Fairly rare denarius minted in Rome in 107 or 108 BC, signed by one of the monetary triumvirs (Latin tres viri monetales) of that period, Mark Herennius.
Roman Republic
M. Herennius M. f. (108-107 BC), Denarius 108-107 BC
Obverse: Pietas head right
PIETAS
Reverse: Amphinonus carrying his father, in the right field letter R with a dot
M HERENNI
Weight 3.79 g
The offered denarius was most probably minted by the later consul (in 93 BC), Mark Herennius, to whom the oldest surviving Latin textbook of pronunciation, Rhetorica ad M. Herennium, dated at the turn of the 1990s and 1980s, was dedicated. The obverse shows the personification of Pietas for the first time - feelings between love and respect, the exalted love for gods or parents. The reverse of Pietas also refers to one of the "Pia Fratres" - ie "reverent brothers" - from Catania Amfinomus or Anapis, who carried their weak parents on their shoulders, thus saving them from death in the lava exploding Etna. Both brothers show only the reverse of the very rare denarius of Sextus Pompey (Crawf. 511/3; Albert 1558).
