Speaker
Description
Towards the end of the 2nd century BC the quaestor Q. Lutatius Cerco (RRC 305) and two moneyers of the gens Fonteia (RRC 290; RRC 307) minted denarii with a ship on each reverse. The images of coins of the latter two in particular differ in several details, which due to their faulty and inadequate descriptions hinder interpretation. On the one hand, the images of the ships on the Fonteian denarii have been associated with alleged naval exploits of the ancestor P. Fonteius Capito, praetor in Sardinia 169 (e.g. Grueber). On the other hand, taking into account the depiction of Dioscuri (?) on the obverses, they have been linked with Telegonos who, as a founder of Tusculum, from which the gens Fonteia originated, had come to Italy by sea (e. g. Crawford). These two lines of interpretation will be revisited. It is also worth asking whether current events and debates are indeed reflected by images on coins.
