Augustus Denarius, RIC I (second edition) Augustus 117

Monetary Context

During the mid-to-late 20s BC, the newly established Principate transformed the administrative framework of Roman coinage. Following the constitutional settlement of 27 BC and the acquisition of the cognomen Augustus, the princeps reorganized the empire's monetary supply to satisfy state payments, demobilization costs, and regional economic needs. Gold and silver coinages were not initially struck on a regular, centralized basis in the city of Rome during the immediate post-Actium decade; instead, the emperor relied on mobile or provincial branch mints to produce denarii and aurei. In the western provinces, the pacification of northern Hispania following the Cantabrian Wars required an immense influx of silver currency to support veteran settlements and standing auxiliary units. The monetary system rested on the silver denarius tariffed at sixteen bronze asses, maintaining a high purity standard of over ninety-five percent silver. Issues such as RIC 117 were integral to this fiscal effort, providing reliable high-purity coin to the legions and expanding provincial markets while disseminating the renewed visual language of the regime. The state used this denomination to articulate its ideological claims directly to soldiers and citizens across the Mediterranean basin.

Production and Mints

The attribution of the Spanish precious-metal series of Augustus has evolved across twentieth-century scholarship. In the earliest volumes of the British Museum catalogues, Harold Mattingly designated several Spanish mint groups under tentative regional labels such as Caesaraugusta, Emerita, or Colonia Patricia. In the 1984 revised second edition of Roman Imperial Coinage Volume I, C. H. V. Sutherland consolidated the classification of these western issues, securely assigning the expansive 19 to 18 BC series featuring high-relief portraiture and refined architectural devices to Colonia Patricia, modern Cordoba in the province of Baetica. Colonia Patricia offered the requisite administrative infrastructure, proximity to the Sierra Morena silver and lead mines, and status as a Roman colony founded by veteran settlers. Mint operations here were characterized by skilled engravers who achieved a distinctive sculptural style, setting them apart from contemporaneous Eastern mints in Pergamum or Ephesus and from the later emissions of the Lugdunum mint. The denarii from this mint were struck on carefully prepared silver flans adjusted to a standard target weight of roughly 3.85 grams, employing mechanical striking techniques with hinged or fixed dies that yielded consistent axis alignments.

Obverse Design and Iconography

The obverse of RIC 117 features the laureate head of Augustus facing left. The leftward orientation is notably less common than the standard right-facing portrait in Augustan coinage, giving this specific catalogue entry a clear distinguishing characteristic within the Patricia issues. The portrait style is neoclassical and idealized, exhibiting the youthful, serene physiognomy established after 27 BC that minimized the physical imperfections seen in earlier triumviral portraiture. The laurel wreath binds the hair closely to the skull, with neatly layered locks and ribbons descending down the back of the neck. Engravers at Colonia Patricia imbued these portraits with a dignified, plastic modeling that emphasized the princeps as an enduring civic and religious leader rather than an autocratic military commander. Surrounding the portrait from lower left to lower right is the legend CAESARI AVGVSTO, executed in neat, widely spaced Roman square capitals.

Reverse Design and Iconography

The reverse of RIC 117 presents an elaborate architectural composition: a domed tetrastyle temple or circular rotunda within which stands a triumphal chariot facing right. The car carries an aquila, the legionary eagle standard, and is adorned with four miniature galloping horses along its upper edge. The four columns of the temple support an entablature surmounted by a rounded, domed roof. Numismatists have engaged in extensive analysis regarding the identity of this depicted structure. Early cataloguers debated whether it depicted the shrine of Jupiter Tonans on the Capitoline or the temporary rotunda of Mars Ultor erected to house the recovered Crassian and Antonian military standards surrendered by Phraates IV of Parthia in 20 BC. The general scholarly consensus identifies the structure on this Spanish series as the small round temple of Mars Ultor on the Capitoline, which served as an interim repository for the returned legionary eagles before the dedication of the massive temple in the Forum of Augustus in 2 BC. The presence of the aquila and the triumphal chariot directly invokes the diplomatic victory over Parthia and the associated ovation or triumphal honors decreed to Augustus by the Senate.

Epigraphy and Legends

The inscriptions on RIC 117 are concise, balanced, and deeply symbolic of constitutional propriety under the early Principate. The obverse legend reads CAESARI AVGVSTO, formulated entirely in the dative case. This grammatical construction signifies dedication: the coinage and the honors depicted are offered 'To Caesar Augustus' by the people or the Senate, mirroring public honorific inscriptions cut into monumental stone across Roman fora. On the reverse, the civic authority is stated explicitly through the abbreviation S P Q R, standing for Senatus Populusque Romanus, 'The Senate and the Roman People'. Placed within the field around or above the architectural monument, this formula emphasizes senatorial and popular sanction for the monument and the triumphal honors granted to the emperor. The epigraphy displays clean, classical letterforms characterized by distinct serifs, standardized heights, and sharp incisions typical of the sophisticated die-cutting shops at Colonia Patricia.

Typology and Chronological Placement

Within the typology of the second edition of Roman Imperial Coinage Volume I, the denarii of Colonia Patricia dated to 19 and 18 BC form a cohesive sequence celebrating Augustan victories and foreign policy achievements. Type 117 is specifically categorized by its left-facing laureate portrait paired with the domed tetrastyle temple enclosing the triumphal chariot. Neighboring types exhibit deliberate design variations: RIC 115 and 116 present right-facing laureate portraits with the same architectural reverse, while other related issues feature the circular temple containing the signa or aquila standing alone rather than mounted in a chariot. The chronology of this group is fixed to circa 18 BC based on die linkages, stylistic development, and hoard distributions from the Cantabrian War theatre. This date closely follows the return of the Parthian standards in 20 BC and Augustus's return to Rome in 19 BC, aligning the coin with a surge in state propaganda that presented the negotiated return of Roman prisoners and standards as an unprecedented triumphal victory achieved through auctoritas rather than war.

Circulation and Archaeological Context

While minted in Hispania Baetica, denarii of the Patricia mint were not restricted to regional transactions. The Augustan denarius operated as an empire-wide fiat currency, and the high-grade silver struck in Spain circulated freely throughout the Iberian peninsula, the Gallic provinces, the Rhine frontier, and Italy. Hoard evidence from western military camps indicates that these coins were used extensively to pay legionaries participating in the final subjugation of northwestern Hispania and the subsequent garrisoning of the provinces. Over time, the coins experienced protracted circulation alongside earlier republican denarii and later Julio-Claudian issues. Due to the high standard of purity maintained by Augustus, these denarii remained in active commercial use until the monetary reforms and debasements of the mid-to-late first century AD, particularly Nero's reform of 64 AD, after which pre-reform silver gradually disappeared from circulation through hoarding, recall, and re-melting.

References

1. Coins of the Roman Empire in the British Museum, Volume I: Augustus to Vitellius. pp. 67-68
2. Online Coins of the Roman Empire: RIC I (second edition) Augustus 117. ric.1(2).aug.117
3. The Roman Imperial Coinage, Volume I: From 31 BC to AD 69 (revised edition). p. 45, no. 117
4. The Coinage of Augustus in Spain. pp. 120-135