Augustus Silver Quinarius, RIC I (second edition) Augustus 474

Monetary Context and Fractional Denominations

During the late Republic and the early Principate, the silver quinarius served as a direct half-unit to the denarius, carrying an official tariff of eight bronze asses following the retariffing of the mid-second century BC. While Republican quinarii had experienced periods of sporadic and irregular striking, Augustus revived the denomination intermittently to meet specific logistical and financial requirements. Fractional silver was particularly advantageous for official disbursements, minor military payments, and administrative transactions where paying full denarii would have been inefficient or inflationary. In the broader restructuring of Roman coinage that culminated in the reform of the monetary system in the 20s BC, silver output remained anchored to the denarius standard of approximately 3.8 to 3.9 grams. Consequently, the quinarius operated on a theoretical target weight of roughly 1.8 to 1.95 grams, maintaining parity in fineness with the principal silver currency. The production of RIC I (second edition) Augustus 474 around 21 BC reflects this monetary strategy, ensuring that imperial fractional silver could circulate alongside traditional local denominations, such as the cistophoric fractions and hemidrachms of the eastern provinces or native silver in the western provinces, while clearly advertising Augustan political authority.

Production, Fabric, and Mint Attribution

The workshop responsible for striking RIC I (second edition) Augustus 474 is designated in standard corpora simply as an uncertain mint. Numismatists have long scrutinized the stylistic fabric, flan preparation, and die-cutting techniques of the issue to pinpoint its geographic origin. In his revised treatment for Roman Imperial Coinage, C. H. V. Sutherland catalogued the piece among issues from an undetermined mint active around 21 BC. Historical and stylistic hypotheses have bifurcated between an eastern provincial environment and a western workshop, potentially in Hispania or an imperial traveling mint. The year 21 BC coincided with Augustus's extensive tour of the eastern Mediterranean, during which he spent time in Sicily, Greece, and the island of Samos, supervising administrative reorganizations. Some scholars propose that regional workshops in the Greek East or traveling military moneyers struck these quinarii to support local expenditures without disrupting standard urban mints. Alternatively, stylistic affinities with contemporary western coinages have led other authorities to consider northern or southern Spanish minting centers such as Emerita or Colonia Patricia, though without conclusive die links to confirmed series. The physical fabric exhibits a compact, moderately thick flan characteristic of Augustan fractional silver, struck between hand-carved intaglio bronze dies with careful alignment.

Obverse Design and Iconography

The obverse of RIC I (second edition) Augustus 474 displays a right-facing portrait of Augustus with a bare head, devoid of laurel wreath, diadem, or other explicit insignia of monarchy. The treatment of the portrait demonstrates the classicizing, idealized style that became the hallmark of Augustan official art after the constitutional settlement of 27 BC. The facial contours emphasize calm, youthful composure, characterized by an orderly arrangement of the hair with parted locks over the forehead, a straight nasal bridge, and a firm, clean-shaven jawline. This idealized physiognomy was carefully engineered to balance Hellenistic notions of heroic rulership with Roman traditional sensibilities regarding civic modesty and devotion to the Republic. By omitting civic crowns or military headgear, the obverse portrays Augustus as the first citizen of the state, whose authority rested upon his personal prestige and constitutional magistrateship rather than blatant autocratic coercion. The portrait is cleanly positioned within a circular beaded border that encloses the composition.

Reverse Iconography: Victory on the Prow

The reverse design of this quinarius type portrays the personification of Victory standing left upon the forward deck or beak of a naval galley prow. She holds a laurel wreath aloft in her right hand, positioned as if offering the symbol of triumph to an unseen commander, while cradling a palm branch over her left shoulder. The prow upon which she alights is rendered with stylized architectural timbers and a pointed ram, evoking ancient naval warfare. This thematic pairing of Victory and the ship's prow constitutes one of the most recognizable symbolic ensembles of the Augustan regime. While modern viewers immediately link nautical victory scenes to the Battle of Actium in 31 BC, where Augustus and Agrippa defeated the combined fleets of Mark Antony and Cleopatra VII, naval iconography also celebrated the clearing of piracy from the Mediterranean and the pacification of maritime routes essential to the grain supply and commercial shipping. The motif of Victory on a prow had deep artistic precedents stretching back to the Hellenistic Nike of Samothrace and Republican issues celebrating maritime successes. On RIC 474, the reverse is anepigraphic, allowing the dramatic pictorial message of divinely sanctioned naval supremacy and resulting peace to communicate directly across linguistic and cultural boundaries.

Epigraphic Analysis and Legend Form

The epigraphic program of RIC I (second edition) Augustus 474 is striking in its severe restraint. The obverse carries only the single legend AVGVSTVS, rendered in clear, well-proportioned Roman capital lettering arranged circularly along the field, typically reading upwards behind or around the head. The absence of longer titulature, such as tribunician numbering, consular designations, imperatorial acclamations, or the title Divi Filius, is highly deliberate. Following the conferral of the name Augustus by the Senate in January 27 BC, this single honorific word carried immense religious, moral, and political weight, embodying the sacred protection and elevation of the ruler above ordinary citizens. The reverse of the coin is completely anepigraphic, lacking any inscription, mint signature, or exergual marks. This stark absence of text focuses viewer attention entirely upon the pictorial narrative of the naval victory, relying on shared visual literacy across the empire rather than explicit verbal declarations to convey its message of imperial supremacy.

Typology, Variants, and Chronological Placement

Within the typology established by C. H. V. Sutherland in the revised Roman Imperial Coinage Volume I, type 474 forms part of a cohesive group of silver and gold issues struck around 21 BC that lack conventional mintmarks. The quinarius occupies a specific place among contemporary denominations, complementing denarii with related triumphal types. Minor die variants are attested across the surviving corpus, primarily reflecting differences in die engraving, portrait size, the exact angle and drape of the hair locks, and the detailed rendering of Victory's wings, drapery, and the structural lines of the ship's prow. In some dies, Victory leans forward with greater dynamism, whereas in others she stands in a more upright, static posture. Sutherland dated the issue to circa 21 BC on the basis of stylistic comparisons with other regional and provincial coinages produced during Augustus's travels in the central and eastern Mediterranean, as well as the stylistic evolution of the Augustus portrait between the earlier Actian victory issues of 30 to 27 BC and the later formalized civic issues of the Roman mint from 19 BC onward.

Circulation Patterns and Economic Role

Because fractional silver was minted in considerably smaller quantities than full denarii, quinarii like RIC 474 functioned under distinctive circulation dynamics. While denarii circulated throughout the legions, major provincial administrative hubs, and interregional commerce, quinarii frequently remained localized in specific operational zones or were collected and hoarded as bullion alongside other fractional silver. Findspots of Augustan quinarii demonstrate distribution patterns across both the Mediterranean basin and the European frontiers, where they sometimes circulated alongside worn Republican quinarii, provincial silver hemidrachms, and local coinages. Over decades of circulation, these fractional silver coins incurred significant abrasive wear due to active exchange in daily markets. Their relatively high silver purity made them attractive for long-term saving, yet their small physical dimensions also led to gradual loss and attrition. By the middle of the first century AD, many Augustan quinarii had been worn smooth, melted down during subsequent monetary reforms, or swept into the great currency recoinages of the Flavians and Trajan, leaving intact examples as crucial numismatic evidence for early Augustan administrative finance.

References

1. Coins of the Roman Empire in the British Museum, Volume I: Augustus to Vitellius. pp. 106-107
2. Online Coins of the Roman Empire: RIC I (second edition) Augustus 474. ric.1(2).aug.474
3. The Roman Imperial Coinage, Volume I: From 31 BC to AD 69 (Revised Edition). p. 79, no. 474
4. Roman Provincial Coinage, Volume I: From the Death of Caesar to the Death of Vitellius. pp. 1-12