Caligula's quadrans

Woods, David

Caligula's quadrans

Files

DW_Caligula'sPV2010.pdf(400.93 KB)

Published Version

Date

2010-12

Authors

Woods, David

Publisher

The Royal Numismatic Society

Abstract

The Roman emperor Caligula issued the same type of quadrans throughout his reign, where the obverse depicted a pileus, a type of cap given to former slaves upon their manumission, and the reverse the letters RCC. Eckhel suggested that the obverse referred to the restoration of liberty as represented by his return of the elections to the popular assembly from the Senate, and the reverse referred to a remission of the sales-tax. Barrett has recently argued that both sides probably referred to the execution in late 39 of Cornelius Lentulus Gaetulicus, the governor of Upper Germany. This note argues that Caligula chose to depict the pileus on his quadrans in order to celebrate his new policy of strictly enforcing the rules for granting citizenship and that he aimed the design at the urban mob in particular in order to emphasise that he was protecting them against those seeking to encroach upon their privileges

Keywords

Coins , Quadrans , Caligula , Pileus , Numismatic

Citation

Woods D (2010) 'Caligula's Quadrans'. Numismatic Chronicle, 170: 99-103.