Silver Denarius

This denarius was issued by the moneyer Marcus Plaetorius Cestianus and minted in Rome in 67 BCE, immediately following his curule aedileship. The obverse depicts the bust of Fortuna, with hair draped in the traditional Roman style, decorated with poppy-heads and a cornucopia horn. The reverse names the issuer, Marcus Plaetorius Cestianus, a curule aedile in 67 BCE: ‘M.PLAETORI // CEST EX.S.C.’. The legend flanks the winged caduceus of Mercury, a symbol for wealth, trade, and financial prosperity.

Fortuna was the goddess of chance, luck, and fortune. Emerging as an agricultural deity, controlling the fortunes of abundance and prosperity, she is often depicted alongside or conflated with Ceres, the major harvest goddess of the Roman pantheon. This is reflected in the denarius, as it depicts Fortuna’s primary symbol, the cornucopia of plenty, alongside the head of a poppy flower, a symbol of Ceres and her daughter Proserpina. Poppies, especially the opium poppy (also known as Ceres’ poppy), are symbolic of deep slumber, and they were created by Hypnos, the god of sleep, to help her rest after Proserpina was abducted. The reference to Mercury on the reverse alludes to his helping Ceres find Proserpina in the underworld. His depiction alongside Fortuna emphasises her dominion over prosperity and abundance, as the two deities are often depicted together as harbingers of successful commerce.

This coin was issued during the year of Pompey’s war against the pirates, and thus depicts both a wish for martial luck and the restoration of abundance and safe commerce on the Mediterranean. Notably, Pompey often chose to associate himself with the goddess Fortuna. As Marcus Plaetorius was the curule aedile at the time, he would have been concerned with funding public games such as the ludi circenses (circus games) and ludi scaenici (theatrical performance) during religious festivals, as well as the cura urbis (care of the city) and cura annonae (grain distribution) of Rome. Before Pompey’s campaigns, widespread piracy had all but halted grain imports, leading to a shortage. Marcus Plaetorius, along with most of the Plaetoria gens, were supporters of Pompey, and it was in his best interest to provide funding in support of the campaign against the pirates. The Plaetoria gens, which Marcus Plaetorius Cestianus was part of, was a plebeian family hailing from Praeneste (modern-day Palestrina). Praeneste was famed across Rome, though mostly amongst plebeians, for its temples and oracle worship dedicated to Fortuna Primigenia. This makes the meaning of Fortuna on this coin threefold: it conveyed the goddesses’ attributes, signals the moneyer’s Italic ancestry, and connects his family with that of Pompey.