Cistophorus - Augustus S P R SIGNIS RECEPTIS IMP IX TR PO V

The legend references the recovery of the Parthian standards lost at Carrhae in 53 BC, when Crassus's legions were destroyed — a military humiliation Rome had nursed for over three decades. Augustus secured their return through diplomacy in 19 BC, not combat, but the coinage was struck to project the image of martial triumph regardless. The senate's involvement in that propaganda is baked into the obverse legend itself.

Cistophori were produced at Pergamon for circulation in the eastern provinces, where the three-denarii-equivalent weight standard had been entrenched since Attalid rule.