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.
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.