INTRODUCTORY MATTERS
- The study of ancient coins is called numismatics
- Although modern coins are not generally used for getting a
message out to a large segment of society, coins in ancient Rome
were an ideal medium for dissemination of visual images (types)
and legends that carried a political and social message.
- This becomes even more interesting when we realize that
the likely overall illiteracy level of the Roman Empire during
the time of Augustus is almost certain to have been over 90%
(W. Harris, 1989).
- Moneyers in the late Republic used coin types for
self-aggrandizement (to celebrate their own family history and
accomplishments). Not only were the types crowded and the
legends difficult to decipher, the names and events were
obscure to most Romans. In contrast, Augustan coins are clear,
uncluttered, and the symbols were easy for any Roman to
decode.
- Whose message went out on Augustan coins? Although
issuing coinage was a joint responsibility of Octavian/Augustus
and the senate, he exercised control over the types deployed by
the moneyers. Thus, the coin types were a reflection of
official policy. It would be misleading to think of them as
propaganda, but, as Zanker (1988) demonstrates, the fundamental
changes in the political system under Augustus required a new
visual language; the new symbols, in turn, affected the
development of the political system. Message, image, and
reality were, in other words, evolving together.
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WHEN WAS THE 'TIME OF AUGUSTUS'?
- ROMAN REPUBLIC 509-27 BCE
- expansion of empire
- magistracies and senate basically controlled by
competing noble families
- a convergence of several factors escalated the feuding
into a devastating civil war during the last 50-75 years of the
Republic; private rivalries threatened to destroy the state
- JULIUS CAESAR managed to acquire sole power and bring a
temporary end to the civil war, but his autocratic behavior and
appropriation of the senates traditional powers resulted in his
assassination on the Ides of March, 44 BCE.
- OCTAVIAN, Caesar's grand-nephew, adopted son, and
principal heir returned to Rome, was elected consul, after a
rocky beginning eventually joined himself in a three-man rule
with M. Antony and Lepidus, raised an army, and vowed to take
revenge on his father's murders (which he did at Philippi in 42
BCE).
- The arrangement between Octavian and Antony, a
'power-freeze' of sorts, held for a few years; the final
falling-out began in 34/33 with Antony based in the East and
Octavian the West. Octavian defeated Antony and Cleopatra at
the battle of Actium in 31 BCE, and then pursued them back to
Egypt.
- In 29 BCE, when Octavian returned from the East, he had
eliminated the last effective rival and attained to sole power.
The question on everyone's mind: what would he do with sole
power?
- If he retired and simply handed affairs over to the
senate, civil war would flare up again
- If he retained autocratic power, he might suffer the
fate of Julius Caesar
- What he did do, as it finally worked out, we call the
PRINCIPATE, the rule of the PRINCEPS, or 'first citizen'. HOW
he did it is a complex matter, but basically, the Augustan
program included: a series of three constitutional settlements
with the senate, a cultural program of moral, social, and
religious reforms, inauguration and celebration of a golden age
of peace and prosperity, arrangement for succession.
Augustus has been alternately valorized as a noble and
self-sacrificing public servant and demonized as a manipulative
propagandist; the truth probably lies somewhere in between. Certainly
he was an opportunist capable of capitalizing on his gains and
minimizing his losses.
The slides on the following pages were taken by
Professor Wilson and are shown here by permission of the American
Numismatic Society. Copyrights belong to the American Numismatic
Society.
You will find below each image a few notes to remind you of the
significance of the type or legend:
- Click on highlighted words for additional notes;
- click on the gold ball to return to the top of the page;
- click on [previous] or [next] to progress through the slide
show.
Click on the coin to begin
