Augustus Silver Cistophorus, RIC I (second edition) Augustus 477

Monetary Context and Regional Policy

The introduction of the Augustan cistophorus in Asia Minor was a key component of the early principate's provincial monetary reorganization following the Battle of Actium. The traditional cistophorus had functioned as the dominant high-value silver denomination in the Kingdom of Pergamon and the subsequent Roman province of Asia since the second century BC. Rather than replacing this entrenched regional currency with standard Roman denarii, the Roman administration chose to preserve the cistophoric standard while adapting its imagery to celebrate the new Augustan order. The Augustan cistophorus was struck on a weight standard averaging roughly 11.8 to 12.0 grams of silver, precisely equivalent to three Roman denarii or four Attic drachms. This deliberate overvaluation within the province discouraged exportation to the broader Roman West and protected the Asian monetary pool from depletion. By maintaining the familiar purchasing power and physical feel of the Hellenistic denomination, Augustus fostered economic stability while seamlessly integrating the imperial image into the everyday commercial transactions of the Greek East. RIC I (second edition) Augustus 477 embodies this dual administrative strategy, translating the newly established ideology of the Augustan settlement into the traditional monetary vocabulary of western Asia Minor.

Production Standards and Mint Attribution

The physical production of RIC I (second edition) Augustus 477 was executed with high-relief engraved dies on broad silver planchets, typically measuring between 25 and 28 millimeters in diameter. In the second edition of Roman Imperial Coinage Volume I, C. H. V. Sutherland classified this specific capricorn-within-wreath issue under the mint of Ephesus, dating it to approximately 25 BC. Ephesus had served as a primary Roman administrative hub and a traditional center of cistophoric production. However, numismatic scholarship has long debated the exact minting facility responsible for this series. In Roman Provincial Coinage Volume I, Andrew Burnett, Michel Amandry, and Pere Pau Ripolles catalogued the issue under number 2211, associating the capricorn and wreath designs with workshops at Pergamum rather than Ephesus, based on die links, stylistic traits, and shared punch characteristics with contemporary Asian series. Sutherland himself noted the close stylistic coherence and occasional obverse die sharing between the workshops of Pergamum and Ephesus during this transitional decade. Whether struck at Ephesus, Pergamum, or a traveling regional military mint operating under provincial authority, the production standard reflects strict administrative control, consistent silver fineness around ninety percent pure, and exceptional Hellenistic die engraving techniques.

Obverse Iconography and Design

The obverse of RIC 477 presents an austere, highly individualized portrait of Augustus facing to the right. Rendered without any diadem, laurel wreath, or radiating crown, the princeps is depicted with a bare head, highlighting youthful, classical facial planes that reflect the emerging visual language of the Augustan court. The hair is carefully arranged in naturalistic locks over the forehead and temples, exhibiting the sober dignity characteristic of early imperial portraiture following the constitutional settlement of 27 BC. The truncation of the neck is clean and upright, framed against an expansive, smooth die field that emphasizes the classical proportions of the head. In keeping with the regional aesthetic of late Hellenistic portraiture, the die engravers rendered the physiognomy with subtle expressive nuances, blending traditional Roman verism with the idealized beauty of Greek monumental art. The portrait firmly asserts the princeps's singular authority without presenting monarchical insignia that might offend traditional Roman political sensibilities.

Reverse Iconography and Symbolism

The reverse of the type features a meticulously composed heraldic device centered on a capricorn facing right, with its head turned back toward the left. Resting against its back or held between its forelegs is a cornucopia, the traditional horn of plenty overflowing with the fruits of the earth. The entire composition is encircled by a continuous, finely rendered laurel wreath with its leaves bound at the base. The capricorn was of profound personal and political significance to Augustus. Although born in late September under the sun sign of Libra, Augustus identified the capricorn as his conception sign or natal astrological marker, attributing his miraculous rise to supreme power and the salvation of the Roman state to cosmic destiny. Suetonius recorded that Augustus was so confident in his celestial fortune that he published his horoscope and struck silver coins featuring the capricorn. Paired with the cornucopia, the celestial beast represents not only divine favor but also the tangible material prosperity and agricultural abundance restored by the pax Augusta. The encompassing laurel wreath evokes the honors voted to Augustus by the Roman Senate in 27 BC, reinforcing both triumphal achievement and civic protection.

Epigraphy and Legends

The inscriptional program on RIC I (second edition) Augustus 477 is notable for its deliberate brevity and monumental clarity. The obverse legend reads IMP CAESAR, positioned in the left field behind the head of Augustus or running upward along the outer perimeter. The term Imperator, employed here as a praenomen, emphasizes his supreme military command and the victorious outcome of the civil conflicts, while Caesar affirms his legal and dynastic descent from the deified Julius Caesar. On the reverse, the legend consists solely of the honorific title AVGVSTVS, placed beneath the capricorn or across the lower perimeter of the design within the wreath. Bestowed by the Senate on January 16, 27 BC, the title signified veneration, religious sanction, and moral preeminence rather than statutory executive office. By isolating these two potent titles across the obverse and reverse, the design encapsulates the transformation of Octavian from a factional commander into the consecrated guardian of the Roman world, communicating this ideological synthesis to provincial audiences without cluttered administrative formulas.

Typological Variations and Chronology

Within the broader corpus of Augustan cistophori, RIC I (second edition) Augustus 477 belongs to an interconnected group of issues struck circa 25 BC that introduced iconic imperial themes to replace the earlier cistophoric serpent and basket imagery. This specific type is defined by the bare head facing right paired with the capricorn facing right, head turned left, carrying a cornucopia inside an enclosing laurel wreath. Neighboring catalogued types exhibit closely related configurations. For instance, RIC I (second edition) Augustus 476 displays the portrait facing left, while related varieties omit the laurel wreath or feature the capricorn holding a celestial globe and rudder alongside the cornucopia. In Roman Provincial Coinage, this issue is linked under RPC I 2211 with associated denominations and companion designs, such as the bundle of six corn ears and the sphinx. Chronologically, these pieces immediately followed the post-Actian emissions bearing the legend ASIA RECEPTA and preceded the extensive temple-facade cistophori of 19 to 18 BC. Minor engraving varieties exist within RIC 477, displaying variations in the ties and leaves of the wreath, the orientation of the horn of plenty, and the exact placement of the reverse legend.

Circulation, Hoards, and Economic Impact

Because the cistophorus was deliberately overvalued within the provincial banking system of Asia, coins of this type circulated primarily within western and central Anatolia. Hoard evidence from modern Turkey and neighboring Aegean islands reveals that Augustan cistophori remained in active commercial use for over a century. Unlike denarii, which circulated freely across the entire empire, cistophori were seldom transported beyond the borders of Asia Minor and adjacent provincial territories, as money changers elsewhere would only exchange them according to their intrinsic silver weight rather than their formal three-denarius valuation. Important hoards containing Augustan cistophori, such as the Biga and Smyrna finds, demonstrate that these pieces circulated alongside earlier Mark Antony and Republican cistophori well into the Flavian and Trajanic periods. Over decades of handling, their broad surfaces were subject to moderate edge chipping, countermarking by subsequent imperial administrations, and gradual wear, until the massive recoinage programs of Domitian, Nerva, and Hadrian gradually retired the early Augustan types from daily commerce.

References

1. Coins of the Roman Empire in the British Museum, Volume I: Augustus to Vitellius. pp. 112-114
2. Online Coins of the Roman Empire: RIC I (second edition) Augustus 477. ric.1(2).aug.477
3. Roman Provincial Coinage, Volume I: From the Death of Caesar to the Death of Vitellius (44 BC to AD 69). p. 379, no. 2211
4. Suetonius, The Lives of the Twelve Caesars: Life of Augustus. Chapter 94.12
5. The Roman Imperial Coinage, Volume I: From 31 BC to AD 69 (Revised Edition). pp. 79-80, no. 477