Aureus - Marcus Antonius and Octavia M·ANTONIVS·M·F·M·N·AVGVR·IMP·TER / COS·DESIGN·ITER·ET·TER·III·VIR·R·P·C

Struck in 38 BC while Antony was based in Athens with Octavia — the sister of Octavian he had married in 40 BC as part of the Treaty of Brundisium — this aureus belongs to a politically charged series issued to project marital harmony and dynastic legitimacy across the eastern Mediterranean. The union was diplomatic theatre as much as anything else; Antony's relationship with Cleopatra had already resumed by the time many of these coins were in circulation.

The lengthy obverse legend advertising his augural office, third imperatorial acclamation, and designated consulships was calculated. Antony needed western audiences to read him as a Roman magistrate, not an eastern potentate. Within four years, Octavia would be sent back to Rome.