Quintus Pomponius Musa was magistrate and moneyer, notable for the designs of his coins, which he commissioned to show one of the nine Muses (or Hercules – HERCULES MUSARUM) on the reverse. The obverse always featured the head of Apollo, who presided over the Muses, with his chosen theme referring to his own cognomen.
Terpsichore, who features on this denarius, was the Muse of Dancing. She is often depicted with the lyre and plectrum (as here), both of which she is said to have invented.
