Denarius - Augustus L MESCINIVS RVFVS IIIVIR XV SF IMP CAES AVG LVD SAEC, Mars

This denarius was struck to commemorate the Ludi Saeculares of 17 BC, the Secular Games revived by Augustus after more than a century of dormancy. The games ran for three days and three nights of continuous sacrifice and theatrical performance, calculated by the haruspices to mark the end of one saeculum and the beginning of another. L. Mescinius Rufus served as one of the tresviri monetales responsible for this issue, and his name appears here alongside the explicit reference to his role within the quindecimviri sacris faciundis, the priestly college that oversaw the rites.