Gold stater of Vercingetorix
52 BC ・ gold ・ 1st century BC ・ Vercingetorix
In 52 BC Vercingetorix of the Arverni drew the tribes of Gaul together in revolt and issued a gold stater cut with his own name. The face is a long-haired male head, the back a horse with the legend VERCINGETORIXS. In the same year he was beaten by Caesar at the siege of Alesia and surrendered, and this became in effect the last independent gold coinage of Gaul. The gold taken from Gaul flooded the Roman market and drove the price of gold down; from then on the gold of this land was melted and struck again in the mints of the empire.