ACT IMPERATOR [X OR XII]

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ACT IMPerator [X or XII] Apollo, clothed in the stola, holds the lyre in his left hand and the plectrum in his right. On gold and silver of Augustus, struck v.c. 742, B.C. 12. - Thefigure and abbreviated word ACT. bear allusion to the battle of Actium, which gave Augustus the empire of the world, and at which, according to the poetic flatterers of that Prince, Apollo flew to his sup-port. The gratitude which Augustus professed towards Apollo is testified on many coins, and other monuments, as well as by ancient writers. But Suetonius states that, before the great game of Actium was played, Augustus had begun to manifest his devotion to the worship of Apollo. There are those who suppose the figure on this reverse to be one of the Muses, substituted for that of Apollo: but this is a wrong conjecture;because, on a coin of the Antestia family, a similar figure in the stola, is accompanied by the inscription APOLLINI ACTIO. Eckhel (vi. p107) says, Nota est Citharoedorum, et Apollinis citharoedi stola, sive palla cum ex monumentis, tum scriptoribus (see coins of Nero inscribed PONT MAX). And Tibullus speaking of Apollo citharoedus (the harp-playing Apollo) says, Ima videbatur talis illudere palla, Namque haea in nitide corpore vestis erat. Actius Apollo was worshipped by the Romans after the time of Augustus in memory of the battle of Actium. See Apollo.
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