Denarius - Augustus and Gaius Caesar C CAES AVGVS F, head left

This piece dates to the period when Augustus was actively grooming Gaius Caesar as his successor, a campaign of dynastic projection that intensified after 17 BC when Augustus formally adopted both Gaius and his brother Lucius. The "var." designation against RIC I 199 almost certainly reflects the leftward head orientation, which diverges from the standard rightward facing — a die variation documented but not fully catalogued in the first RIC edition, revised in Sutherland's 1984 update.

Gaius died in 4 AD from wounds sustained at the siege of Artagira in Armenia, never having taken power.