AUGUSTUS AS
(Mint Lyon 15 -10 BC )
Obverse:
Obverse titulature CAESAR PONT MAX
Obverse description Head of Augustus with laurel wreath, the civic crown (corona civica) facing right.
Translation Cæsar Pontifex Maximus.
(27 B.C. - 14 A.D.)
Reverse:
Titulature of reverse: ROM ET AVG.
Description reverse, decorated altar of Lugdunum / Lyon ( Ara Trium Galliarum ) framed by two columns each depicting the goddess Victoria.
The altar front is decorated with the oak wreath (corona civica) between laurel branches and male figures (Lares?).
According to a tradition, Nero Claudius Drusus had an altar dedicated to Roma and Augustus at the confluence of the Rhone and Saône rivers in Lugdunum.
Translation of the reverse Romæ et Augusti
LVGDVNVM - LYON - AUGUSTUS
- hand embossed
- gold colors
- Diameter 2.1 cm
- May show slight signs of abrasion
- Pewter material
The coinage under Emperor Augustus
Around 23 BC Augustus carried out probably the most important reform in the Roman Empire, that of the means of payment, the Roman coins. His goal, a stable currency to guarantee the Roman citizens a stable economic system. This arrangement was to dominate coinage for several centuries. Augustus introduced a trimetallic monetary system. He reactivated the bronze currency, which had been abolished around 90 BC, for the ace, silver for the denarius and gold for the aureus.
The types of coins put into circulation under Augustus , about 500, are very diverse and served different purposes. Whereby here the foreign policy , the self-portrayal and the position of the emperor in itself had the greatest importance. To the artistically high-quality portrait representations of the emperor on the front, one finds on the back most frequently the goddess Victoria and the zodiac sign Capricorn in the representations of a mixed being.
