Comment on Thorvaldsen's Small Silver Head - A Ruined Tondo Portrait
[The author’s note in the text] Actually the Roman year 259 = 459 B.C. This must, however, be an error since these two men were Consuls in 79 B.C. (= year 675 after the foundation of the city). The Temple of Bellona was not inaugurated until 296 B.C. The date 79 B.C. is in better correspondence with the other literary sources that we have, cf. Winkes p.35ff. In the year 78 B.C. M. Aemilius hung portrait shields on the facade of Basilica Aemilia facing Forum Romanum. These are represented on coins issued in 61 B.C. by another M. Aemilius, see M.H. Crawford, Roman Republican Coinage I-II, Cambridge 1974, No. 419, 3a-b with references.
Last updated 26.11.2015