RIC 264

Moneyer: Octavian, 44-27 BC.

Denomination: Denarius

Obverse: Victory standing right on prow, holding wreath in her right hand and palm frond in her left.

Reverse:   IMP•CAESAR; Octavian standing in ornamented slow quadriga to right, holding branch in his right hand and reins in his left.

Reference: RIC 264

Mint: uncertain Italian mint (Rome?); autumn 30

Weight:

Provenance:  Auction Auctiones AG 17, Basel 1988, Nr. 513.

Note:  Sear states that this is probably the first type of the IMP CAESAR series, having replaced an identical type with the legend CAESAR DIVI F. In any case, this is one of the first issues to bear the legend IMP CAESAR, after Octavian assumed the praenomen Imperatoris in 29 BC.

The obverse type is a clear reference to the naval battle of Actium in 31 BC, where Octavian defeated Antony and Cleopatra, who committed suicide a year later. Octavian ordered the murder of Cleopatra's son Caesarion and decided to seize Egypt in 30 BC, driven above all by the need to secure Egyptian grain, important for Rome's annona, and to get his hands on the Ptolemaic treasury. This enabled him to settle many war debts, pay off soldiers and arrange the settlement of a number of colonies scattered across the vast empire.

It is probable that this denarius was struck from the spoils obtained in Egypt and that the type of the reverse recalls Octavian's triumphal entry into Alexandria.

Collection : 16 Roman Republic