Aureus: head of Octavian // Octavian seated on bench holding scroll

Question 1

When was this coin made?

Answer 1

28BC

Question 2

What does the legend read?

Answer 2

IMP CAESAR DIVI F COS VI // LEGES ET IVRA P R RESTITVIT

Question 3

What is the translation of the legend?

Answer 3

Imperator (commander) Caesar, son of a god, consul for the sixth time // He restored of the Roman people their laws and rights

Question 4

What is the significance of this coin?

Answer 4

Introduces the idea that Octavian was a saviour of the Republic

Question 5

What role does this coin suggest Octavian in, and why is this unusual?

Answer 5

• His coinage had previously been dominated by militaristic images designed to convey power and martial prowess
• This coin suggests Octavian in a different role- that of magistrate and peacetime politician

Question 6

What is shown on the obverse?

Answer 6

• A portrait accompanied with a list of achievements
• He is still identified as ‘son of a god’, and by this point he had held the consulship six times
• He is shown wearing a laurel wreath (string trailing behind his head) which was awarded to him as part of his triple triumph the previous year

Question 7

What does the reverse show?

Answer 7

• A figure, presumably Octavain, seated on a magistrate’s chair, holding a scroll with a magistrate’s document box at his feet

Question 8

What does this coin show?

Answer 8

• Octavian as consul, legally undoing all unconstitutional laws that had been passed during the civil wars