Cn. Domitius Calvinus. Denarius ND (39 BC), Osca (Huesca).

Obverse: OSCA. Head facing right, with a flowered beard and a pearl necklace.
Reverse: DOM COS ITER IMP. Simpulum, aspersorium, sacrificial axe, and flamen’s hat.
RRC.532/1 - Syd.1358; Silver - 3.87 g - 18 mm - 2 h
From a CGF VII auction, 1999, lot 58.
A very slight punch mark in front of the nose (a countermark by an exchanger?). Showing even wear, with a light gray patina and golden highlights. Very Good to Superb.
Cnæus Domitius Calvinus was appointed governor of Spain by Octavian after Sextus Pompey, son of Pompey the Great, ceded the province. The province was plunged into chaos following years of civil war and the reign of Sextus, who ruled like a bandit. The stern Calvinus, formerly Caesar’s equerry, pacified the province by suppressing revolts, after having previously subjected a detachment of legionaries to the ancient punishment of decimation (the execution of one in ten men) for cowardice in the face of the enemy. The minting of these denarii, likely in Osca itself, marks the restoration of Roman order in Spain and the resumption of the flow of Spanish silver to the Roman treasury.