Aureus - Augustus S P Q R CL V, Victory

This issue belongs to a group struck around the time Augustus secured the return of the Parthian standards lost by Crassus at Carrhae in 53 BC and by Antony's subordinates afterward — a diplomatic triumph Augustus relentlessly promoted as a military victory. The Senate voted him the right to a triumph he declined, accepting instead an ovatio and the construction of a temple to Mars Ultor to house the recovered standards.

RIC I 88 is attributed to an uncertain Eastern mint, possibly Pergamum or a traveling military workshop, active in the late 20s and early 19s BC.