Capricorn / Scorpion AE17 VF
$100.00
May-19-03


Time of Augustus (?), Æ17, (2.58g) Cyprus Mint (?) Die axis is 12:00, if
the star is oriented above on both sides. Capricorn on a globe, star
before. / Scorpion, with a star above it. RPC 3916. VF, dark patina.

A puzzling issue of tesserae apparently dates from about the late reign of
Augustus. (RPC 3916) The obverse shows a Capricorn on a globe, with a star
before it. The edge is beveled and more concave on the reverse. The reverse
has a scorpion, with a star above it. The diameter is about 17mm and the
die axis is 12:00, if the star is oriented above on both sides. Neither
side has any legend. Four examples were found with late Ptolemaic and
Augustan bronzes below a single mosaic floor at Paphos II. Nicolaou
suggests " . . . it would be more reasonable to attribute them to an
uncertain mint (Commagene (?)), than to Cyprus, the more so since there is
no strong evidence supporting the latter attribution. The few specimens
occurring in Cyprus may have come into the island through trade." However
RPC I Supplement notes twenty-four examples at the Nikosia Museum in
Cyprus.

The obverse with star before the Capricorn is similar to the reverse of
Augustan denarii (RIC 542). The Capricorn was the birth-sign of Augustus,
and the other coins found under the same mosaic suggest a date of about
this time. Scorpions were and are native to Cyprus and Southeastern Europe.
The Scorpion on the coin, is probably a second birth-sign, Scorpio. Livia
was born January 30th, which makes her an Aquarius. The exact date of Caius
Caesar's birth in 20 BC is known to between August 14th and September 13th
(Likely Virgo, perhaps Leo). But, Tiberius was born on November 16th, 42
BC. He was a Scorpio. Perhaps, the coin connects to the dynastic
relationship celebrated on larger double portrait dupondii. The 17 mm
diameter and 2.68 gram average weight of the sixteen examples of this coin
in RPC is about equal to the quadrans of Rome.