Classical Numismatic Group, LLC
Electronic Auction 482 16 Dec 2020
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The Triumvirs. Octavian. Autumn 31-summer 30 BC. AR Denarius (18.5mm, 3.34 g, 6h). Italian (Rome?) mint. Bare head of Octavian left / Victory standing left on globe, holding wreath and palm frond. CRI 407; RIC I 254b; RSC 64. Toned, light scratches and porosity, edge defect, area of weak strike on reverse. Near VF.
Following his victory at Actium, Octavian ordered a golden statue of Victory, standing on a globe and holding a wreath and palm frond, to be set up on an altar in the Curia in Rome. This statue had been captured by the Romans from Pyrrhus in 272 BC, and it assumed a somewhat tutelary mystique, protecting the Roman state from dissolution. In AD 382, the emperor Gratian ordered its removal. Two years later, the senator and orator Symmachus urged Valentinian II to replace it, a request that was met with stiff opposition from the bishop of Milan, Ambrose. Though it was briefly returned to its place by the usurper Eugenius, it was again removed following his defeat. Petitions to Theodosius I for its subsequent replacement were refused, on the grounds that the once-important symbol of the gods' blessing on the Roman Empire was now nothing more than a piece of paganism. To the remaining Pagans, the fall of Rome to Alaric's Visigoths in AD 410 confirmed that the statue's removal had stripped Rome of its protection by the old gods.
Following his victory at Actium, Octavian ordered a golden statue of Victory, standing on a globe and holding a wreath and palm frond, to be set up on an altar in the Curia in Rome. This statue had been captured by the Romans from Pyrrhus in 272 BC, and it assumed a somewhat tutelary mystique, protecting the Roman state from dissolution. In AD 382, the emperor Gratian ordered its removal. Two years later, the senator and orator Symmachus urged Valentinian II to replace it, a request that was met with stiff opposition from the bishop of Milan, Ambrose. Though it was briefly returned to its place by the usurper Eugenius, it was again removed following his defeat. Petitions to Theodosius I for its subsequent replacement were refused, on the grounds that the once-important symbol of the gods' blessing on the Roman Empire was now nothing more than a piece of paganism. To the remaining Pagans, the fall of Rome to Alaric's Visigoths in AD 410 confirmed that the statue's removal had stripped Rome of its protection by the old gods.