Denarius - Augustus IOVIS TONANT, Jupiter

The "Jupiter Tonans" (Thundering Jupiter) type commemorates the Temple of Jupiter Tonans on the Capitoline Hill, which Augustus vowed after narrowly surviving a lightning strike during the Cantabrian campaign of 26–25 BC. A lantern carried by a slave reportedly absorbed a bolt that passed within feet of Augustus himself. The temple was dedicated in 22 BC, and this denarius was struck during the eastern mint period when Augustus was reorganizing provincial administration following the Parthian settlement.

Ancient sources record that the older temple priests complained the new shrine was drawing worshippers away from the main Capitoline temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus — a dispute Augustus resolved with characteristic political deftness by declaring the new temple merely a doorkeeper to the old one.