DR-278 | Crawford: 308/1b
Marcus Herennius
Marcus Herennius

Gens: Herennia
Moneyer: Marcus Herennius
Date and mint: 108 BC/107 BC - Rome


Obverse: Bust of Pietas, right, diadem. Dotted border.
Legend: PIETAS
Symbols: Reverse right field, control mark

Reverse: One of the Catanaean brothers running to the right, carrying his father on his shoulders. Dotted border.
Legend: M HERENNI

Comment: The gens Herennia was a plebeian family of Campanian origin that achieved some relevance in Rome during the Republic. Its members held public positions and cultivated an image linked to family virtue and piety. The moneyer cognomen, Marco Herennio, has come to us above all thanks to this issue, since there is no certain news about his subsequent political career.

The coinage took place in Rome around 108–107 BC, at a particularly turbulent time. The war against Jugurtha in Numidia revealed the corruption of the military commanders and the ineffectiveness of the campaigns, which undermined the confidence of the people in the Senate. Meanwhile, social problems and the threat from the barbarian peoples of the north began to shape a climate of instability that would mark the following decades.

The coin transmits a message with a strong moral charge. The obverse shows the bust of Pietas, diademed, with the inscription PIETAS, exalting the virtue of filial piety and duty towards family and community. The reverse depicts one of the Catanaean brothers—Anfinomus or Anapias—carrying his father on his shoulders and fleeing the lava of Etna. This Sicilian myth became a symbol of pietas, devotion to parents even in the most extreme circumstances. Our interpretation is that the Monetary wanted to associate his gens with this central value of Roman morality, presenting the Herennius as an example of family fidelity and respect for the gods. In a context of political and military crisis, the choice of this motif functioned as a reminder of the traditional values that sustained the Republic.

Provenance: Roma Numismatics (2012)
Price: 2,400 €