ABSTRACT
The self that Augustus presented was polymorphous: the evolution of Triumvirate and Principate shows that it depended on circumstances, on medium, above all on audience. He was avenger of Caesar, military victor, restorer of the Commonwealth, popular leader, reformer, elder statesman and a personage more than human who was moving towards the supreme honour of state cult. The public played its part in creating these personalities, but this chapter is concerned with Octavian/Augustus own efforts and guidance. The coinage began to focus on Augustus plans for the future: in 13 BC it showed him and his political partner Agrippa, their heads back to back on obverses and on reverses seated together on the tribunician bench; Julia appeared on another reverse between her sons Gaius and Lucius. In 8 BC the boys graduated to a military context as equites; finally came Tiberius, bareheaded or in his triumphal chariot.
