Divus Augustus, after 14 CE. Dupondius struck under Claudius circa 41-50, Rome. DIVVS · AVGVSTVS Radiate head left between S - C / DIVA – AVGVSTA Livia seated left on throne, holding corn-ears and sceptre. 15,89g. Cohen 93; RIC 101. A perfect specimen. Provenance: NGSA 5 (3 December 2008), 212. Baron Lorne Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection. Although it bears the portrait of Augustus, this dupondius was struck under Claudius, around thirty years after Augustus’s death. It can be seen as a form of monetary homage to the first Roman emperor. For an emperor with a fragile claim to legitimacy like Claudius—who had come to the throne through the support of the Praetorian Guard following a conspiracy—it was politically useful to associate his image with that of an emperor as popular and prestigious as Augustus. Just as interesting is the representation of Livia on the reverse. If Augustus was one of Rome’s greatest emperors, Livia was arguably the greatest empress in Roman history, embodying the traditional ideal of the Roman woman. She was one of her husband’s most important advisers and was even deified after her death, like Augustus. By issuing this coin, Claudius was therefore placing himself under the protection of this deified couple, who embodied the ideal Roman marriage. There is a certain irony in this when we consider Claudius’s own disastrous love life. He renounced his first wife, who was accused of adultery; he divorced his second wife after less than two years of marriage; his third wife openly cheated on him and, according to the ancient sources, even prostituted herself and remarried another man while still married to Claudius; and his fourth wife, Agrippina, is said by the ancient sources to have had him poisoned. This dupondius may perhaps reflect something Claudius wished he had but never did: a happy marriage, perhaps one of the few things an emperor could not buy.