Rare denarius minted in Rome in 105 BC by one of the monetary triumvirs that year (latin: tres viri monetales), Lucius Thorius Balbus.
Roman Republic
L. Thorius Balbus, Denarius 105 BC, Rome mint
Obverse: head of Juno Sospita covered with goatskin facing right, on the left I S M R
Reverse: bull charging right, control mark above
L THORIVS BALBVS
Diameter 20 mm, weight 3.52 g
This denarius was minted in 105 BC, when Rome was defeated in the Battle of the Cimbrians at Arausio (today Orange) on the Rhone, and at the same time was successful in Africa, where King Bocchus handed over Sulla, who had been fighting for several years against the Yugurta empire. The monetary officer, however, preferred to refer on the one hand to his family name (gentilicium) - "thor" in Greek. means a bull, on the other - to the local cult of Juno - Iuno Sospita Magna Regina (Juno Savior, Great Queen). Iuno had its famous temple with a statue no less famous in Lazio in Lanuvium, a city with which the issuer's family was also associated.
The mint mark "X", which is rare for this type, is not more of a denomination character, but rather a rather rare issue of the denarius of Thorius Balbus.
