(61) Octavian - AR denarius, 29-27 B.C., 3.86 g. (inv. 91.107).
Obverse: Victoria standing r. on prow, holding wreath in r. and palm in
l.
Reverse: Octavian, holding olive branch, in triumphal quadriga r.; IMP(ERATOR)
CAESAR: Imperator Caesar.
Provenance: Hesperia Art, 1959.
Bibliography: C.H.V. Sutherland, The Roman Imperial Coinage I: from
31 BC to AD 69, rev. ed. (London 1984) 264.
In 31 B.C. Octavian, the great-nephew and adopted heir of Julius Caesar,
brought an end to the civil wars that had plagued the late Roman republic
since the assassination of Caesar when his forces defeated the huge navy
of his rival Marc Antony and Kleopatra of Egypt and he emerged as sole ruler
of Rome. The rival leaders had for some time issued their own coins to finance
their military needs, and Octavian continued to do so, but from the time
he was given the honorific title Augustus and constitutional imperial power
by the Senate in 27 B.C., he gradually took control of Roman coinage and
its institutions and established the model for the coinage that served the
Roman empire for the next three centuries. The coin types that he and his
successors used were meant to inform the better educated Roman public of
their achievements and various aspects of imperial policy.
This coin, issued by Octavian before he received his title and position
in 27 B.C., seems somewhat old-fashioned in that it does not depict his
portrait. The head of the issuer first appeared on the coins of Julius Caesar
in 44 B.C. (see no. 60). A portrait quickly became
the popular obverse of the rivals in the civil war that followed Caesar's
assassination and would eventually become the norm for imperial coinage.
But both the obverse and reverse of this coin feature types referring to
Octavian's victory over Antony and Kleopatra. Victoria on a ship's prow
on the obverse refers to naval victory, specifically Octavian's defeat of
Antony's fleet in the Battle of Actium. But the depiction of Octavian in
a triumphal quadriga on the reverse indicates that the coin actually dates
from his triple triumph (for his victories in Illyricum and Egypt, as well
as in the battle of Actium) in Rome in 29 B.C., when the Senate conferred
numerous honors upon him.
C.L.L.
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