Augustus AR Cistophorus struck in Ephesus

Pedigree: GIESSENER Munzhandlung auction.23 (1982) lot 74

Gaius Octavius, later known as Augustus, was born the morning of September 23, 63 BC, under the sign of Capricorn. Later in life, he placed great stress on his natal sign, placing it on his coins in both gold and silver.

Three reasons suggest themselves as to why Augustus took this course:

• Capricorn was associated with stern moral authority.
• Capricorn is the sign through which the sun passes at winter solstice and is, in a sense, reborn, like the Roman state in Augustus propaganda.
•  Capricorn, then as now, was associated with the planet and God Saturn. According to Roman mythology, Saturn had come to live in Italy when his son Jupiter had kicked him out of heaven, and the age in which Saturn ruled as king over Italy was a “golden age” of paradise on earth.

Virgil took up this theme in his treatment of Augustus’ reign as a return of the Saturnian age.