Silver Denarius of Octavian, 3.58 g.

Silver Denarius of Octavian, 3.58 g.

Octavian

28 BCE

Obverse: Bare head of Octavian facing right; behind, lituus; CAESAR CO(N)S(VL) [VI]: Caesar, consul for the sixth time.

Reverse: Crocodile facing right; AEGVPTO CAPTA: Egypt captured.

Style/Period: Roman Republic

This denarius celebrates the successful conclusion of Octavian's Egyptian campaign. The campaign began with the Battle of Actium in 31 BCE, at the Gulf of Ambracia on the western coast of Greece, in which he defeated the fleet of his rival Marc Antony and forced Antony and his ally Kleopatra to flee to Egypt. On August 1, 30 BCE Octavian's forces entered the Egyptian capital, Alexandria, where most of Antony's troops surrendered. Antony and soon after Kleopatra committed suicide, and Octavian became sole ruler of the Roman world. In 29 BCE Octavian returned to Rome for his official triumph (a triple one, primarily celebrating his successes at Actium and Alexandria but also in Illyricum), and in the following year the crocodile with the inscription AEGVPTO CAPTA celebrated the event on these denarii, probably struck at Rome.
The portrait on the obverse is a particularly youthful one. The lituus behind it, a symbol of the priest as augur or diviner of success or failure, is often taken to refer to the customary auguries before battle and thus here probably refers to the anticipated victories in the three campaigns celebrated in 29 BCE.
-- Carol L. Lawton

Bibliography: C.H.V. Sutherland, The Roman Imperial Coinage I: from 31 BC to AD 69, rev. ed. (London 1984) 275a.

Former collection of Ottilia Buerger. Purchased from Edward Gans, 1959.

91.113

Wriston Art Center Galleries, Lawrence University, Appleton, WI,wriston-gallery@lawrence.edu,920-832-6890

Roman, Empire, Octavian, lituus, crocodile, Egypt, Augustus