344, Lot: 440. Estimate $100. Sold for $180. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

L. Titurius L.f. Sabinus. 89 BC. AR Denarius (18mm, 4.20 g, 7h). Rome mint. Bareheaded, bearded head of King Tatius right; palm frond below chin / Tarpeia facing, buried to her waist in shields, with raised hands she tries to thrust off two soldiers who are about to cast their shields at her; star in crescent above. Crawford 344/2c; Sydenham 699a; Tituria 5. VF, toned.

From the Elwood Rafn Collection.

A subplot of the myth of the abduction of the Sabine women involved Tarpeia, a Vestal Virgin who betrayed Rome to the Sabines when they were attempting to rescue their captured wives and daughters. According to the historian Livy (1.11), the price for Tarpeia’s betrayal was what the Sabine soldiers wore on their left arms. To Tarpeia, this meant the gold bracelets the men were wearing. The Sabines, however, offended by Tarpeia's reprehensible greed and treason, took her price literally and crushed her to death under the weight of their shields, which were also worn on their left arms. Tarpeia’s corpse was then cast down from, or buried at the foot of, the cliff subsequently named for her – the Tarpeian Rock – from which notorious criminals were thrown to their deaths.