Ruler: | Octavian |
Held Office: | born 63 BC - 14 AD (as Augustus) |
Denomination: | AR Denarius |
Mint: | Italian (Rome?) mint |
Date of Issue: | Autumn 30 BC -summer 29 BC |
Obverse: | Laureate head of Apollo of Actium right, with features resembling Octavian. |
Reverse: | Octavian, as city founder of Nicopolis, veiled and in priestly robes, ploughing right with yoke of oxen, holding whip in left hand. In exergue "IMP. CAESAR" |
Reference: | RCVM 1560; RIC I 272; HCRI 424 |
Weight: | 3.6 gms |
Diameter: | 19.8 mm |
Comment: |
The foundation of Nicopolis in Epirus, on a site close to Octavian's military camp during the Actian campaign, clearly provide the inpiration for this type. Here were settled large numbers of people from all the neighbouring communities of Epirus and Arcarnania and work on the new city seems to have commenced very soon after the great event which had been reponsible for its birth. The actual dedication probably took place in 29 B.C., by which time these coins would already have appeared in circulation. At Actium itself the temple of Apollo, the god to whom Octavian attributed his success, was enlarged and embellished, hence his depiction as the obverse type. The founder ploughing with oxen refers to the Roman custom (inherited from the Etruscans) of fixing the boundary (pomoerium) of a new city by marking it with a furrow. This ceremony possessed a deep religious significance, hence the founder's priestly garb. Sear: The History and Coinage of the Roman Imperators 79-27 BC |
Octavian (Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus)
Octavian was the great nephew of Julius Caesar. Caesar was fond of the youth and had him raised to the College of Pontifices-a major Roman priesthood-at the age of 16. When Caesar was assassinated in 44 BC, Octavius was in Illyria, where he was serving in the army; on his return to Italy, he learned that he was Caesar's adopted heir. He subsequently took the name Gaius Julius Caesar, to which historians have added Octavianus. |
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