Denarius of AugustusRSC 44

Unknown mint · struck 27 B.C-A.D. 14

Highest sale$705Median$705Recorded1 sale

Cross-refsRIC 274

Imagery

01Obverse

Head of Mars facing right wearing a crested helmet.

02Reverse

Round shield with Halley's comet at center and CAESAR inscribed above, referencing Julius Caesar's death and ascension to the heavens.

Price guide

est. value by grade · 1 sale

Fine

$899

$899–$899

Recent sales

1 recorded · most recent first


11/16/12	$705	F	Stack's Bowers	▼ −22%

Price distribution

1 sale · 2012

Median by gradeIndividual saleY-axis: USD, log

Inscriptions

Reverse

CAESAR

naming the deified Julius Caesar whose catasterism the comet commemorates.

Historical context

Unknown · 27 B.C-A.D. 14

Mars, the Roman god of war and a divine ancestor claimed by the Julian house, served Augustus as a useful patron in the ideological program that followed the civil wars.

The comet refers to the *sidus Iulium*, a comet that appeared during the funeral games for Julius Caesar in 44 B.C. and was interpreted as the soul of the murdered dictator ascending to join the gods, a sign Augustus exploited to advance his adoptive father's deification and his own status as *divi filius*.

Reverse legend: CAESAR, naming the deified Julius Caesar whose catasterism the comet commemorates.

Mint: Unknown
Struck: 27 B.C-A.D. 14
Authority: Augustus
Reverse: Round shield with Halley's comet at center and CAESAR inscribed above, referencing Julius Caesar's death and ascension to the heavens