Roman Empire, Gaul. Augustus, 27 BC-AD 14 Lugdunum, c. 15-13 BC

Roman Empire, Gaul. Augustus, 27 BC-AD 14 Lugdunum, c. 15-13 BC

$3,650.00

AR Denarius, 3.85g (19.5mm, 6h).

AVGVSTVS - DIVI F, Bare head to r. / Two soldiers (or Drusus and Tiberius) with parazonium offering branches to Augustus seated left on platform; in exergue, IMP X.

Pedigree: Ex Naville Geneve XV, 2 July 1930, lot 1343. Possibly Ex Woodward Collection

References: RIC I, 165a. Cohen 133. BMC 445.

Grade: A few minor die breaks on the neck of Augustus and on platform on reverse. Overall minor wear. Lovely old cabinet toning. aEF

re1470

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Who are those two figures on the reverse of this coin? RIC cautiously lists them as two soldiers, the academic consensus identifies them as Drusus and Tiberius, Augustus's stepsons by Livia. They are depicted here presenting olive branches to the princeps as he sits on a suggestus, the raised platform from which a Roman commander would address his troops or receive honors. Each young man carries a parazonium, a ceremonial short sword worn by senior officers, which is exactly the regalia you'd expect for victorious generals reporting back to their commander-in-chief. The olive branches, meanwhile, signify a pax achieved through military victory, the foundational ideological pillar of the entire Augustan regime which cements this coin's role in early imperial dynastic propaganda. In fact, this is one of the earliest Augustan issues to so prominently feature his designated heirs in a public, military context. A template that Caligula, Claudius, and pretty much every Roman emperor afterward would rely upon.