Augustus’ defeat of Mark Antony and Cleopatra at Actium is often seen as the end of the Roman Republic and ushering in the Empire. In reality, the Republic had been dead in all but name for decades, as the Roman state and its overseas territories descended into an arena for ambitious generals to compete amongst each other. What changed as a result of Actium was that one man had emerged truly supreme from the fifty-year fray, and in the years to follow Octavian was able to systematically concentrate power around himself and his family in such a manner that left no doubts about Rome’s new status as an empire.


This denarius, struck three years after the naval victory over Antony and Cleopatra, is one of Augustus’ most memorable and symbolic types. The reverse bears a crocodile, which would have been unambiguously understood as a reference to Egypt by Romans of the time. In case anyone required more clarity, the legend reads “AEGYPTO CAPTA,” or “Egypt has been conquered.” The annexation of Cleopatra’s former kingdom was the Roman state’s most prized conquest; Egypt had been the richest land in the Mediterranean for centuries and, under the Ptolemaic Greeks, had asserted its status as the center of learning and philosophy in the Hellenistic world, boasting such wonders as the Lighthouse and Library of Alexandria.


The coin fits into a broader propaganda campaign of the Augustan era that sought to emphasize Rome’s dominance over foreign adversaries, a trend expressed clearly through the emperor’s coinage. The conquered crocodile of Egypt would have been a powerful reminder of Rome’s greatness and might, as was the defeated and submissive Parthian soldier that appeared on later coinage of Augustus, who was shown presenting the lost legionary standards of Carrhae.

Below: Exceedingly rare denarius of Augustus, 19/8 BC. The obverse shows a young Hercules, while the reverse depicts a submissive Parthian presenting the lost legionary standard on bended knee.