Roman Republic, Denarius

This Roman denarius from the year 56 BC depicts on the obverse Ancus Marcius, a half-legendary Roman king. Behind him is a lituus, a staff associated with the Augurs.

The reverse shows an aqueduct with an equestrian statue on top. The legend AQVAMAR between the arches identifies it as the Aqua Marcia. That was the longest of the eleven aqueducts that in Antiquity brought water into the city of Rome. Legend had it that it had been built by King Ancus Marcius in the 7th century BC. In 144 BC, an ancestor of the issuer of this coin, Quintus Marcius Rex, restored the aqueduct. After that the Senate ordered his statue to be built on the aqueduct.