Augustus Silver Denarius, RIC I (second edition) Augustus 41

Monetary Context and Historical Background

Following the end of the Roman Republic and the establishment of the Principate, Augustus undertook comprehensive reorganizations of Roman coinage. After the annexation of northwestern Hispania following the grueling Cantabrian Wars (29 to 19 BC), large veteran settlements and active legions required substantial quantities of silver coinage for administrative salaries, military discharges, and local commerce. Between 19 BC and 18 BC, several imperial branch mints operated in Hispania, supplementing the supply of denarii while the civic mint in Rome was only gradually resuming regular precious-metal coin production. Within this environment, RIC I (second edition) Augustus 41 was struck to address pressing provincial fiscal needs while publicizing the regime's foremost foreign-policy achievement: the recovery of the Roman standards from Parthia in 20 BC. The loss of the eagle standards under Crassus at Carrhae in 53 BC, as well as the later defeats suffered by Mark Antony's commanders, had deeply scarred the Roman military psyche. Augustus negotiated the peaceful return of the surviving prisoners and standards through diplomacy with the Parthian monarch Phraates IV. Despite the absence of a decisive military conquest, Augustan official messaging framed the restitution as a divine vindication of Roman supremacy. Struck to the standard denarius tariff of sixteen asses, this silver issue allowed the imperial court to distribute both financial liquidity and ideological messaging across the legions stationed in Hispania and adjacent European provinces.

Mint Attribution and Production Methods

In the second edition of Roman Imperial Coinage Volume I, C. H. V. Sutherland assigned this issue to the mint of Caesaraugusta, situated in Hispania Tarraconensis. Earlier nineteenth- and twentieth-century scholars, including Harold Mattingly in the initial British Museum catalogues, had grouped these Spanish issues under broader classifications such as an uncertain Spanish mint or Colonia Patricia (Corduba). However, detailed stylistic analyses of die cutting, epigraphy, and regional hoard concentrations led Sutherland and later numismatists to distinguish Caesaraugusta as a prominent center of imperial minting during the late teens BC. Caesaraugusta was founded as a veteran colony around 15 to 14 BC on the site of native Salduie, and the imperial military workshop operated in the region immediately prior to or in conjunction with the colony's formal organization. The production of RIC I (second edition) Augustus 41 relied on traditional Roman manual strike techniques. Silver planchets were cast in round molds, heated, and struck between hand-carved intaglio iron dies. The obverse die was set into an anvil while the reverse die was mounted into a punch held by a mint worker. Typical of Augustan provincial workshops, the engraving reflects high technical skill, with carefully calibrated relief, crisp lettering, and realistic anatomical modeling. The weight standard was targeted near the theoretical Augustan denarius norm of 1/84 of a Roman pound (approximately 3.85 to 3.90 grams), with high silver purity exceeding ninety-five percent.

Obverse Typology and Portrait Style

The obverse of RIC I (second edition) Augustus 41 presents a right-facing, bare-headed portrait of Augustus. In contrast to the often rugged, veristic portraiture of late Republican imperators or the triumviral period, the Augustan portrait here adopts a classicizing, youthful elegance inspired by Classical Greek sculpture, particularly the aesthetic ideals associated with the sculptors Polyclitus and Lysippus. The emperor is shown without a laurel wreath or any other overt symbol of monarchical power, adhering to the early Augustan policy of presenting the princeps as a restored civic magistrate rather than an autocrat. The portrait features neat, segmented locks of hair falling in a calm, controlled arrangement above a smooth brow, an aquiline nose, a firm chin, and a calm, composed facial expression. Die variation across preserved specimens shows slight differences in the curvature of the neck truncation, the volume of the hair locks, and the proportions of the cranium, indicating the participation of multiple die engravers at the Caesaraugusta workshop. The circular legend CAESAR AVGVSTVS begins on the left side of the flan and curves upward around the portrait, framing the bare head within a clean, balanced composition.

Reverse Iconography: Mars Ultor and the Standards

The reverse design of this denarius directly illustrates the concept of military restitution through the depiction of the god Mars. The deity is represented standing, facing front with his head turned toward the right. He is helmeted and wears a military cloak (paludamentum) draped across his torso and limbs. In his right hand, Mars firmly grasps an eagle standard (aquila), the supreme legionary emblem, while supporting another military standard (signum) over his left shoulder. This representation closely aligns with the cult of Mars Ultor (Mars the Avenger), to whom Augustus had vowed a temple prior to the Battle of Philippi in 42 BC to avenge the assassination of Julius Caesar. In 20 BC, that vow was expanded to include the divine punishment of the Parthians and the restoration of Rome's lost military honor. By showing Mars physically bearing the recovered standards, the coin asserts that the gods of Rome, led by the divine ancestor of the Julian line, had personally reclaimed the captive insignia. The stance of Mars is active yet stable, embodying triumph, divine protection, and the pacification of the eastern frontier. The design effectively prefigures the architectural programs later realized in Rome, notably the round temple of Mars Ultor on the Capitoline and the great temple in the Forum of Augustus dedicated in 2 BC, where the actual Parthian standards were ultimately housed.

Epigraphy and Legend Analysis

The legends on RIC I (second edition) Augustus 41 are concise, formal, and strictly programmatic. The obverse legend reads CAESAR AVGVSTVS, omitting extended magistracies, tribunician counts, or consulships. By isolating the family name CAESAR alongside the sacred, venerated title AVGVSTVS, granted by the Senate in 27 BC, the coin emphasizes the unprecedented personal auctoritas of the ruler without relying on traditional Republican republican office lists. The reverse legend reads SIGNIS RECEPTIS, inscribed in clear Roman square capitals. Translating directly as 'the standards having been recovered,' the ablative absolute construction is both an announcement of an accomplished historical fact and a declaration of religious fulfillment. The epigraphy is characterized by well-formed capital letters with small triangular serifs at the stroke terminals. Across the series, minor variations occur in letter spacing and placement relative to the figure of Mars, dictated by the individual die carver's spatial organization. The absence of mint marks is typical of imperial coinage of this era; attribution relies on epigraphic ductus, stylistic traits of the lettering, and the distinctive modeling of the letterforms, which share close affinities with contemporaneous civic and imperial issues of north-central Hispania.

Typological Sequence and Chronological Dating

RIC I (second edition) Augustus 41 belongs to a coherent numismatic sequence issued around 19 BC to 18 BC celebrating the recovery of the Parthian standards. Within Sutherland's arrangement in RIC I (revised), the Caesaraugusta mint produced multiple companion types sharing the SIGNIS RECEPTIS theme. Closely related issues depict Mars standing left instead of right, Mars holding a round shield alongside a standard, or iconic architectural motifs such as a small round temple inscribed MAR-VLT. Parallel gold aurei and silver denarii also featured triumphal arches or kneeling Parthians presenting standards. The precise sequence places RIC 41 in the initial wave of standard-recovery denarii struck shortly after Augustus's return from the East in 19 BC. The issue ceased before the opening of the major imperial mint at Lugdunum (modern Lyon) around 15 BC, which subsequently monopolized the production of western imperial gold and silver coinage. Minor die varieties of RIC 41 exist, distinguishing themselves primarily through the angle of the eagle standard, the folds of the paludamentum, or the exact posture of Mars's head, but the essential typology remains constant throughout the issue.

Circulation and Archaeological Context

Denarii of the type RIC I (second edition) Augustus 41 circulated extensively within the western provinces of the Roman Empire, most notably in Hispania, Gaul, and the military zones along the Rhine frontier. Archaeological evidence from coin hoards confirms that these Spanish denarii were integrated quickly into the monetary supply, frequently occurring alongside older late Republican denarii and later Augustan issues from the mint of Lugdunum. Because the silver purity of Augustan denarii remained exceptionally high (roughly ninety-five to ninety-eight percent fine silver), these coins suffered heavy wear over decades of active circulation rather than being selectively culled. Specimens of the SIGNIS RECEPTIS series continued to circulate well into the mid-first century AD, occasionally appearing in hoards buried during the reigns of Claudius and Nero. In the Iberian peninsula, the type served both military disbursement needs and the monetization of the urbanized provincial economy, solidifying the prestige of Augustus among native populations, legionary veterans, and Italian immigrants alike.

References

1. Coins of the Roman Empire in the British Museum, Volume I: Augustus to Vitellius. pp. 57-58
2. Online Coins of the Roman Empire: RIC I (second edition) Augustus 41. RIC I (second edition) Augustus 41
3. The Roman Imperial Coinage, Volume I: From 31 BC to AD 69 (Revised Edition). p. 44, no. 41
4. The Emperor and the Coinage: Julio-Claudian Studies. pp. 35-48