Titus Quinctius Flamininus. Gold stater circa 196 BC, Chalcis (?). Bearded head right / T QVINCTI Nike standing left, holding palm branch in left hand and wreath in right hand. 8,43g. Bahrfeldt 9.2 (same dies); Biaggi 9; Calicò 29; Crawford 548/1b. Extremely rare and of the greatest historical importance. The finest specimen known. Exceptional. Provenance: Leu 81 (16 may 2001), 187. Leu 93 (10 May 2005), 1. NGSA 4 (11 December 2006), 130. Baron Lorne Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection. This gold stater is one of the most important coins in Roman numismatics. For the first time, a living Roman is represented on a coin. Until then, Roman coinage had been reserved for deities and mythological heroes, as the Republic sought to avoid any cult of personality that might lead to a concentration of power in the hands of a single man. It should also be emphasized that this issue provides us with the only certain portrait of Titus Quinctius Flamininus. Flamininus (c. 229 - c. 174 BC) was a talented Roman general and was elected consul in 198 BC. He is chiefly remembered for his victories over King Philip V of Macedon, whom he defeated with the support of the Achaean League, first at the Battle of the Aous in 198 BC and then, decisively, at the Battle of Cynoscephalae in 197 BC. Following his victory, Flamininus compelled Philip V to withdraw his garrisons and recognize the freedom of the Greek cities. Philip V was also required to pay a ransom of 1,000 talents following his defeat, and it is possible that this gold was used, at least in part, for this issue. In 196 BC, at the Isthmian Games at Corinth, an event that attracted Greeks from cities throughout the Greek world, Flamininus famously proclaimed the freedom of the Greek cities. Yet Flamininus was far more than a successful general. A committed philhellene, he subsequently travelled throughout Greece, visiting its cities and making magnificent offerings at sanctuaries. His generosity and admiration for Greek culture made him immensely popular among the Greeks. Plutarch even reports that, among the many honours bestowed upon him, Flamininus was deified during his lifetime at Chalcis in Euboea, in gratitude for his support during the invasion of Antiochos III of Syria. Chalcis possessed an active mint, making it a possible location for the striking of these gold staters. The final great episode in Flamininus’ career was connected to his old enemy, Hannibal, who had threatened Rome at the time when Flamininus was beginning his military career. Hannibal, Rome’s greatest enemy, had taken refuge in Bithynia with King Prusias I. Persuaded by the skilled diplomat Flamininus, Prusias I eventually betrayed Hannibal and promised to hand him over to the Romans. Hannibal, however, committed suicide before Flamininus could arrive. The choice to depict Flamininus bare-headed, without a wreath or diadem, deserves particular emphasis. Unlike the traditional portraits of Hellenistic kings, this image would have been understood by the Greeks as a symbol of their freedom: Flamininus is presented as an individual, rather than as a ruler. The portrait itself is deeply influenced by Hellenistic artistic conventions, with its flamboyant, tousled hair and strongly aquiline nose. The reverse, meanwhile, recalls the gold staters of Alexander the Great, which were still circulating extensively in Greece in the 2nd century BC. This issue was probably intended to circulate in Greece rather than in Rome. For Roman audiences, the representation of a living Roman on a coin would have been deeply controversial, whereas the Greeks were accustomed to seeing the portraits of living Hellenistic kings on their coinage. Furthermore, no example has been found in Rome or its immediate surroundings. This coin may have been struck in connection with the three-day triumph celebrated by Flamininus at Rome in 194 BC. During the triumph, Livy records a substantial distribution of money to the veterans of the Macedonian campaign. It is therefore tempting to wonder whether this type might have formed part of the coinage distributed on that extraordinary day in Roman and Greek history. Whatever its precise circumstances of production and distribution, this gold stater opened the way to a monetary tradition that would endure for more than five centuries, in which Roman emperors would routinely have their portraits represented on their coinage. Roman numismatics offers an extraordinary gallery of portraits spanning centuries of Roman history—and, remarkably, it all begins with Titus Quinctius Flamininus.