Crawford 263/1a, Roman Republic, 127 BC., moneyer Marcus Caecilius Metellus, Denarius

Roman Republic (Rome mint 127 BC.), moneyer Marcus Caecilius Metellus.
Denarius (16-17 mm, 3,83 g), silver, axis about coin alignment ?? (ca. 200°),
Obv.: Helmeted head of Roma right, with star on flap; behind, ROMA upwards; mark of value monogram XVI ( = 16 as ) under chin.
Rev.: Macedonian shield decorated with elephant’s head with bell in central boss; around, M•METELLVS•Q•F• , all within laurel wreath. “Marcus Metellus Quinti Filius”, (Marcus Metellus son of Quintus).
Crawford 263/1a ; Sydenham 480 ; Babelon (Caecilia) 28 ; BMCRR Rome 1145 .

Marcus Caecilius Metellus was a Roman senator and general. He belonged to the Caecilii Metelli, one of the most prominent aristocratic families in the mid to late Roman Republic. Marcus was the third of four sons of Quintus Caecilius Metellus Macedonicus.
Marcus was a triumvir monetalis (one of three moneyers) in 127 BC, and was consul in 115 BC with Marcus Aemilius Scaurus as his colleague (he presumably had held the praetorship by 118 BC, in accordance to the Villian law). The following year, Metellus became proconsular governor of Corsica and Sardinia, serving until 111 BC. During his tenure, Metellus suppressed an insurrection on the island of Sardinia, for which he celebrated, upon his return to Rome, a triumph in Quintilis (July) 111 BC.

The reverse commemorates victories of the moneyer´s ancestors, The father of our moneyer, Quintus Caecilius Metellus Macedonicus, triumphed over the revolt of Andriscus in 148 BC.
After the conquest of Macedonia in 168 BC, the country had been divided into four autonomous regions. Heavily taxed, the Greeks revolted in 149 BC and supported Andriscus who claimed to be a grandson of Philip V of Macedon. Eventually the revolt was crushed in the fall of 148 BC in the battle of Pydna. Macedonia became a Roman province.
The elephant head recalls the victory of L. Caecilius Metelllus in 250 BC. He defeated the Carthaginian general Hasdrubal at the celebrated Battle of Panormus, a turning point of the First Punic War which led to Roman domination of Sicily. In that battle he defeated thirteen enemy generals and captured one hundred and twenty elephants, some of which he exhibited to the Roman people.