Roman Social War: Italian Bull Goring a Roman Wolf

[guy]

I was reading an interesting review of Mary Beard's SPQR:

 

http://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/oct/18/spqr-by-mary-beard-review-rome

 

This quote grabbed my attention:

 

During the social war, in the first century BC, Rome fought a glorified civil war with much of Italy (her former allies, socii, give the conflict its name). The allies mounted a propaganda battle, minting coins that showed an Italian bull goring a Roman wolf. “The coinage certainly blazons some anti-Roman imagery. But it was based entirely on the weight standards of Roman coinage, and many of the other designs were directly borrowed from Roman issues.” It’s a neat illustration of the problems that faced Rome’s enemies: even in insulting it, they couldn’t separate themselves from it.

 

 

Here are examples of the coins mentioned:

 

 

 

 

(Click images to magnify.)

 

While doing research on this subject, I found this old UNRV post from the past:

 

http://www.unrv.com/forum/topic/6969-marsic-war/

 

Here's a nice article about coinage from the social war:

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coinage_of_the_Social_War_(91%E2%80%9388_BC)

 

Oscan anyone?

 

 

guy also known as gaius

Edited November 17, 2015 by guy