Aureus - Augustus IMP XII ACT, Apollo

Issued in the years immediately following Augustus's sweeping constitutional settlement of 13 BC, this aureus belongs to a series struck at the Lugdunum mint during a period when Augustus was consolidating the Principate's religious and dynastic messaging. The IMP XII tribunician dating places it precisely in 11–10 BC, a year marked by the death of Agrippa and the early maneuvering around succession. Apollo held particular personal significance for Augustus — he credited the god with his victory at Actium and constructed the Temple of Apollo Palatinus in 28 BC in deliberate proximity to his own residence on the Palatine.