This denarius was minted by a special decree of the Roman Senate, as is indicated by the letters S.C on the obverse. They stand for 'Senatus Consulto.' The image shows the helmeted head of Minerva, the goddess of wisdom, arts and war. The little star below her chin is the Roman numeral XVI; this harks back to much older Roman coins, where it was custom to denote the value. The reverse of our coin depicts a ram. Below is the inscription L. RVSTI, referring to the moneyer Lucius Rustius, about whom nothing is known except that the ram was the heraldic animal of his family, the Gens Rustia.