![]() Caligula was murdered in AD 41, but Agrippa was also a friend of the new emperor, Claudius. ![]() However, he had befriended the future emperor Caligula, and upon Tiberius’ death, Caligula cleared Agrippa of the charges and made him a provincial governor. Agrippa’s return home to Idumaea in the east in AD 23 was not a success, and he returned to Rome, only to be accused of treason by Tiberius. Marcus Julius Agrippa (referred to as “Herod” in the biblical Acts of the Apostles) was a grandson of Herod the Great, who sent Agrippa to grow up at the Emperor Tiberius’ court in Rome. King of the Roman Province of Judaea (AD 37-44) ![]() (See also: Ara Pacis Augustae Livia Gaius or Lucius Caesar.) Augustus was thereafter known and revered for bringing peace and good fortune to the Roman Empire. Augustus died in AD 14, at which point the Senate decreed that Augustus should be included among the gods of the state. The reign of Augustus was generally a stable and prosperous one. In 23 BC he received proconsular imperium (powers as commander-in-chief of military forces) and the tribunician power for life, which were seen as the definitive powers of his supreme authority as emperor of the Roman Empire. In January of 27 BC, Octavian received the honorific title of “Augustus” which proclaimed his superior position in the state. Octavian defeated Antony at the Battle of Actium in 31 BC and assumed supreme power in Rome. Soon the Second Triumvirate began to deteriorate. From this point on, Octavian came to be known as divi filius, “son of the Divine (Julius).” In 42 BC, the triumvirs avenged the murder of Caesar by defeating the assassins Brutus and Cassius at the Battle of Philippi. In 43 BC, after gaining the consulship, Octavian entered into an agreement with his rivals in power, Marcus Antonius and Marcus Aemilius Lepidus, known as the Second Triumvirate. He was the great-nephew of Julius Caesar and was adopted as Caesar’s son. Gaius Octavius, the future emperor Augustus, was born on September 23, 63 BC. As a result, a number of coin types commonly found on Greek coins made their way onto the faces of Roman coins. Since the Greeks had been experienced in producing coinage since the seventh century BC, the Romans brought Greek workers from the mints of Southern Italy (also known as Magna Graecia or “Great Greece”) to develop a silver currency. Thus, during the mid-third century BC, Roman moneyers were obligated to develop a new coinage that would accommodate for the complexity of the growing Roman economy. The Romans no doubt found these large pieces of bronze cumbersome and inefficient to use. Vents were incorporated into the moulds to prevent the bronze from blistering. These moulds consisted of carvings of exotic animals or gods with the ship’s prow eventually becoming a common feature. These pieces (at times weighing almost a pound) were cast in a two-piece mould made of either steatite or baked clay inlaid with some form of carbon to produce a smooth surface. These lumps of bronze eventually graduated to bars of cast bronze known as Aes Signatum and cast coins called Aes Grave which date from about 269 BC. The lumps consisted mostly of copper with a small amount of tin. Around the fifth century BC, or even earlier, lumps of bronze called Aes Rude came to be used as money since they could be used to produce tools and weapons. From the earliest times of the Roman Republic until the fifth to fourth centuries BC, the Roman economy functioned on a system of barter in which cattle were used as a means of exchange.
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