On the reverse of this coin, the eagled eyed collector will find a squiggly snake-like control mark. This is actually a littus. But what is a littus?

Interestingly, the latin word lituus referred to two very different things.

Firstly, it was an ancient curved staff or augural wand used by Roman augurs. Shaped like a shepherd’s crook or question mark, the lituus symbolized the augur’s sacred role and authority. In Roman rituals, the augur would use the lituus to delineate a sacred space in the sky, known as the templum, within which omens were observed.

Unlike the augural staff, there was also a musical instrument known by the same name. This version functioned as a signaling instrument, and was likely employed in both military and ceremonial contexts. Similar to the celtic carnyx, it was shaped somewhat like a slender ‘J’, had no valves, and was played using natural harmonics.