Tiberius, 14-37 Aureus Lugdunum circa 14-37, AV 18.7mm., 7.56g. TI CAESAR DIVI AVG F AVGVSTVS Laureate head of Tiberius to right. Rev. PONTIF MAXIM Livia (as Pax) seated right on a chair with ornamented legs, holding inverted spear in her right hand and olive branch in her left. BMC 39. Calicó 305. Cohen 15. RIC 27.

Very Fine.

The aurei and denarii of Tiberius with the Pax seated reverse are among the most familiar coins of antiquity, at the very least because the denarius is usually described as the ëTribute Pennyí of the Bible. The type was one of three used by Augustus in the final year of his life, 13ñ14, and was adopted by Tiberius, who struck it as the principal type of his reign. The figure on the reverse ñ a seated female holding a sceptre and branch ñ certainly must be Pax if it is meant to represent a deitiy or personification, as her attributes meet that requirement perfectly. More importantly: does ëPaxí represent Livia? For the answer we might look at later coinage that might have been designed with an eye to the past. Galba provides ideal evidence, as he honoured his old friend and patroness Livia (then diva) to help legitimise his own principate. The fact that Galba struck aurei and denarii with the deified Livia standing and the accompanying inscription DIVA AVGVSTA is enough to establish the connection. However, to learn more about the seated ëPaxí type of Augustus and Tiberius, we must look to Galbaís sestertii. There we find a type with an identical seated ëPaxí with the inscription AVGVSTA in the exergue. Kraay (Aes Coinage of Galba, NNM 133, p. 58) rightly showed no hesitation in identifying the seated figure as Livia ñ not even as Pax-Livia. The combination of Galbaís explicitly labeled aurei and denarii, and his remarkable sestertius, must lead us to conclude that the ëPaxí on the coins of Augustus and Tiberius represented Livia, as these coins still would have been current ñ even common ñ during Galbaís reign, and he no doubt chose to depict Livia in the ëseated Paxí format because it would have been instantly understood by the public.