DR-871 | Crawford: 540/2
Gaius Octavius
Gaius Octavius

Gens: Julia
Moneyer: Gaius Octavius
Date and mint: 36 BC - ?


Obverse: Bust of Octavian, right, with beard. Dotted border.
Legend: IMP CAESAR DIVI F III VIR ITER R P C

Reverse: Tetrastyle temple; inside, veiled figure holding lituus in right hand; on architrave, DIVO·IVL; inside the pediment, star; To the left, illuminated altar. Dotted border.
Legend: COS ITER ET TER DESIG

Comment: The gens Julia was one of the oldest patrician families in Rome, claiming descent from Venus and Aeneas. Its most famous member, Julius Caesar, was assassinated on the Ides of March in 44 BC. and soon became an official deity as Divus Iulius. His adopted heir, Gaius Octavius, knew how to exploit this divine filiation to legitimize his power in the turbulent period of civil wars, presenting himself as divi filius, “son of the god.”

The denarius minted in 36 BC. is an exceptional piece of propaganda, issued in the context of the campaign against Sextus Pompey, son of Caesar's great rival and lord of the sea at the time. On the obverse appears the bust of a bearded Octavian, accompanied by the legend IMP CAESAR DIVI F III VIR ITER R P C. The beard, known as barba pietatis, symbolized mourning and an oath of revenge for Caesar, even though Octavian had already shaved after Philippi. With this, the message was unmistakable: there was still an enemy to eliminate to complete revenge.

The reverse depicts the temple of the Divine Julius (DIVO IVL) in the Roman Forum, erected at the site of his cremation. The statue of Caesar veiled with the lituum, the star of the Sidus Iulium on the pediment and the lit altar evoke his apotheosis and consolidate the cult that Octavian promoted in honor of his adoptive father. Although the temple was still under construction, its representation on the coin had an obvious propaganda value: it proclaimed that Octavian's policy was still aimed at avenging Caesar and fulfilling his destiny as heir. The inscription COS ITER ET TER DESIG underlines his political consolidation, indicating that he was already holding his second consulate and was designated for a third.

This denarius fulfilled a double objective: to finance the legions in the middle of the Sicilian war and to present the fight against Sextus Pompey as the culmination of revenge for Caesar. The decisive victory came shortly after, at the Battle of Naulochus (September 3, 36 BC), where Agrippa's fleet destroyed Sextus's, forcing his flight to the East. Captured at Miletus the following year and executed on the orders of Mark Antony, Sextus was the last obstacle in Octavian's path to absolute power.

In this coin the axes of early Augustan propaganda converge: divine filiation, the memory of Caesar, the promise of revenge and political legitimacy. A piece that, beyond its beauty, summarizes the transition between the civil wars and the unstoppable rise of the future Augustus.

Provenance: VAuctions (2018)
Price: 3,801 €