this post was submitted on 04 Oct 2023
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There are many ways to determine what is depicted on a coin, even if the quality leaves something to be desired. There are plenty of other coins made with the same dies. This is a nearly flawless example: https://www.harneycoins.com/post/the-rape-of-the-sabine-women-a-founding-myth-of-rome-on-my-latest-roman-denari
Furthermore, the same motif has been used in other artistic works outside of coinage, such as sculptures, mozaics, frescoes, ... The story of the rape of the Sabine women was already a popular founding myth (although probably not exactly taken literally, even then) so it wasn't really a surprise to see a scene of it popping up on coins. There are a myriad of such other mythical depictions, like the she-wolf with Romulus & Remus for example.
If someone were to find the particular coin depicted here without all that context, however, it would indeed be hard to make out exactly what's going on.
Thanks so much!
To add to this, Republican moneyers often used the office to create coins with motifs associated with both their gens (tribe/family), here Gens Tituria, and their family name, here Sabinus.
And so here we have a coin featuring King Tatius and the famous abduction (rape) of the Sabine women.