The Octavian military conquests of Octavian in the numismatics: the Egypt, the asian province and the Mark Antony memory

the Egypt, the asian province and the Mark Antony memory

Abstract

Octavian had used many supports as discursive vectors in order to propagate his actions in the Roman public scene. With numismatics it wasn’t different. The historical period in which he was inserted saw a change in the way of using the space of the coins as appropriated places for the inscription, through a simple symbolic language, of diverse messages, usually with a civical/political feature. Our proposal is to take as analysis two numismatic pieces, one in commemoration of the military conquest of Egypt and another in homage to the reconquest of the Asian province. And from them demonstrate the Octavian’s preoccupation had to these objects as propitiators of the diffusion of several messages to the people, either in Rome, as in the provinces – mostly concerning to his old rival, Mark Antony – and as spaces of legitimation of his power.