Aureus - Augustus CIVIB ET SIGN MILIT A PART RECVPER

This aureus commemorates one of Augustus's most celebrated diplomatic achievements: the return of the Roman standards captured by the Parthians at the battles of Carrhae (53 BC) and later engagements. The recovery was negotiated by Augustus in 20 BC through diplomacy rather than military force — a distinction he was careful to obscure in the subsequent propaganda campaign. The Senate voted a triumph; Augustus declined it, accepting instead a triumphal arch and permitting the fiction of a military victory to circulate freely in coinage and public monuments.

The "var." notations in both RIC and Calicó indicate a die variant outside the primary listings, worth cross-referencing against the British Museum holdings for precise die attribution.