Divinity

In 43 BC, the Roman Senate made Sextus Pompeius a naval commander and granted him the title of praefectus classis et orae maritimae, ‘prefect of the fleet and the sea coast’. Therefore, it should not seem surprising that Sextus included Neptune on his nautical coinage. Despite the short-lived nature of his official commandership of the Roman Republic’s navy, the presence of Neptune remained on Sextus’ coinage until his death nearly a decade later. The use of Neptune’s imagery by Sextus went beyond the conventional use of this iconography by standard Roman naval commanders. Also present on Sextus’ coinage were the jug and lituus, two symbols of the College of Augurs, a respected and influential religious body with Roman society, to which Pompey the Great and Sextus had connections within. Instead of a simple ‘paint-by-numbers’ divine iconography seen on RRC 511/3a and 511/4a, Sextus Pompeius was able to convey the rich connectivity between himself and familial and religious institutions within the Roman Republic.