Augustus AR Denarius. Rome, 19-18 BC. P. Petronius Turpilianus, moneyer. CAESAR AVGVSTVS, bare head to right / P•PETRON•TVRPILIAN•III•VIR, Pegasus standing to right with left foreleg and hoof raised. RIC I 297; BMCRE 23-6 = BMCRR Rome 4536-9; BN 150 (same dies); RSC 491. 3.87g, 18mm, 9h.

Good Extremely Fine. Very Rare.

Acquired from Numismatica Ars Classica AG;
Privately purchased from Harlan J. Berk, 1980's.

It is potentially no coincidence that the issue of IIIvir monetalis P. Petronius Turpilianus showing the image of what must have been a magnificent Greek statue of Pegasus as the horse of the Muses in act of striking the ground with his hoof coincided with the year of the epic poet Virgil's death. Virgil is known to have travelled to Greece in about 19 BC to revise the Aeneid, and after meeting Augustus in Athens returned thereafter to Italy, but caught a fever and died near Brundisium later that year on 21 September.

This reverse type may be considered to allude to the spring of the Muses, the Hippokrene ('Horse's Fountain'), on Mount Helikon, where the winged stallion had struck his hoof and the spring came forth. According to Pausanias (Description of Greece, 9.31.3) the water of this spring was supposed to give poetic inspiration when imbibed. The reverse type of this issue may thus plausibly be interpreted as a subtle yet elegant commemoration of the memory of Virgil as a champion of Roman culture in the Golden Age of Augustus wherein thrived a rich appreciation of all forms of Greek culture and myth.