Lot 1197
Tiberius. Gold Aureus (7.95 g), AD 14-37. Lugdunum, AD 14/5. TI CAESAR DIVI AVG F AVGVSTVS, laureate head of Tiberius right. Rev. TR POT XVI IMP VII, the emperor in slow quadriga right, holding laurel-branch and an eagle-tipped scepter. (RIC 1; BMC 1; Calicó 307). Rare first issue. Slightly off-center on reverse. Choice very fine. Estimate $9,500UP
Ex Archer M. Huntington Collection.
The reverse of this aureus emphasizes the legitimacy of Tiberius as the chosen heir of Augustus and rightful second emperor of the Julio-Claudian house. He appears in a quadriga holding a laurel branch and the eagle-tipped consular scepter in the role of the triumphator. This can only refer to the triumph that Tiberius celebrated in AD 12 upon the successful completion of his campaigns in Pannonia. According to Suetonius, Tiberius rode in the triumphal procession, but before he reached the Capitol he dismounted from his chariot and fell at the knees of Augustus as a sign of filial (by adoption) piety. In response to this touching act, a law was passed that essentially made Tiberius co-princeps with Augustus and permitted him to govern provinces and undertake the census. Thus the coin, struck in AD 14/5 serves to remind the user of the events of only a few years earlier at a time when there was still a great deal of confusion about how the imperial succession would play out.
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