L. Sulla and L. Manlius Torquatus. 82 BC. AR Denarius (17mm,

L. Sulla and L. Manlius Torquatus. 82 BC. AR Denarius (17mm, 3.96 g, 10h). Military mint moving with Sulla. Helmeted head of Roma right / Sulla, holding branch and reins, driving triumphal quadriga right; above, Victory flying left, crowning him with laurel wreath. Crawford 367/5; Sydenham 757; Manlia 4; RBW 1386 corr. (Cr. 367/3). Iridescent tone over lustrous surfaces. Near EF.

From the GTP Collection. Ex Elsen 155 (16 June 2023), lot 831; Elsen 59 (18 September 1999), lot 371.

As consul for the year 88 BC, Sulla was awarded the coveted assignment of suppressing the revolt of Mithradates VI of Pontus, but political maneuvers resulted in this assignment being transferred to Marius. In response, Sulla turned his army on Rome, captured it, and reclaimed his command against Mithradates. His prosecution of the first Mithradatic War was successful, but he spared the Pontic king for personal gain. In 83 BC, Sulla returned to Italy as an outlaw, but he was able to win the support of many of the leading Romans. Within a year he fought his way to Rome, where he was elected dictator. It was during this campaign to Rome that this denarius was struck. The reverse shows Sulla enjoying the highest military honor to which a Roman could aspire, the celebration of a triumph at Rome.