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Roma Numismatics Ltd
E-Live Auction 2  30 Aug 2018
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Lot 532

Estimate: 500 GBP
Price realized: 1000 GBP
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Marc Antony AR Cistophorus. Ephesus, circa 39 BC. M·ANTONIVS·IMP·COS·DESIG·ITERET·TERT·, laureate head right, all within wreath / Head of Octavia atop cista mystica, flanked by snakes; III·VIR· downwards to left, R·P·C· upwards to right. RPC I 2201; CRI 262; RSC 2. 11.61g, 27mm, 11h.

Good Very Fine. Slight corrosion to edges. Well detailed, pleasing tone.

Following the death of Octavia's first husband C. Claudius Marcellus in 40 BC, her marriage to Antony sought to seal the Pact of Brundisium in which it had been agreed that Octavian would assume control of the west and Antony of the east. The striking of this type cements the agreement before the people of Ephesus, an important city, later made the capital of Asia Minor by Augustus in 27 BC.

Octavia spent two winters with Antony in Athens and in 37 BC assisted in securing the Triumvirate for another 5 years at the Pact of Tarentum. Following this, Antony returned to the east and, having left Octavia behind, lived with Cleopatra in Egypt. Although they divorced in 32 BC, after Antony's defeat at the Battle of Actium and subsequent suicide, Octavia raised all of his surviving children by Fulvia and Cleopatra, along with her own.
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