Parisii, Ca. 100-50 BC

Delestrée & Tache 79, NGC graded XF Star, Strike 5/5, Surface 4/5, Fine Style

The Parisii were a Celtic people who lived on the banks of the Seine River from about 250 BC. They established a fortified town (oppidum) on what is now the Île de la Cité of modern Paris. As Julius Caesar notes in his Commentarii de Bello Gallico, the Parisii participated in the general Gallic uprising against Rome organized by Vercingetorix in 52 BC, but were defeated. Their town was subsequently refounded as the Roman colony of Lutetia and became an important administrative capital for the province of Gallia Lugdunensis. In the post-Roman period, the memory of the original Celtic inhabitants was preserved as the town reverted to its old name, Paris.

Class II. Head of Apollo with flowing locks right; before, double volute / Horse galloping left; above, ornate wing; below, rosette.

Ex Freeman & Sear (4 January 2011), 1