Roma Numismatics Ltd
Auction XX 29-30 Oct 2020
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Augustus AR Cistophoric Tetradrachm. Uncertain mint in Asia, soon after 27 BC. IMP•CAESAR, bare head to right / AVGVSTVS, Sphinx seated to right on ground line. RIC 527; C. 31; BMC 702; CBN 927; RPC 2204; Sutherland -, group II. 11.58g, 27mm, 1h.
Good Extremely Fine. Very Rare and of exceptional artistic and historical merit.
From the Long Valley River Collection;
Ex Numismatica Ars Classica AG, Auction 72, 16 May 2013, lot 558;
Ex Fritz Rudolf Künker GmbH & Co. KG, Auction 124, 16 March 2007, lot 8706 and cover piece;
Ex Giessener Münzhandlung, Auction 33, 3 June 1986, lot 344.
It is well attested by Suetonius, Pliny the Elder and Dio Cassius that Octavian adopted the Sphinx as his personal sigil, its image being engraved on the signet ring he used as his personal seal. This seal, being impressed upon all personal letters and official documents, became a symbol of his authority. Both Pliny and Dio Cassius relate that Octavian entrusted a duplicate of his ring to his lieutenants Agrippa and Maecenas so that they might be empowered with his own authority to sign edicts and letters in his absence.
The Sphinx employed by Octavian was of the Greek style, which differed from its original Egyptian form in several important aspects. The Egyptian sphinxes were portrayed as male, with the head of a pharaoh. In this guise, the Egyptian sphinxes were guardian spirits associated with the solar deity Sekhmet. The archaic Greek Sphinx by contrast possessed the wings of an eagle and was a singular, oracular female creature specialized in riddles, a savage demon that would strangle and devour travellers.
It may be hypothesized that the Sphinx, its Greek and Egyptian traditions being both known in Rome, may have represented to Augustus at the same time a protective ward against harm, and a merciless bringer of destruction to his foes. It has been further postulated that the Sphinx, which in Greek tradition came to represent oracular divinity and thus inevitably came to be associated with Apollo, suitably played into Octavian's own close association with the god whom he took as a patron.
C. H. V. Sutherland notes that it is highly likely that the Sphinx represented here is modelled directly on the design of Augustus' signet ring; the depiction of the sphinx here is entirely in the Greek style but for one Roman flourish: the Sphinx's coiffure here bears a remarkable similarity to the style favoured by Octavia and Livia. The considerable attention to detail with which this design has been engraved is most impressive; beyond the Sphinx's elaborate wings and feminine head, we should note also her elegant stance and svelte figure, with the outline of her ribs being just discernible underneath her lioness' skin. The quality of the engraving on the obverse is also immediately evident, being of a superior calibre to other dies engraved for this issue of cistophori. Deliberate emphasis has been given to the emperor's sharply defined brow and cheek bones, as well as skilfully rendering the small, delicate mouth features characteristic of Augustus and his family. We can see in this portrait an idealized yet realistic image of Rome's princeps, quite unlike the stylized and lifeless caricatures produced by the mint at Pergamum.
In these early years of Augustus' reign this emblem was used exclusively; it was not until much later that he would replace the Sphinx with the head of the deified Alexander the Great. When and why the Sphinx was retired is uncertain; it may have been on account of certain mocking susurrations of an Oedipal nature, due to the story that the young Octavian had found the two sphinx rings among his mother's possessions, as noted by Pliny. More plausibly, it was on account of the Sphinx's own negative associations with ruthlessness and destruction. It is well known that Augustus harboured a deep admiration for Alexander and his accomplishments, and so it is not surprising that he should have chosen this image of an idealistic conqueror, despite the immodest comparison implicit in so doing. Finally in the last years of his life, he bore his own likeness upon his signet, an image carved by the hand of Dioscorides. It was this latter model, itself only a small aspect of the imperial cult which sprang up, that all subsequent emperors followed but for the notable exception of Galba, who employed the ancestral symbol of his house - a dog looking out from the prow of a ship.
Good Extremely Fine. Very Rare and of exceptional artistic and historical merit.
From the Long Valley River Collection;
Ex Numismatica Ars Classica AG, Auction 72, 16 May 2013, lot 558;
Ex Fritz Rudolf Künker GmbH & Co. KG, Auction 124, 16 March 2007, lot 8706 and cover piece;
Ex Giessener Münzhandlung, Auction 33, 3 June 1986, lot 344.
It is well attested by Suetonius, Pliny the Elder and Dio Cassius that Octavian adopted the Sphinx as his personal sigil, its image being engraved on the signet ring he used as his personal seal. This seal, being impressed upon all personal letters and official documents, became a symbol of his authority. Both Pliny and Dio Cassius relate that Octavian entrusted a duplicate of his ring to his lieutenants Agrippa and Maecenas so that they might be empowered with his own authority to sign edicts and letters in his absence.
The Sphinx employed by Octavian was of the Greek style, which differed from its original Egyptian form in several important aspects. The Egyptian sphinxes were portrayed as male, with the head of a pharaoh. In this guise, the Egyptian sphinxes were guardian spirits associated with the solar deity Sekhmet. The archaic Greek Sphinx by contrast possessed the wings of an eagle and was a singular, oracular female creature specialized in riddles, a savage demon that would strangle and devour travellers.
It may be hypothesized that the Sphinx, its Greek and Egyptian traditions being both known in Rome, may have represented to Augustus at the same time a protective ward against harm, and a merciless bringer of destruction to his foes. It has been further postulated that the Sphinx, which in Greek tradition came to represent oracular divinity and thus inevitably came to be associated with Apollo, suitably played into Octavian's own close association with the god whom he took as a patron.
C. H. V. Sutherland notes that it is highly likely that the Sphinx represented here is modelled directly on the design of Augustus' signet ring; the depiction of the sphinx here is entirely in the Greek style but for one Roman flourish: the Sphinx's coiffure here bears a remarkable similarity to the style favoured by Octavia and Livia. The considerable attention to detail with which this design has been engraved is most impressive; beyond the Sphinx's elaborate wings and feminine head, we should note also her elegant stance and svelte figure, with the outline of her ribs being just discernible underneath her lioness' skin. The quality of the engraving on the obverse is also immediately evident, being of a superior calibre to other dies engraved for this issue of cistophori. Deliberate emphasis has been given to the emperor's sharply defined brow and cheek bones, as well as skilfully rendering the small, delicate mouth features characteristic of Augustus and his family. We can see in this portrait an idealized yet realistic image of Rome's princeps, quite unlike the stylized and lifeless caricatures produced by the mint at Pergamum.
In these early years of Augustus' reign this emblem was used exclusively; it was not until much later that he would replace the Sphinx with the head of the deified Alexander the Great. When and why the Sphinx was retired is uncertain; it may have been on account of certain mocking susurrations of an Oedipal nature, due to the story that the young Octavian had found the two sphinx rings among his mother's possessions, as noted by Pliny. More plausibly, it was on account of the Sphinx's own negative associations with ruthlessness and destruction. It is well known that Augustus harboured a deep admiration for Alexander and his accomplishments, and so it is not surprising that he should have chosen this image of an idealistic conqueror, despite the immodest comparison implicit in so doing. Finally in the last years of his life, he bore his own likeness upon his signet, an image carved by the hand of Dioscorides. It was this latter model, itself only a small aspect of the imperial cult which sprang up, that all subsequent emperors followed but for the notable exception of Galba, who employed the ancestral symbol of his house - a dog looking out from the prow of a ship.