Quadrigatus

Roman coin — **Object: C028.08.02**
JIAAW, Harkness Collection

RRC 28/3, Rome, 225-212 BCE, 6.54g
This silver Roman Republican coin is called a quadrigatus after the four-horsed chariot (a quadriga) on the reverse (the back) of the coin. The quadriga is driven by the winged goddess Victory with Jupiter riding at her side holding a scepter in his left hand and preparing to hurl a thunderbolt with his right hand. The quadriga was a well known symbol and its presence on coins, especially in times of war, represented Roman military and political power and influence.

-Jess Porter, JIAAW Operations and Events Coordinator

Learn more about coin C028.08.02 and see other examples of this type of coin.

Joukowsky Institute for Archaeology
RRC 28/3, Rome, 225-212 BCE, JIAAW 028.08.02, 6.54g Can you describe this coin for us? This Roman Republican coin (RRC 28.3) is generally called a quadrigatus (silver didrachm), a name which is at least as old as Livy (22.52.2; 22.54.2; 22.58.4) and Pliny the Elder (33.46 “notae argenti fuere bigae atque quadrigae; inde bigati quadrigatique dicti; the marks of silver [given to soldiers during the Second Punic War] were two-horse chariots and four-horse chariots; for this reason they are called ‘bigati’ and ‘quadrigati’”).

RRC 28/3
Type: Jupiter in quadriga, right, driven by Victory. Jupiter holds sceptre in left hand and hurls thunderbolt with right hand; incuse on tablet, inscription.