Æ30–32 - Augustus Minerva and Apollo

Oea — modern Tripoli — was one of three Phoenician trading settlements on the Libyan coast that gave the region its Roman name, Tripolitania. This bronze issue dates to the final years before Augustus reorganized provincial administration in Africa, a period when civic mints in the region exercised unusual latitude in their choice of divine imagery, pairing deities according to local religious priorities rather than Roman imperial prescription. The coin's catalogued references span Müller through Cohen, suggesting it attracted serious scholarly attention relatively early — Müller's *Die antiken Münzen* documented several Oean types that remained the only systematic treatment for decades.