A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology

Smith, William

A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology. William Smith, LLD, ed. 1890

2. C.AsiniusPollio, grandson of the preceding, and son of C. Asinius Gallus Saloninus and of Vipsania, the daughter of Agrippa, was consul A. D. 23 with C. Antistius Vetus. (Tac. Ann. 4.1; Plin. Nat. 33.1. s. 8.) We learn from coins, a specimen of which is annexed, that he was also proconsul of Asia. The obverse represents Drusus, the son of the emperor Tiberius and Germanicus seated on a curule chair, with the legend ΔΡΟΥΣΟΣ ΚΑΙ ΓΕΡΜΑΝΙΚΟΣ ΚΑΙΣΑΡΕΣ ΝΕΟΙ ΘΕΟΙ ΦΙΛΑΔΕΛΦΟΙ; the reverse a crown of oak leaves, with the legend ΓΑΙΩ ΑΣΙΝΙΩ ΠΟΛΛΙΩΝΙ ΑΝΩΥΠΑΤΩ,, and within the crown ΚΟΙΝΟΥ ΑΣΙΑΣ. Drusus and Germanicus are here called Philadelphi, because they were brothers by adoption; and there was an obvious reason why Pollio had these coins struck, inasmuch as Drusus was the half-brother of Pollio by the same mother Vipsania. (Eckhel, vol. vi. pp. 210, 211.)