Augustus, 27 BC - 14 CE. Cistophorus 27-26 BC, Ephesus or Pergamon. IMP CAESAR Bare head of Augustus right / AVGVSTVS Sphinx with raised wings seated right. 12,10g. BMC 702; RIC 492; Sutherland Group IV, 121 (this coin). An extraordinary specimen in perfect state of conservation. Good extremely fine. Provenance: Certainly from the Auguste de Belfort Collection (1824-1907), Henri Hoffmann (20-26 February 1888), 163, Pl. I. Vicomte Louis de Sartiges Collection (1859-1924), Naville XVIII (10 October 1938), 37. UBS 78 (9-10 September 2008), 1246. Baron Lorne Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection. According to Suetonius, Augustus used a sphinx as the symbol on his signet ring, perhaps reflecting the creature’s reputation as an imposing and vigilant guardian. His seal was impressed upon all his private correspondence and official documents. Both Pliny and Dio Cassius recount that Octavian entrusted a duplicate of this ring to Agrippa and Maecenas, enabling them to issue edicts and letters with his delegated authority whenever he was absent. Two sphinxes are also depicted on the famous Augustus of Prima Porta statue (Vatican Museums), positioned on the emperor’s cuirass at the shoulders. Sutherland considers it highly probable that the Sphinx depicted on this cistophorus was directly inspired by the sphinx of Augustus’ signet ring. On this coin, the sphinx is depicted according to the Greek tradition: a female creature with majestic wings. It was a feared creature that killed those who failed to answer its riddles. The episode of Oedipus, who solves the sphinx’s riddle, underscores the terrifying nature of this mythological being. In the Greco-Roman world, the sphinx was associated with Apollo, God of the sun and the arts, but also the protective deity of Augustus. The Greek sphinx thus differed from the Egyptian sphinx, which was represented with the body of a lion and a human head, often that of the pharaoh. In this form, Egyptian sphinxes were guardian spirits associated with the solar deity Sekhmet. Only 13 specimens known according to the Roman Provincial Coinage (RPC).