The Return of the Ludi Saeculares in 17 BC

Sale: Triton XI, Lot: 773. Estimate $1500.  Closing Date: Monday, 7 January 2008.  Sold For $2800. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

Augustus, with Divus Julius Caesar. 27 BC-AD 14. AR Denarius (3.69 g, 5h). Rome mint. M. Sanquinius, moneyer. Struck 17 BC. AVGVST • DI-VI • F • LVDOS • SAE, herald of the secular games standing left, wearing long robe reaching to ankles and helmet with two long feathers, and holding winged caduceus upright in right hand and round shield, ornamented with six-pointed star, in left / M • SANQVI-NIVS • III • VIR, youthful, laureate head of deified Julius Caesar right; above, a comet with four rays and a tail. RIC I 340; RSC -; BMCRE 70 = BMCRR Rome 4584; BN 273-276. Near EF, toned, a few scrapes under tone. Extremely rare.

The Ludi Saeculares or Century Games had been celebrated in Rome since the 4th century BC. The disturbed times did not permit them to be held in 46 BC, and they were not reinstated by Augustus until 17 BC, when the first coins marking the event were struck.