the Romans abolished the kingdom and the republic was introduced. The Romans were now led by two consuls elected for one year at a time. Always two. They didn't want to return to the kingdom's one-man-rule. The consuls had several duties. They were judges, they led religious ceremonies and - important for a nation often at war with it's Mediterranian neighbors - they led the army. But the currency was taken care of by a moneyer, elected among the most respected by the Senate. With his name on the silver denarii from 211 BC and onwards he guaranted that the amound of silver in the denarii had a value of one denarius. Today they are identified by their Crawford number. At that time the only mass medium was the coins and they were also used for that purpose. This one, Cr. 204/1, was struck in 152 BC by the moneyer L. Saufeius, about whom we don't know anything other than his name. On the avers we see the helmeted Roma goddess, meaning: Rome is armed and ready for war ! On the revers we see Victory in biga, meaning: Rome will be victorious ! The second Punic war had ended 49 years earlier, but - what the Romans didn't know - a third and final Punic war would break out three years later. A good thing that they were armed and ready for war !