Mn. Fonteius was one of the moneyers for the year 108-107 BC. He is not otherwise known.
Gens Fonteia was a plebeian family at Rome. Members of this gens are first mentioned toward the end of the third century BC; Titus Fonteius was a legate of Publius Cornelius Scipio during the Second Punic War. The first of the Fonteii to obtain the consulship was Gaius Fonteius Capito, consul suffectus in 33 BC.
In his oration, Pro Fonteio, Cicero mentions that the Fonteii came originally from Tusculum, of which municipium it was one of the most distinguished families. The Fonteii claimed descent from Fontus, the son of Janus. A two-faced head appears on a coin of the gens, which Vaillant and others suppose to be the head of Janus, in reference to this tradition. But as Janus is always represented in later times with a beard, Eckhel maintains that the two heads refer to the Dioscuri, who were worshipped at Tusculum with especial honours.
Gens Fonteia was a plebeian family at Rome. Members of this gens are first mentioned toward the end of the third century BC; Titus Fonteius was a legate of Publius Cornelius Scipio during the Second Punic War. The first of the Fonteii to obtain the consulship was Gaius Fonteius Capito, consul suffectus in 33 BC.
In his oration, Pro Fonteio, Cicero mentions that the Fonteii came originally from Tusculum, of which municipium it was one of the most distinguished families. The Fonteii claimed descent from Fontus, the son of Janus. A two-faced head appears on a coin of the gens, which Vaillant and others suppose to be the head of Janus, in reference to this tradition. But as Janus is always represented in later times with a beard, Eckhel maintains that the two heads refer to the Dioscuri, who were worshipped at Tusculum with especial honours.
(1)
Mn. Fonteius
Obverse: laureate conjoined heads of Dioscuri right with star above each head; (XVI)
Reverse: war galley half right; MN·FO(NTE)I / : / G
Diameter:
19.5 mm
Die Orientation: -
Weight: 3.9 g
Die Orientation: -
Weight: 3.9 g
No notes for this coin
Crawford 307/1c