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Aureus - Augustus S P Q R
| Issuer | Roman Empire (27 BC - 395 AD) |
|---|---|
| Year | 18 BC |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Technique | Hammered |
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| Obverse description | Bare laureate head of Augustus facing right, rendered in finely detailed high relief characteristic of Augustan imperial coinage. The emperor's portrait displays idealized classical features with a laurel wreath of naturalistic workmanship crowning the head. The encircling legend reads CAESARI AVGVSTO, divided across the field with CAESARI to the left and AVGVSTO to the right of the portrait. The flan shows the slightly irregular outline typical of hammered gold coinage of the period. The overall style reflects the refined Hellenistic-influenced artistic programme promoted under Augustus. |
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| Edge | Plain |
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| Additional information |
This issue belongs to a politically charged moment: Augustus had just returned to Rome in 19 BC after settling affairs in the East, recovering the standards lost by Crassus at Carrhae in 53 BC. The senate voted him a triumphal arch. The SPQR legend on coinage of this period was not merely decorative — it was a carefully managed fiction that Augustus ruled by consent of senate and people rather than by military dominance.
RIC I 118 is attributed to an uncertain Spanish mint, most likely Colonia Patricia, active during Augustus's western campaigns of the late teens BC.