Obverse: bare head of Augustus facing right. Reverse: triumphal arch surmounted by facing quadriga with Augustus holding laurel branch and scepter; smaller arches on either side surmounted by archer on left and slinger on right

**Obverse context.** Augustus, Rome's first emperor, had by 16 BC consolidated the powers that would define the principate, ruling under a careful fiction of restored Republican forms.

**Reverse context.** The triumphal arch commemorates the recovery of the Roman standards lost by Crassus at Carrhae in 53 BC, returned by the Parthians in 20 BC through diplomacy rather than war; the archer and slinger flanking the central span allude to the eastern peoples brought to terms.

**Reverse legend translation.** S • P • Q • R / IMP CAE expands to *Senatus Populusque Romanus, Imperator Caesar*, "The Senate and People of Rome, to Imperator Caesar," recording the dedication of the monument by the state to Augustus.

Toned with banker's mark and shallow scratch in field under tone on obverse

Toned with porosity and two bankers' marks on obverse

Iridescent tone, banker's marks, light roughness

Brush marks visible on obverse. Granular surfaces. Bold strike.


1/15/25	$1,400	VF	CNG	— 0%
10/20/22	$850	VF	CNG	▼ −39%
12/1/21	$2,000	VF	CNG	▲ +43%
1/14/19	$432	XF	Stack's Bowers	▼ −13%

Denarius of AugustusRIC I 359

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