Aureus of Augustan date

Aureus of Augustan date

D/ Caesar Augustus Divi F Pater Patriae; wreathed head of Augustus facing to the left set within beaded circle R/ Imp XV; Diana with long peplos and polos advances to the right, while she draws an arrow from her quiver with her left hand and holds the bow in her right. In exergue Sicil; within beaded circle. This coin, which is a unique example produced at the mint of Lugdunum (Lyon), is known as the medallion of Augustus. The front side shows the head of the emperor with the title ‘Caesar Augustus, son of the Divine (Caesar) father of the fatherland’; the image of Diana on the obverse may be the reproduction of a cult statue of the goddess worshipped in a Sicilian temple, as the indication in exergue implies. Given the fame that the goddess enjoyed in antiquity, it is not unlikely that it came from the temple of Eryx (modern day Erice). The legend of the obverse also indicates the date of issue, which can be fixed at 9 - 8 B.C. The medallion was found in 1759 at Pompeii, together with eleven gold coins, although the lack of precise indications makes it impossible to reconstruct the original group.