The high point of this style is, not unexpectedly, reached in the Augustan period,
when these symbols combine with those specifically associated with Augustus him-
self, and especially with the honors accorded to him in 27 bc– the olive bushes,
the clipeus virtutis (“shield of virtue”), the corona civica(“civic crown”) – to
constitute a new repertoire consisting of traditional Roman religious symbols now
repurposed so as to refer to a single individual whose very name, Augustus, adverted
to the mysteries of augury (fig. 11.13). This set the pattern for successive later em-
perors, whose coins regularly refer to the symbols of the four great priestly colleges,
representing the emperor’s continuing leading role in Roman public religion. But
the background to this Augustan phenomenon lies in the earlier deployment of
symbols of this kind on the coins of the late republic: first as descriptive attributes
of an ancestral or historical figure, and later as insignia proper to a living individual
named or depicted on the coin. Not surprisingly perhaps, the first instance of this
phenomenon is provided by Sulla, whose coins refer to his membership of two of
the major priesthoods, the augurs and the pontifices(fig. 11.14). All of the major
players on the late republican scene for whom coins were struck with their names
and images – Pompey (posthumously), Caesar, Brutus, Octavian, Lepidus, Mark Antony
- and some of the second-order figures – Antony’s brother Caius, Q. Cornificius,
Lentulus Spinther, Cn. Domitius Calvinus – use priestly symbols among their
types (fig. 11.15). The relevant designations also occur in the developing styles
Religion and Roman Coins 151Figure 11.13 Gold aureus of Augustus, c. 16 bc, showing the clipeus virtutisand sacred
laurel trees. 20 mm.
Figure 11.14 Gold coin made for Sulla, c. 84 bc, with his priestly symbols. 19 mm.Figure 11.15 Silver denarius, 44 bc, showing the bust of Julius Caesar with priestly
symbols. 18 mm.