On the reverse is the legend of Romulus and Remus in a nutshell. The first depiction of a she-wolf with twins on a Roman coin since the didrachma of 276, probably minted in Naples. The only common element in the various versions of Rome's founding legend since the third century BC is that Romulus and Remus were twin sons of a Vestal woman named Rhea Silvia. For the rest of the myth, there are many discrepancies but one of the most commonly corroborated narratives is the one told by Livy in his Ab Urbe Condita. According to Livy, Rhea Silvia was the daughter of Numitor, the rightful king of Alba Longi (the city founded by Ascanius, son of Aeneas, at the foot of the Albanian hills), who was forcibly removed from the throne by his brother Amulius, and his offspring were killed or, as in the case of his daughter, deprived of any hope of having children by being forced to become Vestalca. Rhea Silvia became pregnant as a result of her encounter with the god Mars, and the twins were thrown into the Tiber River in a wicker basket, hoping to drown themselves as ordered by King Alba Long. Their cries attracted the attention of a she-wolf who fed them and cared for them. The shepherd Faustulus, who found the children, saw the she-wolf tenderly licking the twins. Remus and Romulus were then taken in by Faustulus and his wife and raised in a hut on the hillside of the Palatine. As adults, they killed Amulius and restored the throne to Numitor.
Obverse: Roma's head to the right, to the right an X (a sign of value), to the left a jug.
Reverse: A she-wolf feeding twins, behind her a fig tree, to the left a shepherd, in section ROMA, above SEX POM FOSTLVS.
Silver, diameter 19 mm, weight 3.78 g.
