Roman Republic AR denarius(21mm, 3.7g). L. Licinius Crassus, Cn. Domitius Ahenobarbus and associates, 118 BC. Narbo, Gaul mint. L·POM – P – ONI – C NF Helmeted head of Roma right / Bearded warrior in fast biga r., holding shield, carnyx and reins and hurling spear; in exergue, L·LIC·CN·D(reverted)OM. Crawford 282/4; Sydenham 522a; BMCRR 1193; Russo RBW 1109.
In 121 BC, the Roman consul Quintus Fabus Maximus, with the help of Cnaeus Domitius Ahenobarbus, defeated the powerful Gallic tribe known as the Allobroges in the province of Gallia Transalpina(Gaul on the other side of the Alps). This victory was important because it helped secure a key land route linking Italy and Hispania(Spain). Not ones to let a good thing go to waste, the Romans quickly began building a road through the province, the "Via Domitia", leading to Spain and founded Colonia Narbo Martius(modern-day Narbonne, France) along this road.
Cnaeus Domitius Ahenobarbus(son of the previously mentioned man of the same name) and L. Licinius Crassus were named magistrates of this new colony, along with junior magistrates M. Aurelius Scaurus, L. Cosconius, C. Malleolus, L. Pomponius, L. Porcius Licinus, and were apparently given the authority to mint denarii. Crawford lists 5 different varietes of this denarius, all serrate, and all with the same devices, differing only in that each one lists a different junior magistrate on the obverse. This one is variety 4, the most common, bearing the name of L. Pomponius on the obverse, however this is a scarcer variety in which the "D" in the reverse legend is in retrograde.