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Object Type
Museum number: R.6118
Denomination: denarius
Description: Silver coin. (whole); Head of Augustus, bare, right. (obverse); Double triumphal arch adorned by rostra and placed on a viaduct, surmounted by Augustus standing in a quadriga right, crowned by Victory. (reverse)
State
Authority
Cultures/periods
Production date: 18BC-16BC
Production place: Minted in: Spain; Minted in: Colonia Patricia (historic - city) (possibly)
Materials
Dimensions: Die-axis: 3 o'clock; Weight: 2.77 grammes
$Inscriptions
Curator's comments: This coin type refers to the extensive measures taken by Augustus to improve the road system in Italy. The depiction on reverse may be that of the Milvian Bridge which carried the Via Flaminia, Italy's great nothern highway, across the Tiber just north of Rome. The historian Dio Cassius records the erection of "statues on arches on the bridge over the Tiber" in commemoration of the emperor's munificence in personally financing the work carried out on the Via Flaminia.
Bibliographic references: RE1 / Coins of the Roman Empire in the British Museum, vol. 1: Augustus to Vitellius (433, p.45); RIC1 / The Roman Imperial Coinage, vol. 1 (144, p.50); RR2 / Coins of the Roman Republic in the British Museum, vol. 2. Coinages of Rome (continued), Roman Campania, Italy, the social war, and the provinces. (4463, p.40)
Location: Not on display
Subjects: emperor/empress; allegory/personification; arch/gateway; charioteer/chariot; aqueduct/viaduct; classical deity
Associated names: Named in inscription & portrayed: Augustus (Octavian); Representation of: Nike/Victoria/Victory
Associated places: Topographic representation of: Ponte Milvio (possibly)
Department: Coins and Medals
Registration number: R.6118
C&M catalogue number: RE1 (75) (433); RR2 (40) (4463)

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