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Aureus - Augustus S P Q R
| Issuer | Roman Empire (27 BC - 395 AD) |
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| Year | 18 BC |
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| Currency | Denarius, Reform of Augustus (27 BC – AD 215) |
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| Obverse description | Bare laureate head of Augustus facing left, rendered in finely detailed high relief characteristic of Augustan court artistry. The laurel wreath is rendered with naturalistic precision, its leaves and berries clearly articulated across the brow and crown. The portrait displays the idealized yet individualistic physiognomy associated with official Augustan imagery. The circumferential legend CAESARI AVGVSTO runs along the border, separated from the effigy by a continuous inner ring of beads. The flan is irregular, as is typical of hand-struck Roman aurei of this period. |
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| Reverse description | A slow quadriga advancing to the right occupies the central field, with four horses rendered in lively detail, their legs extended in animated motion atop a ground line. Upon the chariot stands a miniature figure, and an aquila (legionary eagle) is prominently displayed on or above the car. The spoked wheel of the chariot is visible to the left, finely struck. In the lower exergual register, the legend S·P·Q·R is inscribed with interpuncts, the whole design enclosed within a linear border above a double ground line, evoking the senatorial honour bestowed upon Augustus. |
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| Additional information |
The 18 BC date places this aureus squarely within Augustus's sweeping moral and constitutional reforms — the same year he pushed through the controversial *lex Iulia de adulteriis* and *lex Iulia de maritandis ordinibus*, legislation that reorganized Roman family law and, not incidentally, reinforced his own authority through an apparatus of civic virtue. The SPQR formula on coinage of this period was politically loaded: Augustus was careful to present his power as delegated by the Senate and Roman people rather than seized, and the mint output of these years reflects that calculated constitutional fiction.