| Heritage World Coin Auctions > Showcase Auction 61373 | Auction date: 5 May 2024 |
| Lot number: 22034 Price realized: This lot is for sale in an upcoming auction - Bid on this lot  | Show similar lots on CoinArchives Find similar lots in upcoming auctions on  |
| Lot description: Ancients Augustus (27 BC-AD 14), with L. Caninius Gallus, as Moneyer. AR denarius (19mm, 3.57 gm, 12h). NGC Choice VF 5/5 - 3/5, edge chip. Rome, 12 BC. AVGVSTVS, bare head of Augustus right / L•CANINIVS-GALLVS•III•VIR, Germanic chieftain, with long hair and beard, nude but for a cloak over shoulders, kneeling right on right knee, offering vexillum in right hand, left hand extended below left knee in gesture of submission. RIC I 416. Clear strike, with charcoal toning and an amethyst glimmer. Ex the WCN Collection; Helios Numismatik, Auction 4 (14 October 2009), lot 222; A. Lynn Collection. Although the reign of Augustus was known as a period of unprecedented peace within the Roman Empire, military encounters at the imperial borderlands continued as Rome expanded into its new provinces, especially in the frontier region between Roman Gaul and the Germanic tribes to the east of the Rhine river. One of the most significant battles that occurred during this time was the Clades Lolliana, or the Lollian disaster of 16 BC, when the Roman governor of Gaul Marcus Lollius lost his legion's golden eagle standard (aquila) to a small alliance of Germanic tribes. This loss meant a great loss of prestige for Augustus, who had just highlighted the importance of the legionary eagle to the Roman public at the end of the conflict with the Parthian Empire when the defeated Parthians returned three captured aquilae to the Roman Empire. Augustus himself travelled to Gaul in 16 BC, where he would stay for several years building nearly fifty new military forts (castra) along the fortification line (Limes) of the lower Rhine region to prepare for the Germanic offensive that would end up lasting three decades and include a disastrous defeat for the Romans at the Clades Variana, also known as the Battle of Teutoburg Forest. Augustus even sent his later successor Tiberius to retrieve the stolen aquila, but it was never found. The reverse of this denarius of Augustus refers to the aftermath of the Clades Lolliana and the forced submission of the Germanic tribes as retribution. The nameless barbarian on the reverse of this coin could possibly be a Celto-Germanic chieftain which is named in the monumental inscription of the The Deeds of the Divine Augustus (Res Gestae Divi Augustus) as one of several foreign monarchs who gave hostages as tribute to the Roman emperor. Maelo, king of the Sicambri (Sugambrians), is the most likely candidate, as Strabo and Cassius Dio attest that Maelo was the leader of the Sicambri during their victory at the Clades Lolliana. Immediately after the battle, Maelo sued for peace with the Romans, gave hostages, and may have even resettled part of the Sicambri in Roman territory. However, there is no evidence that the Sicambri specifically surrendered the captured vexilla. The king of Parthia is also listed in the Res Gestae passage, which begs a comparison between this CANINIUS GALLUS denarius and the SIGNA RECE denarius (see RIC I 288) as Augustan propaganda. What can be seen here is a determination to portray any imperial endeavor in a triumphal light, even if in the end Augustus would never get to mint his own "GERMANIA CAPTA"coin. The emperor returned to Rome from Gaul in 12 BC and passed command of the legions of the lower Rhine to his potential heir Nero Claudius Drusus so that the offensive against the Germanic tribes could begin in earnest. Augustus certainly would have wanted to highlight the similarities of his own return from Gaul with those of his stepfather, Gaius Julius Caesar: the defeated bearded barbarian warrior type on the reverse evokes a similar Gallic figure featured on a few reverse types from Julius Caesar's traveling mint (e.g. Crawford 452/4 & 468/1). https://coins.ha.com/itm/ancients/roman-imperial/ancients-augustus-27-bc-ad-14-with-l-caninius-gallus-as-moneyer-ar-denarius-19mm-357-gm-12h-ngc-choice-vf/a/61373-22034.s?type=DA-DMC-CoinArchives-WorldCoins-61373-05052024 HID02906262019 © 2024 Heritage Auctions | All Rights Reserved |  |
