Augustus Reinstates the “Ludi Saeculares”

Sale: CNG 81, Lot: 980. Estimate $1000.  Closing Date: Wednesday, 20 May 2009.  Sold For $1800. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

Augustus, with Divus Julius Caesar. 27 BC-AD 14. AR Denarius (4.11 g, 10h). Rome mint. M. Sanquinius, moneyer. Struck 17 BC. Herald of the secular games standing left, holding winged caduceus and round shield / Laureate head of deified Julius Caesar right; comet above. RIC I 340; RSC -. Good VF, toned, minor porosity, traces of deposits on reverse, hairline flan crack. 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.