DR-645 | Crawford: 459/1
Quintus Caecilius Metellus Pius Scipio
Quintus Caecilius Metellus Pius Scipio

Gens: Caecilia
Moneyer: Quintus Caecilius Metellus Pius Scipio
Date and mint: 47 BC/46 BC - ?


Obverse: Laureate bust of Jupiter, right. Dotted border.
Legend: Q METEL PIVS

Reverse: Elephant, right. Dotted border.
Legend: SCIPIO IMP

Comment: The Caecilia gens was one of the oldest and most prestigious families in Rome. Its members, the Metellus, repeatedly achieved the consulate and distinguished themselves in various military campaigns, especially in Hispania and Africa. By adoption, Quintus Caecilius Metellus Pius Scipio joined his lineage with that of the Cornelius Scipios, thus descending from two of the most illustrious houses of the Republic.

Metellus Pius Scipio was one of the main leaders of the Pompeian side in the civil war against Caesar. After the defeat at Pharsalia (48 BC), he assumed command of the remains of the army in Africa, with headquarters in Utica. There he presented himself as supreme leader of the republican resistance, until he was decisively defeated in the battle of Tapso (46 BC). While fleeing he was captured and, to avoid falling into Caesar's hands, he committed suicide.

The denarius clearly reflects this claim to legitimacy and authority. On the obverse appears the laureate bust of Jupiter, symbol of supreme power and protector of the Roman order, accompanied by the legend Q METEL PIVS, which vindicates the family tradition. On the reverse, an elephant with the inscription SCIPIO IMP proclaims Scipio as imperator. The elephant was a traditional emblem of the Metellus, inherited from the victory of Metellus Pius in Africa, and at the same time evoked the lineage of the Cornelius Scipios, in particular the memory of Scipio Africanus, conqueror of Hannibal.

Thus, the coin links the prestige of two highly renowned families—the Metellus and the Scipios—with the figure of Metellus Pius Scipio, who presented himself as the defender of the Republic against Caesar. More than a simple means of payment, this denarius was a political and genealogical manifesto in the last years of the civil war.

Provenance: Ira & Larry Goldberg Coins (2014)
Price: 5,507 €