Quintus Pomponius Musa was a

magistrate The term magistrate is used in a variety of systems of governments and laws to refer to a civilian officer who administers the law. In ancient Rome, a ''magistratus'' was one of the highest ranking government officers, and possessed both judici ...

moneyer A moneyer is a private individual who is officially permitted to mint money. Usually the rights to coin money are bestowed as a concession by a state or government. Moneyers have a long tradition, dating back at least to ancient Greece. They bec ...

and

banker A bank is a financial institution that accepts deposits from the public and creates a demand deposit while simultaneously making loans. Lending activities can be directly performed by the bank or indirectly through capital markets. Because ...

during the Republican Period in

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus ( legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

, around 66 BC. He was a member of the

Pomponia Pomponia is the female name for the Pomponia gens of Ancient Rome. This family was one of the oldest families in Rome. Various women bearing this name lived during the Middle and Late Roman Republic and the Roman Empire. The oldest known Pomponi ...

gens In ancient Rome, a gens ( or , ; plural: ''gentes'' ) was a family consisting of individuals who shared the same nomen and who claimed descent from a common ancestor. A branch of a gens was called a ''stirps'' (plural: ''stirpes''). The ''gen ...

. According to the

National Museum of Scotland The National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh, Scotland, was formed in 2006 with the merger of the new Museum of Scotland, with collections relating to Scottish antiquities, culture and history, and the adjacent Royal Scottish Museum (opened in ...

, moneyers commissioned designs, which often referred to famous ancestors, associations to favourite cults, or, as here, puns on their names. Musa created ten coin designs: one design for each of the nine

Muses In ancient Greek religion and mythology, the Muses ( grc, Μοῦσαι, Moûsai, el, Μούσες, Múses) are the inspirational goddesses of literature, science, and the arts. They were considered the source of the knowledge embodied in the p ...

, a play on Musa's name; and one coin featuring the image of

Hercules Hercules (, ) is the Roman equivalent of the Greek divine hero Heracles, son of Jupiter and the mortal Alcmena. In classical mythology, Hercules is famous for his strength and for his numerous far-ranging adventures. The Romans adapted th ...

with the inscription ''HERCULES MUSARUM'' (Hercules of the Muses). All ten designs depict the specific muse on the reverse, while featuring the image of

Apollo Apollo, grc, Ἀπόλλωνος, Apóllōnos, label=genitive , ; , grc-dor, Ἀπέλλων, Apéllōn, ; grc, Ἀπείλων, Apeílōn, label=Arcadocypriot Greek, ; grc-aeo, Ἄπλουν, Áploun, la, Apollō, la, Apollinis, label= ...

on the

obverse Obverse and its opposite, reverse, refer to the two flat faces of coins and some other two-sided objects, including paper money, flags, seals, medals, drawings, old master prints and other works of art, and printed fabrics. In this usage, ...

; Apollo presided over the Muses. When Hercules is represented, he is called ''Hercules Musarum'', or ''Musageta'', that is, "The leader of the Muses." He was known by this name in Greece, and later in Rome, when his statue and those of the nine Muses were brought from Greece, and the temple erected there for their reception. On other coins of Quintus Pomponius Musa the nine Muses appear arranged in the usual order, each distinguished by her emblem. The most distinct figure is that

Urania Urania ( ; grc, , Ouranía; modern Greek shortened name ''Ránia''; meaning "heavenly" or "of heaven") was, in Greek mythology, the muse of astronomy, and in later times, of Christian poetry. Urania is the goddess of astronomy and stars, h ...

, from the Greek ''Ουρανος''; she points with a staff to heaven, as the Muse of astronomy.

References

External links

Ancient Coins at the Elvehjem Museum of ArtNational Museums of ScotlandMercure romain By Bernard Combet FarnouxThe coin collector Manual
by Henry Noel Humphreys {{DEFAULTSORT:Pomponius Musa, Quintus Moneyers of ancient Rome Musa 1st-century BC Romans