No portrait, no name, no legend at all: just the costume of a triumphing general hung between an eagle and a wreath, and on the reverse the ceremonial chariot itself, its little crowning horses frozen mid-gallop. ) is Augustus advertising the *ornamenta triumphalia* without quite advertising himself. The *toga picta* and *tunica palmata*, the purple and gold regalia worn by a *triumphator*, flank the legionary *aquila* on one side and a victor's wreath on the other; the reverse gives us the *currus triumphalis*, ornamented and surmounted by the four galloping miniatures that traditionally rode atop the chariot of a general processing up the Capitoline. C.
for Dalmatia, Actium, and Alexandria, and after that he made a point of declining further triumphs offered to him, leaving the honor to his legates while quietly absorbing all the symbols. That is what this coin does in miniature. The regalia stand without a wearer, the chariot rolls without a driver, and a viewer in a Spanish marketplace is left to supply the only possible occupant. The princeps had learned that the surest way to monopolize the triumph was to stop holding them.
- Mint
- Spain
- Struck
- ca. 20-16 B.C.
- Authority
- Augustus
- Reverse
- Ornamented quadriga facing right surmounted by four miniature galloping horses