influential college of augurs, as in the case of M. Minucius Faesus on the coin dis-
cussed above, or that of the young Octavian whose equestrian statue appears with
lituusin hand on a coin of 42 bcsoon after he himself had joined the college the
year before (his coin legends from that year already list the augurate among his titles)
(fig. 11.7). But beyond its function as a badge of office, the lituusas symbol also
connoted a host of specifically religiousassociations with the expert role of the augurs
in interpreting the divine will and regulating sacred law in public life, the pious obser-
vation of which was one of the reasons which Romans gave for their rise to power.
It also recalled a host of famous individuals and events connected with augury, not
least Romulus, whose famous auspicy, the sighting of 12 vultures, marked the extraor-
dinary divine favor which accompanied the foundation of the city of Rome. The story
circulated that it had been repeated on the occasion of Octavian’s first consulship
in 43 bc– six vultures appearing to him when he was elected and six more when
he took office, indicating that he would be another founder of Rome (Beard et al.
1998: 1.182). Whether Octavian’s lituuson this coin suggests that the story was
already in existence in 42 bcor not, it certainly refers to the same richly evocative
nexus of religious tales and ideas surrounding the history and science of Roman augury
that gave rise to the narrative.
The lituus, then, was a symbol with emotional power as well as providing factual
information about the curriculum vitae of the individual with whom it was associated
on the coin, a symbol capable of summoning up in Roman viewers strong feelings
about their community’s unique relationship with their gods, and about the augurs
who played a large part in mediating that relationship. What the increasingly fre-
quent appearance of religious symbols on the coins from the 130s bconward also
reveals is that the power of these images was not merely an Augustan innovation
on the coins or elsewhere for that matter, but something which had its roots and
antecedents in the late republican period. Let us now turn to each of the groups of
scenes and symbols mentioned above and look at them in greater depth.
Temples and Monuments
The appearance of religious and other buildings and monuments on Roman coins
in the late second century bcmarked a considerable departure from the Greek tradi-
tion, one which remained characteristic of the Roman coinage throughout, and
influenced the iconography of the city coinages of the eastern empire.Religion and Roman Coins 147Figure 11.7 Roman silver denarius, 42 bc, showing Octavian on horseback holding a
lituus. 19 mm.