coin

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Object Type
Museum number: R.6169
Denomination: denarius
Description: Silver coin. (whole); Rostral column, surmounted by cloaked figure (of Octavian?), holding spear in right hand and parazonium in left. (reverse); Head of Octavian, laureate, right. (obverse)
State
Authority
Cultures/periods
Production date: 29BC-27BC
Production place: Minted in: Italy (Brundisium and Rome?)
Materials
Dimensions: Die-axis: 9 o'clock; Weight: 3.56 grammes
$Inscriptions
Curator's comments: The monument depicted on the coin is a statue of Octavian on a column decorated with prows (rostra) of enemy ships. The monument was erected in the Roman Forum to commemorate the naval victory over Sextus Pompeius. Thus, the column, and by extension the image on the coin, likened the civil war victory to one over a foreign enemy.
Bibliographic references: RE1 / Coins of the Roman Empire in the British Museum, vol. 1: Augustus to Vitellius (636, p.103); RIC1 / The Roman Imperial Coinage, vol. 1 (271, p.60) (type)
Location: Not on display
Subjects: emperor/empress; monument
Associated names
Acquisition date: 1913
Acquisition notes: Ex-duplicates, not previously registered.
Department: Coins and Medals
Registration number: R.6169
C&M catalogue number: RE1 (103) (636)

Free entry