Aureus - Mark Antony CHORTIVM · PRAETORIARVM

Struck to pay the legions and praetorian cohorts assembled for the confrontation with Octavian, this aureus is military coinage in the most literal sense — minted in a traveling workshop following Antony's forces through the eastern Mediterranean in the months before Actium. The CHORTIVM PRAETORIARVM reverse honors the praetorian cohorts, the elite bodyguard units attached directly to a Roman commander in the field, distinct from the later imperial institution that borrowed the name.

Antony lost at Actium in September 31 BC. Within a year he was dead. These aurei were almost certainly melted in bulk by Octavian's treasury — which accounts for their persistent rarity today.