Denarius of Faustus Cornelius Sulla

Rome 56 BCE
Denarius of Faustus Cornelius Sulla - Obverse

Obverse: Head of Hercules right wearing lion-skin; SC behind

Denarius of Faustus Cornelius Sulla - Reverse

Reverse: Globe surrounded by three small wreaths and a large one; below to left aplustre, [to right. corn-ear]

Bust of Pompey the Great
Source: Wikimedia Commons

He [Pompey] celebrated the triumph in honour of all his wars at once, including in it many trophies beauti­fully decked out to represent each of his achievements, even the smallest; and after them all came one huge one, decked out in costly fashion and bearing an inscription stating that it was a trophy of the inhabited world ... These [honors] consisted in the privilege of always wearing the laurel wreath at all public games, and arraying himself in the cloak of a general at all of them, as well as in the triumphal garb at the horse-races. They had been granted him chiefly through the cooperation of Caesar, and contrary to the advice of Marcus Cato.

This coin was issued by Faustus Cornelius Sulla, son of the Dictator Sulla, and highlights the achievements of his father-in-law, Cnaius Pompey, known to us as Pompey the Great. The obverse shows young Hercules mirroring Alexander the Great’s coinage and symbolizing Pompey’s swift rise. The reverse displays his three triumphs1 across the known world in Europe, Africa, and Asia (three small wreaths), a boat stern (aplustre) for clearing the Mediterranean of pirates2, an ear of corn for securing Rome’s grain supply3, and the unprecedented honor of a golden triumphal crown.4 These symbols encircle a globe, reflecting Cicero’s claim that through Pompey and these three triumphs, we “witness the whole world being under our rule.”5

Sulla’s Civil War

While Pompey wasn’t born “great,” he had a gift for timing and for choosing the winning side. He served with his father during the Social War, but his rise began in 83 BCE when, at just twenty‑three, he joined Sulla’s campaign. Raising his own legions and defeating Sulla’s enemies in Sicily and Africa, he sought a triumph — or so he thought. Sulla refused until Pompey hinted that “more worship the rising than the setting sun”.6 First triumph secured, then hubris followed: he tried to enter the city in an elephant‑drawn chariot, but the gate was too narrow.7

Typical obverse design for Alexander's coinage showing the head of Hercules wearing the skin of the Nemean lion
Source: Madison Art Collection

Golden corona wreath worn by triumphators
Source: Author's photo of Brooklyn Museum "Wreath"

Sertorius’ Rebellion

Pompey continued to serve the Sullan cause after the Dictator’s death. He was appointed proconsul to deal with the Marian rebel Sertorius’ rebellion in Spain in 76 BCE. After several years the rebellion was put down, and Pompey returned to Italy just in time to intercept the remnants of Spartacus’ army, stealing Crassus’ glory in the Third Servile War.8 Seizing the moment, Pompey and Crassus sought election as consuls. Neither dismissed his army: Pompey claimed he was waiting for his triumph, and Crassus insisted he would not do so until Pompey.9 Both were elected consul and Pompey acquired his second triumph.

Cilician Pirates and the Third Mithridatic War

In the subsequent years, Pompey continued to be relied on by the state to solve crises, and also inserted himself into adventures for further glory. In 67 BCE Pompey was granted an extraordinary command to deal with the issue of piracy in the Mediterranean. Granted proconsular power in any province within 50 miles of the Mediterranean and the power to appoint legates in his name2, he was Augustus in all but name forty years before his time. While he ended the threat of piracy rapidly, in under three months, he then leveraged this opportunity to undermine Lucullus and take over his command in the Third Mithridatic War10,11. Seizing a war nearly won, Pompey made unreasonable surrender conditions on Mithridates to force a decisive series of battles. During this time, Pompey extended the Asian province and annexed new ones including Cilicia, Bithynia and Pontus, and Syria, extending Roman control to the entire Mediterranean seaboard which was truly “Mare Nostrum” (Our Sea).

The Road to Pharsalus

Third triumph achieved but the seeds of Pompey’s downfall, and eventually that of the Republic, were finally sown. Upon returning to Rome, the Senate, fearful of Pompey’s rising power, refused to ratify his reorganization of the eastern provinces or settlements for his veterans. With no further recourse, Pompey aligned with Crassus and Caesar to achieve his aims through the First Triumvirate.

The Republic could not withstand the power of these three towering individuals, and in the end, neither could they withstand each other. Crassus would die in an ill-fated adventure in Parthia, and with the death of Pompey’s beloved wife Julia, the alliance with Caesar would fully collapse — as Lucan observed, Pompey could bear no equal and Caesar no rival.12 By 49 BCE, Caesar and Pompey were opposing sides of the latest Roman civil war. The constant obstinacy of the Optimates created a conflict that neither wanted, and eventually their endless pressure forced Pompey into a battle at Pharsalus that he did not want. Pompey the Great would finally lose this battl, and then eventually his life, betrayed by Ptolemy XIII (a former client) on the banks of the Nile.

Footnotes

  1. “These triumphs were: (1) on his victory in Africa over a Marian refugee Cn. Domitius Ahenobarbus and a Numidian leader Iarbas, celebrated on 12 March 79 (or 80) b.c.; (2) “ex Hispaniis,” on the last day of 71 b.c., after the Sertorian War; (3) over the pirates and Mithridates, on 28 and 29 September 61 b.c.” -Loeb Classic Library, Cicero Balbo 16, Footnote B ↩

  2. Under the lex Gabinia, Pompey cleared the Mediterranean of pirates in 67 BCE. See Plutarch, Pompey 25 and Cassius Dio, Roman History 36.23–24. ↩ ↩2

  3. Pompey was elected Praefectus Annonae in 57 BCE. And when Cicero returned to the city⁠ by virtue of the law then passed, he immediately reconciled Pompey to the senate, and by his advocacy of the corn law he in a manner once more made Pompey master of all the land and sea in Roman possession. For under his direction were placed harbours, trading-places, distributions of crops, — in a word, navigation and agriculture.⁠ … Having thus been set over the administration and management of the grain trade, Pompey sent out his agents and friends in various directions, while he himself sailed to Sicily, Sardinia and Africa, and collected grain. -Plutarch, Pompey 49 - 50 ↩

  4. Granted in 63 BCE. “In Pompey’s absence the tribunes of the people, Titus Ampius and Titus Labienus, proposed a law that at the games of the circus Pompey should be permitted to wear a golden crown and the full dress of the triumphator, and at the theatre the purple-bordered toga and the golden crown.” -Velleius Paterculus ii, 40, 4: ↩

  5. “For if Pompeius had lived five hundred years ago ; if this man, from whom, while yet a mere youth and a Roman knight, the senate had frequently sought aid for the common safety, whose exploits, attended always with the most glorious victory on sea and land, had extended through all nations, whose three triumphs proved that the whole world was subject to our sway, whom the Roman people had distinguished with unprecedented and singular honours..” - Cicero, Balbo 16 ↩

  6. “After this, Pompey asked for a triumph, but Sulla opposed his request …. Pompey, however, was not cowed, but bade Sulla reflect that more worshipped the rising than the setting sun, intimating that his own power was on the increase, while that of Sulla was on the wane and fading away. Sulla did not hear the words distinctly, but seeing, from their looks and gestures, that those who did hear them were amazed, he asked what it was that had been said. When he learned what it was, he was astounded at the boldness of Pompey, and cried out twice in succession: “Let him triumph!” -Plutarch, Pompey 14.1-3 ↩

  7. “Further, when many showed displeasure and indignation at his project, Pompey, we are told, was all the more desirous of annoying them, and tried to ride into the city on a chariot drawn by four elephants; for he had brought many from Africa which he had captured from its kings. But the gate of the city was too narrow, and he therefore gave up the attempt and changed over to his horses” -Plutarch, Pompey 14.4 ↩

  8. “…But although Crassus had been fortunate, had shown most excellent general­ship, and had exposed his person to danger, nevertheless, his success did not fail to enhance the reputation of Pompey. For the fugitives from the battle⁠ encountered that general and were cut to pieces, so he could write to the senate that in open battle, indeed, Crassus had conquered the slaves, but that he himself had extirpated the war.” Plutarch, Crassus 11.7 ↩

  9. “Crassus accomplished his task within six months, whence arose a contention for honours between himself and Pompey. Crassus did not dismiss his army, for Pompey did not dismiss his. Both were candidates for the consul­ship. Crassus had been praetor as the law of Sulla required. Pompey had been neither praetor nor quaestor, and was only thirty-four years old, but he had promised the tribunes of the people that much of their former power should be restored. When they were chosen consuls they did not even then dismiss their armies, which were stationed near the city. Each one offered an excuse. Pompey said that he was waiting the return of Metellus for his Spanish triumph; Crassus said that Pompey ought to dismiss his army first.” -Appian, Civil Wars Book 1, 121 ↩

  10. “The rest of the soldiers Pompey summoned by letter, for he had already been appointed to conduct the war against Mithridates and Tigranes, because he won the favour of the people and flattered their leaders. But the Senate and the nobility considered Lucullus a wronged man. He had been superseded, they said, not in a war, but in a triumph, and had been forced to relinquish and turn over to others, not his campaign, but the prizes of victory in his campaign”. -Plutarch, Lucullus 35.7 ↩

  11. On the passage of the lex Manilia and Pompey’s assumption of the eastern command over Mithridates and Tigranes, see Plutarch, Pompey 30–31. ↩

  12. “nec coisse pares. erat plus ferre nec ulla Pompeius” (They could not meet as equals; Pompey could endure no superior, and Caesar no equal). Lucan, Pharsalia Book I, lines 125–126. ↩

Details

Issuer:
Faustus Cornelius Sulla
Obverse:
Head of Hercules right wearing lion-skin; SC behind
Reverse:
Globe surrounded by three small wreaths and a large one; below to left aplustre, [to right. corn-ear]
Denomination:
Denarius
Mint:
Rome
Metal:
Silver
Weight:
3.73g
Grade:
VF
Reference:
Crawford 426/4b
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