DR-271 | Crawford: 305/1
Quintus Lutatius Siege
Quintus Lutatius Cerco

Gens: Lutatia
Moneyer: Quintus Lutatius Siege
Date and mint: 109 BC/108 BC - Rome


Obverse: Bust of Roma, right, helmet with feather on each side. Dotted border.
Legend: ROMA CERCO
Symbols: Obverse behind, x

Reverse: Galley, right; around, oak crown. Dotted border.
Legend: Q LVTATI Q

Comment: The Lutatia gens was a plebeian family that achieved great prestige in the 3rd century BC. thanks to Gaius Lutatius Catulus, victorious over the Carthaginians in the naval battle of the Aegadian Islands in 241 BC, an event that put an end to the First Punic War. Since then, the family was associated with the maritime power of Roma, a glorious memory that several of its descendants claimed in numismatics.

The moneyer Quinto Lutatio Cerco is remembered for this issue, and although detailed information about his career is not preserved, his surname connects directly with the family's naval tradition. Access to the moneyer magistracy, as in so many cases, was probably an initial step in his cursus honorum.

The coin was minted in Rome between 109 and 108 BC, in the middle of the war against Jugurtha. In this period, Roma was going through a delicate situation: on the one hand, it suffered military humiliations in Africa that fueled popular indignation, and on the other, it maintained the pressure of external threats on other borders. The memory of old naval triumphs offered a symbolic contrast to the uncertainty of the present.

The message of the coin is clear. On the obverse, Roma appears wearing a helmet, affirming the authority of the city. The reverse shows a galley surrounded by an oak crown (corona civica). We interpret this motif as a direct allusion to the victory of Gaius Lutatius Catulus over Carthage, exalting the moneyer lineage and his family's naval contribution to the greatness of Roma. The oak crown, a symbol of someone who saves the lives of citizens, reinforces the civic value of that feat. The denarius thus becomes a tribute to the inherited glory and a vindication of the Lutatii as guarantors of the security and salvation of the Republic.

Provenance: Roma Numismatics (2019)
Price: 1,580 €