Denarius (Coin) Portraying Octavian (36 BCE): Artwork and History
Denarius (Coin) Portraying Octavian at the Art Institute of Chicago: date, artist attribution, materials and the museum's explanation of the work.
Denarius (Coin) Portraying Octavian (36 BCE) is in the Art Institute of Chicago collection. The museum lists its creator attribution as Roman.
The work and its context
The Art Institute of Chicago describes the work:
The front (obverse) of this coin portrays the head of Octavian, bearded and facing to the right. On the back (reverse), priestly instruments including an augur's wand, jug, and aspergillum are depicted. On the back (reverse), priestly instruments are shown - from left to right: a simpulum (ladle), sprinkler, ewer (jug), and lituus (auger's wand).
Object facts
- Title: Denarius (Coin) Portraying Octavian
- Date: 36 BCE
- Artist attribution: Roman
- Place of origin: Italy
- Medium: Silver
- Dimensions: Diam.: 2 cm (13/16 in.)
- Type: Coin
- Department: Arts of Greece, Rome, and Byzantium
- Reference number: 1923.1252
Collection credit
Gift of Mrs. William Nelson Pelouze
View the original
Explore the artwork in the Art Institute's collection, including its image and the museum's current catalogue details.
The description above is credited to the Art Institute of Chicago and reused under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0; HTML formatting has been converted to plain text. Other catalogue metadata and the public-domain image are provided under CC0 1.0.
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