Obverse: Helmeted head of Roma right, LABEO
before, X under chin, ROMA behind
Reverse: Jupiter in quadriga right, prow below
horses, Q. FABI in exergue
The bust of the goddess Roma, with its winged
helmet, is a popular obverse type during the
Republican period. The helmet itself is
reminiscent of Hellenistic and Roman helmets of
the time period, categorized by scholars as the
Italo-Attic type. Officers and deities are often
depicted as wearing this helmet long after such a
design had gone into general disuse by the
military. As such, it continued to be employed
as a symbol connected with deities and heroic
figures of the past. The reverse type,
incorporating the prow of a ship, may
commemorate the naval victories of an ancestor
and namesake, against the Seleucid monarch,
Antiochus the Great.
Crawford 273/1. RSC Fabia 1.