JULIUS CAESAR SILVER DENARIUS – ELEPHANT DENARIUS TYPE – CHOICE VF NGC GRADED ROMAN IMPERATORIAL COIN (Inv. 19778)

$2,450.00

19778. ROMAN IMPERATORIAL. JULIUS CAESAR, d. 44 BC.
Silver Denarius, 3.82 g, 18 mm. Issue of a military mint traveling with Caesar, 49–48 BC.
Obv. CAESAR, elephant to right, trampling serpent. Rev. Emblems of the Pontifex Maximus – simpulum, aspergillum, securis and apex.
Crawford 443/1; Sydenham 1006.
NGC graded CHOICE VF, Strike 4/5, Surface 4/5.

The reverse types of this denarius, struck just after the outbreak of civil war between Julius Caesar and Pompey the Great, clearly advertise Caesar’s role as pontifex maximus. However, the intended meaning of the obverse type has remained a mystery to numismatists down to the present day. It has been variously interpreted as an allegory of the triumph of good over evil, a reference to Caesar’s victories in Gaul (assuming that the serpent is really a Gallic carnyx), or a poke at Pompey (who attempted to celebrate a triumph in a chariot drawn by elephants but found that the animals were too large to get through the city gate). While it is clear that the elephant denarii of Julius Caesar played an important role in financing his war against Pompey and his faction, we may never know what was really meant by the elephant and the serpent.