Denarius of Octavian

By this point in Roman history, Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus would be known to most Romans. As the heir to Julius Caesar, Octavian partnered with Mark Antony to defeat Caesar’s assassins, Brutus and Cassius, route the remaining Pompeians in the West, and finally turn on his brother-in-law Antony and Cleopatra at the culminating Battle of Actium.

During this period, the Imperators, Octavian, Antony, and Sextus Pompey, waged a promotional campaign through their coinage to establish their right to rule. Before Actium, Octavian’s coinage mainly referenced his connection to the Defied Julius through the label “CAESAR DIVI F” (Son of the Divine Caesar), but now having defeated Antony, he embraced a new title as “IMP CAESAR” (Imperator Caesar).

Our word Emperor derives directly from the title Imperator, but it was understood differently at this time. After a great battle or successful campaign a victorious Roman general was hailed Imperator by his legions. Only later, as each Caesar adopted the title Imperator, does it transform into our understanding of Emperor, one who rules a vast empire and holds imperium, the power of command and even life and death, over his subjects.

The reverse shows the Curia Julia with IMP CAESAR (missing) across the pediment. The structure still stands in the Roman Forum and retains its historical features. Its good condition is due to renovations by Mussolini based upon Diocletian’s 4th-century design.

It is interesting to consider that this coin celebrating a new Curia, which it and the Senate were central Republican ideas, merely marks the Republic’s death. In the coming Augustan age, power was not held by votes in the Curia but by Emperors with their legions in the field and the Praetorians in the capitol.