Obverse: CAESAR AVGVSTVS DIVI F PATER
PATRIAE; Laureate Bust of the Emperor
The inscription of the obverse, “CAESAR
AVGVSTVS DIVI F(ilius) PATER PATRIAE,” can be
translated as, “Caesar Augustus, Son of the
Divine Julius, Father of the Country,” which refers
to Augustus as the rightful father of the Roman
Empire. The image of Augustus crowned in a
laurel wreath portrays the emperor as a
victorious general.
Reverse: C L CAESARES AVGVSTI F COS DESIG
PRINC IVVENT; Gaius and Lucius Ceasar Standing
Facing with Shield and Spears in Between Them;
a Simpulum and a Lituus Above
The text on the reverse, “C(Gaius) L(ucius)
CAESARES AVGVSTI F(ilii) CO(n)S(ules) DESIG(nati)
PRINC(epes) IVVENT(utis),” can be translated as,
“Gaius and Lucius Ceasar, sons of Augustus,
consuls elect, first among the youth.” This
inscription refers to Augustus’ dynastic
aspirations. Gaius and Lucius Caesar were the
sons of Augustus’ daughter Julia and her
husband Marcus Agrippa. They were adopted by
Augustus as young boys in 17 B.C. in order to
someday become his heirs. The depiction of the
young men standing holding spears and shields
represents their coming of age, for both had now
completed their military service and could be
elected to the consulate. Pictured above them
are a simpulum and a lituus. The simpulum was
one of the insignia of the college of pontiffs and
is symbolic of Gaius who became a pontiff in 7
BC. A lituus is an augural staff that was the
symbol for the college of augurs and refers to
Lucius who was appointed as an augur.
Augustus was born with the given name Gaius
Octavius Thurinus, great-nephew the famous
Roman dictator Julius Caesar. Although young
Augustus was in Apollonia, Epirus when Caesar
was assassinated on the Ides of March, 44 B.C.,
he quickly rushed back to Rome to claim his
rightful patrimony as the adopted heir of Caesar.
Soon after, he changed his name to Gaius Julius
Caesar Octavianus. Through an unprecedented
stroke of political mastery, the relatively
unknown Octavian was able to secure power by
crafting an alliance with the generals Marc
Antony and Marcus Lepidus. Together, they
formed the second Triumvirate to rule over
Rome. However, when Anthony ceded Roman
provinces to his children by his mistress,
Cleopatra of Egypt, Augustus declared war on
Anthony. By 31 A.D., the Roman navy had
delivered a crushing defeat to the combined
forces of Anthony and Cleopatra and Octavian
had become the undisputed ruler of the Roman
world. This fact was affirmed on January 16th, 27
B.C. when the Senate proclaimed Octavian to be
“Augustus,” or “the exalted.” They also bestowed
upon him control of Rome’s religious, civil and
military affairs, effectively making him the first
Roman Emperor. Under his rule, Rome achieved a
golden age of political, military, and cultural
triumph. Over a hundred years of civil warring
came to an end, the empire was expanded, new
roads connected distant provinces, and literature
flourished with the likes of Virgil and Horace, two
of the greatest Latin writers. After his death,
Augustus was worshipped as a deity, revealing
the profound effects of his rule on the populace.
How many hands have touched a coin in your
pocket or purse? What eras and lands have the
coin traversed on its journey into our
possession? As we reach into our pockets to pull
out some change, we rarely hesitate to think of
who might have touched the coin before us, or
where the coin will venture to after it leaves our
hands. More than money, coins are a symbol of
the state that struck them, of a specific time and
location, whether contemporary currencies or
artifacts of a long forgotten empire. This
stunning hand-struck coin reveals an expertise
of craftsmanship and intricate sculptural detail
that is often lacking in contemporary machine-
made currencies. This ancient coin is a memorial
to an emperor’s reign passed down from the
hands of civilization to civilization, from
generation to generation, which still appears as
vibrant today as the day it was struck.
- (C.3030)
|
