CNG - QUINCTILIUS VARUS. AE As. Altar of Lyon
    Item #176733891
$291.00        First bid $1.00
              # of bids 22 (bid history)
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Started   10/06/99,
  07:11:55 PDT   to a friend)

Ends      10/13/99,
  07:11:55 PDT   alert)
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High bid  nero6 (1)
                 


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     P. Quinctilius Varus (Augustus). 27 BC-14 AD. Æ As (10.20 gm).
     Struck circa 15-10 BC; countermark applied after 9 BC. Lugdunum
     mint. CAESAR PONT MAX, laureate head right; countermark: VAR
     monogram / ROM ET AVG, front elevation of the Altar of Lugdunum,
     decorated with the corona civica between laurels, these being
     flanked by nude male figures; to left and right, Victories on
     columns, facing one another. RIC I 230; BMCRE 550; BN 1623; Cohen
     240; c/m: Michael Grünwald, Die Römischen Bronze- und
     Kupfermünzen mit Schalgmarken im Legionslager Vindonissa 69. Coin
     Fine, c/m VF. 716295

     Publius Quinctilius Varus, whose countermark is on the obverse of
     this coin, was one of the most famous of Augustus' generals. He
     had been consul in 13 BC (along with the future emperor
     Tiberius), governor of Syria , where he had sent two legions into
     Judaea to quell local unrest after the territory was converted to
     a Roman province, and subsequently governor of Germania. By 9 AD,
     Augustus had decided to shorten Rome's borders by conquering the
     vast region of Germania beyond the Rhine. He assigned Varus to
     develop the region without war, but the Gauls living there were
     not prepared to accept Romanization. A coalition of the Cherusci
     and their allies under the leadership of the Roman-trained
     Arminius ambushed Varus in the Teutoburg Forest of northwest
     Germany, and there annihilated the XVII, XVIII and XIX Roman
     legions in a pitched battle that lasted for three days. Varus,
     sensing doom, comitted suicide, and when Augustus heard of the
     disaster, he tore his clothes and screamed, "Varus, give me back
     my legions!" No further attempts were made to subdue the Germans
     beyond the Rhine, and Varus was blamed for the collapse of
     imperial policy in Germany.

     The reverse of this coin features the celebrated Altar of
     Lugdunum which had been dedicated by Augustus on August 1st, 10
     BC. With the exception of one coin, all known examples of Varus'
     countermark appear on this coin type, and only on the earliest
     issues within the type.

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