Denarius: L. Roscius Fabatus Girl feeding snake

I bought this coin because I liked the symbol pair. I have not seen an ancient scale or balance on a coin or from other sources with these features:

· Two horizontal beams.
· An arch below the beams.
· A base with legs to hold the vertical post that holds the beam. Most coins are held from above the beam by hand.
· The pan on the right is larger than the pan (weight?) on the left.

It looks a bit like the Nuremberg ducat scale pictured below from Scales and Weights by Bruno Kisch, pg 40. When a gold ducat of low weight was placed in the right pan, the arch showed how many grains the coin was below standard. I have not seen any ancient scale pictures with the arch.

If someone knows of a reference with a scale like the one below, let me know.

L. Roscius Fabatus Girl feeding snake

Scale and Scale Weight Box Control Symbols

64 BC, Cr412/1

AR Denarius (Serratus); L. Roscius Fabatus; 64 BC Chr., Rome,

Obv - Head of Juno Sospita r. in the goatskin cap that is tied in front, behind balance / scale, below: L.ROSCI; border of dots

Rev - Girl stands r. feeding snake that is raised in front of her, behind box for weights, In Ex: FABATI; border dots

3.94 g

Crawf. 412/1, o/r dies = 240/241

BMC 3474 – this control symbol pair

Syd. 915

RSC / Bab. 1; Note: both books show the scale / box symbol pair.

gVF, well centered and struck, nicely toned, some scratches

On the occasion of the annual festival of Juno Sospita in Lanuvium, a virgin had to feed the snake living in the basement of the temple. If the girl was chaste, she left the cave to much celebrating from her family, otherwise she was killed by the snake.

Crawford notes the die symbols were pairs of related every-day objects. There was no more than one die for each symbol. Bab lists 155 pairs. Grueber lists 108 pairs. Crawford lists 242 pairs.

3.94 g.