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Cistophorus - Augustus S P R SIGNIS RECEPTIS IMP IX TR POT V
| Issuer | Roman Empire (27 BC - 395 AD) |
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| Year | 19 BC - 18 BC |
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| Value | Cistophorus = 3 Drachms = 3 Denarii |
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| Obverse description | Bare head of Augustus facing right, rendered in a naturalistic Hellenistic portrait style characteristic of eastern mint production. The emperor's features are idealized yet individualized, with close-cropped hair rendered in fine, layered strands swept forward across the brow. The legend is distributed around the periphery of the flan, reading IMP IX TR PO V, referencing his ninth imperatorial acclamation and fifth year of tribunician power. The portrait occupies the central field with commanding presence, consistent with the propagandistic imagery of the Augustan reform coinage. The flan, typical of cistophoric issues, is broad and slightly irregular. |
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| Reverse script | Latin |
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| Additional information |
The legend references the recovery of the legionary standards lost by Crassus at Carrhae in 53 BC and by Antony in his Parthian campaigns — a diplomatic achievement Augustus treated as a military triumph, despite no battle being fought. The standards were returned by Phraates IV under negotiated terms in 20 BC, but Augustus's propaganda machine recast the episode as a conquest. Cistophori were the dominant silver coinage of the Greek east, and striking this message on a coin type rooted in Pergamene tradition was a deliberate choice to broadcast Roman prestige into provinces that remembered Parthia as a genuine threat.