Nomos 18

Julius Caesar, 48-47 BC. Denarius (Silver, 19 mm, 3.95 g, 9 h), Military mint traveling with Caesar in Spain. Laureate female head (Clementia?) to right; ⊥II behind neck. Rev. CAE-SAR Gallic trophy, bearing armor, an oval shield and a wolf's head carnyx, with, at its base, a bearded Gallic captive seated to right on the ground with his hands tied behind his back, his chest bare, and with a torque around his neck. Crawford 452/4. CRI 12. Sydenham 1010. Very rare. Tiny banker's mark on the obverse, otherwise, good very fine.

While the bound captive on the reverse of this coin has often been identified as Vercingetorix, the chief of the Averni captured at the Battle of Alesia in 52 BC, many scholars decry this. However, the great care taken to provide the captive warrior with a distinctive, bearded, portrait-like head implies that the engraver was attempting to show a specific personage; if so, who else than Vercingetorix?