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RIC 501 of Augustus

Augustus AE Sestertius. ca 25 BC, Asia Mint, perhaps Ephesus or Pergamum. AVGVSTVS, bare head right / large CA in beaded border within laurel wreath. BMC 713, Cohen 570, RPC 2233.

Lot No.9004. VF. 34mm.

$ 375.

Avgvstvs was born Gaius Octavius in September, 63 BC. His father died when he was four, and his grand-uncle Julius Caesar took an interest in him. He became Caesar's heir and adopted son by Caesar's will. He emerged victorious after 13 years of civil war, defeating the men who had killed Caesar, and then his erstwhile ally Marc Antony. He gradually assumed dominant civil powers, although he maintained the fiction of being the 'Princeps', or first among equals. He was voted the name 'Augustus' in 27 BC, and dated his rule from 23 BC. He peacefully transformed Rome from a republic to an empire, and died of natural causes on August 19, 14 AD.