Denarius - Augustus and Julius Caesar M SANQVINIVS IIIVIR

Issued by the moneyer M. Sanquinius, one of three tresviri monetales appointed that year, this denarius falls within the Secular Games coinage of 17 BC — a politically orchestrated series Augustus commissioned to mark the dawn of a new age for Rome. The ludi saeculares of that year, the first celebrated in over a century, were stage-managed by Augustus with meticulous care, and the mint output reflected that propaganda campaign directly.

The pairing of Augustus with the deified Julius Caesar on this issue was not sentiment — it was a legitimacy argument struck in silver and put into circulation across the empire.