An Unusual Lucius Appuleius Saturninus

Today's coin of interest is a scarce Republican denarius struck by L. Appuleius Saturninus in 104 BCE shows the helmeted head of Roma on both sides - an unusual and deliberate “two‑headed” type. It belongs to a short series that otherwise features the god Saturn in a quadriga, a canting (name‑pun) on Saturninus.

Roman Republican, Lucius Appuleius Saturninus, 104 BC. AR Denarius (19mm, 3.82g, 5h), Rome.

Obv: Head of Roma to left, wearing crested and winged helmet; behind, F.

Rev: Head of Roma to left, wearing crested and winged helmet; behind, L•SA[T].

Ref: Babelon (Appuleia) 2. Crawford 317/1. RBW 1169 var. (differing control: F). Sydenham 579, British Museum Collection 2002-0102-1469.

The History

In the history of the Roman Republic, this coin sits just after the end of of the Jugurthine War where Sulla made a name for himself. Jugurtha was captured in 105; Marius triumphed and Jugurtha’s execution followed early in 104, the year of this coin’s issue. 48 years later in 56 BCE Sulla's son would issue this coin commemorating the capture of Jugurtha. Faustus was one of the twin children (his sister was Fausta) born to Sulla and Caecilia Metella.

Faustus Cornelius Sulla. Denarius 56 BCE, AR 3.87g.

Obv: Diademed and draped bust of Diana right; above, crescent; behind, lituus; before, FAVSTVS.

Rev: Sulla seated left; on left, Bocchus kneeling and holding olive branch; on right, Jugurtha kneeling with hands tied behind back; on right, FELIX.

Ref: Babelon Cornelia 59. Sydenham 879. RBW 1525. Crawford 426/1.

This time was also the emergency years after Arausio, the site of a catastrophic Roman defeat on 6 October 105 BCE during the Cimbrian War when two Roman armies under Gnaeus Mallius Maximus (consul) and Q. Servilius Caepio (proconsul) were destroyed by the Cimbri and Teutoni near the Rhône. This debacle paved the way for Gaius Marius’s unprecedented run of consecutive consulships (104-100 BCE). The Second Servile War erupted in Sicily (104–100), straining manpower and grain supply. Marius reorganized forces and ultimately defeated the Teutones at Aquae Sextiae (102) and the Cimbri at Vercellae (101).

The Imagery

The repetition of Roma, the republic personified, on both sides identifies this as Crawford 317/1, a scarcer sub‑type within Saturninus’ coinage. The “double‑Roma” design is intentional with the reverse distinguished by the moneyer’s legend. Such “two‑headed” Republican denarii are rare but known and have been specifically discussed in the literature.

Saturninus also struck denarii with dual tails with Saturn in a quadriga holding a harpa (sickle), with L·SATVRN in exergue - the clearest canting type on his cognomen Saturninus. And this coin with heads and tails - the more common one in the series.

Portrait style is consistent with late‑2nd‑century Republican Roma heads (crested/winged Attic helmet, dotted border). Weights cluster around 3.6-3.9 g in published specimens.

Deliberate “two‑headed” reverse. Saturninus’ 317/1 belongs to the small class of Republican denarii that intentionally repeat a head on both sides. Only six issues from 4 moneyers have two heads or two tails across all republican issues.

In a year of trauma and transition - fresh from Jugurtha’s humiliation, facing the northern threat, and with unrest in Sicily - the intensely conservative icon of Roma on both sides reads as a pointed assertion of state continuity and identity, while the parallel quadriga type advertises the moneyer through the Saturn pun.

The Moneyer

A plebeian politician of the gens Appuleia, Saturninus first surfaces as quaestor in 104 BCE overseeing grain imports at Ostia; unusually, the Senate removed him and substituted M. Aemilius Scaurus, an episode thought to have radicalized him.

As tribune of the plebs in 103 (and again in 100), he allied with Gaius Marius and pursued popularis legislation - grain‑price reductions (lex frumentaria) and land for veterans, among others.

In this last consul­ship particularly did Marius make himself hated, because he took part with Saturninus in many of his misdeeds. One of these was the murder of Nonius, whom Saturninus slew because he was a rival candidate for the tribune­ship. Then, as tribune, Saturninus introduced his agrarian law, to which was added a clause providing that the senators should come forward and take oath that they would abide by whatsoever the people might vote and make no opposition to it.
Plutarch, Life of Marius, 29

Ancient narratives and modern summaries describe his forceful tactics and reliance on street muscle. These events highlight the level to which Roman political life was dominated by violent party factions.

"The censor, Quintus Caecilius Metellus, attempted to degrade Glaucia, a senator, and Apuleius Saturninus, who had already been a tribune, on account of their disgraceful mode of life, but was not able to do so because his colleague would not agree to it. Accordingly Apuleius, a little later, in order to have revenge on Metellus, became again a candidate for the tribune­ship, seizing the occasion when Glaucia held the office of praetor, and presided over the election of the tribunes; but Nonius, a man of noble birth, who used much plainness of speech in reference to Apuleius and reproached Glaucia bitterly, was chosen for the office. They, fearing lest he should punish them as tribune, made a rush upon him with a crowd of ruffians just as he was going away from the comitia, pursued him into an inn, and stabbed him. As this murder bore a piti­ful and shocking aspect, the adherents of Glaucia came together early the next morning, before the people had assembled, and elected Apuleius tribune."
-Appian, The Civil Wars I.28

After escalating violence and another murder of a rival candidate, the Senate issued a senatus consultum ultimum which effectively authorized magistrates to use extraordinary powers, including suspension of normal legal protections. Marius, then consul, suppressed Saturninus and G. S. Glaucia. They were killed after surrendering on 10 December 100.

The family (gens) Appuleia was a longstanding plebeian gens with Republican magistracies from the 4th century BCE onward; the Saturninus branch is its most notorious line.

References

• Appian, Bellum Civile I

• Plutarch, Marius 

• Stannard, Clive. “Two-Headed and Two-Tailed Denarii in the Roman Republic.” Numismatic Chronicle 147 (1987): 160–63.