Æ23 - Augustus ΝΙΚΟΠΟΛΙΣ ΙΕΡΑ

Nicopolis — "Victory City" — was founded by Augustus on the site of his camp before the Battle of Actium in 31 BC, a deliberate act of dynastic myth-making that forcibly synoikized surrounding populations from Ambracia, Anactorium, and other Epirote and Acarnanian communities. The city's coins, struck under Augustus's direct patronage, carry the epithet ΙΕΡΑ — sacred — a designation tied to the Actia games, which Augustus elevated to Panhellenic status, placing them on equal footing with the Olympics.

RPC I 1369 is among the earliest civic bronzes from the refounded city, produced while the Actia's new prestige was still being established.