Sale: Triton VII, Lot: 849. Estimate $10000.  Closing Date: Monday, 12 January 2004.  Sold For $7500. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

GAIUS (CALIGULA), with DIVUS AUGUSTUS. 37-41 AD. AR Denarius (3.76 gm). Lugdunum (Lyon) mint. Struck 37-38 AD. C CAESAR AVG GERM P M TR POT COS, bare head of Gaius (Caligula) right / Radiate head of Divus Augustus with Tiberius-like portrait right, six-rayed star on either side. RIC I 2; BMCRE 4; BN 3; RSC 11. Choice EF. ($10,000)

The accession of Gaius (Caligula) to the imperial throne on the death of his great-uncle Tiberius signalled a kind of "golden age" in that for the first time, not only did a direct biological descendant of Augustus become emperor, but one who could also claim a direct link with several important Republican figures. Through his mother, Agrippina Sr., Gaius was descended from Augustus, and also Agrippa, the victor of Actium. Gaius' father Germanaicus was the son of Nero Claudius Drusus and nephew of Tiberius, sons of Augustus' widow, Livia. Through his mother Antonia, Germanicus was the grandson of Mark Antony and Octavia, the sister of Augustus. Accordingly, many of his coins recall his dynastic connections to both the Julians and the Claudians as well as his own family, and included in their designs his mother (see lot 850 below) and his three sisters (see lot 853 below).

Like his great-grandfather Augustus did with Divus Julius Caesar, Gaius had coins struck which included Divus Augustus. While later emissions of this type (see lot 851 below) leave no doubt, since the legend DIVVS AVG PATER PATRIAE is included, this earlier denarius, struck in the opening months of the new reign is more ambiguous: it is anepigraphic; the inclusion of stars argue for recent divinity (Augustus had been deified 23 years earlier), and the features on some of these coins appear like portraits of Tiberius. Combined with the historical evidence that Gaius had personally given Tiberius' funeral oration and had asked the Senate to approach the idea of deification for Tiberius, this argues that this coin was struck during the initial days when Gaius was testing the idea. The Senate, however, refused to pursue the matter further, and the portrait was altered to resemble Augustus more closely.