Beschreibung
Erhaltung: ss | Abkürzungen
Katalognummer: Temple of Divus Augustus
Durchmesser: 17,00 mm
weight 3,33gr. | silver Ø 17mm.
obv. Laureate head of Antoninus right, surrounded by the legend
ANTONINVS AVG PIVS PP TR P XXII
rev. Octastyle temple of Divus Augustus, containing cult-statues
of Augustus and Livia, surrounded by the legend
TEMLP DIVIAVG REST, COS IIII below temple
The Temple of Divus Augustus was a major temple originally built to commemorate the deified first Roman emperor, Augustus. It was built between the Palatine and Capitoline Hills, behind the Basilica Julia, on the site of the house that Augustus had inhabited before he entered public life in the mid-1st century BC. The temples construction took place during the 1st century AD, having been vowed by the Roman Senate shortly after the death of the emperor in AD 14. It is known from Roman coinage that the temple was originally built to an Ionic hexastyle design. However, its size, physical proportions and exact site are unknown. During the reign of Domitian the Temple of Divus Augustus was destroyed by fire but was rebuilt and rededicated in 89/90 with a shrine to his favourite deity, Minerva. The temple was redesigned as a memorial to four deified emperors, including Vespasian and Titus. It was restored again in the mid 150s by Antonius Pius, and that was the reason for this coinage. The last known reference to the temple was on 27 May 218 | at some point thereafter it was completely destroyed and its stones were presumably quarried for later buildings. Its remains are not visible and the area in which it lay has never been excavated.
The usual legend for the denarii of this type is: TEMPLVM DIVI AVG REST COS IIII. The legend TEMPL DIVI AVG REST COS IIII is only known from an aureus of this type. However, for this denarius the die cutter made a mistake and write TEMLP instead of the correct TEMPL. Unpublished and possibly unique.
Cohen(cf. 799 = aureus) | RIC(cf. 289 = aureus) |
BMC(cf. 938 = aureus) Sear(cf. 4107) RRRR
vf
