Julia as Diana

Sale: Triton XI, Lot: 795. Estimate $5000.  Closing Date: Monday, 7 January 2008.  Sold For $8500. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

Augustus. 27 BC-AD 14. AR Denarius (3.88 g, 10h). Rome mint. C. Marius C.f. Tro(mentina tribu), moneyer. Struck 13 BC. AVGVSTVS, bare head right; lituus behind / C • MARIVS • TRO III • VIR, bust of Diana (Julia) right, wearing diadem with jewel on forehead, hair knotted at back; quiver seen behind neck. RIC I 403; RSC 1 (Julia and Augustus); BMCRE 104 = BMCRR Rome 4651; BN 522-5. Near EF, lightly toned, banker’s mark on reverse, a shallow edge test cut. Very rare.

Julia was the only child of Augustus, born to his second wife Scribonia. Julia was betrothed, while still a baby, to Antony’s son Antyllus. Her first marriage was to Marcellus in 25 BC. On his death in 21 BC, she married Agrippa by whom she had five children. Her oldest, the twins Caius and Lucius, were intended for the eventual imperial succession. Upon the murder of Caius in 4 AD, Augustus reluctantly acknowledged his stepson as heir to the imperial throne.