Augustus
Civic honors, virtues, and political reform

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Caesar Augustus is arguably one of the most well-known of the Roman emperors, and such lasting notoriety is in large part due to Augustus being a man of numerous accomplishments, most memorable of which are militaristic ones (though the personal accomplishments are always rooted in military victories). The study of Augustan coinage is of particular interest due to the kinds of accomplishments and imagery that is boasted on them (namely, the honors/virtues that Augustus personally possessed and the military victories that were granted to him due to such virtues). In the study of classical antiquity, such imagery is often debated as being of a self-serving and propagandistic nature on the part of Augustus. This assertion, however, is questionable. As seen in a range of different types of Augustan coinage, the assertion of Augustus' accomplishments as consul and emperor, his portraiture, and his personal references to gods do not necessarily equate to a one-dimensional propagandistic methodology. The imagery that appears on Augustan coinage is intimately linked to Augustus' political reforms. From the beginning of his reign as sole emperor of Rome in 27 BC, his coinage is heavily focused on representations of divinity, yet with the advent of the Julian Laws and the influx of new senators under whom Augustus implemented his political reforms, the imagery on coins shifts from divinity to civic honors and virtues as bestowed upon Augustus by the senate and the Roman people.