Your Augustus As was struck in Rome, 6 BC. Lucius Valerius Messalla Volusus was moneyer under Augustus in 6 BC. Valerius Messalla was a Roman senator, Consul in 5 AD, who flourished under the reign of Augustus. Subsequently he was proconsul of the Roman province Asia, where his cruelties drew on him the anger of Augustus. A condemnatory decree from the senate found him guilty. Although it has yet to be discovered if this is accurate, Augustus wrote about the fall of Lucius Valerius in his book, De Voleso Messala. Same issue as this one: Rome, 6 BC 26x27 mm, 9.908 g RIC² 441; CBN 738; BMCRE 241-242; Ob.: CAESAR•AVGVST•PONT MAX•TRIBVNIC•POT bare head right Rev.: VOLVSVS VALER•MESSAL•IIIVIR•A•A•A•F F around large S•C
Obv.: CAESAR AV[G. PONT. MAX. T]RIBVNIC. POTEST., bare head right. Rev.: L. SVRDINVS [III VIR] A.A.A.F.F. around large SC. Moneyer : Lucius Naevius Surdinus, in 15 BC. He later became a praetor. there is a famous inscription on the Roman Forum pavement mentioning his name.
The inscription on the Forum reads: : “L. Naevius L Surdinus pr[aetor] inter civis et peregrinos”. I think peregrinos means pilgrim, so it probably means "among citizens and pilgrims" reminding perhaps that he had financed the paving with Travertin plates after the fire of 14 AD.
I don't think so. In Latin, peregrinus means foreigner. In the early Roman Empire there were two kinds of people, the cives Romani (Roman citizens) and the peregrini (foreigners). These "foreigners" were citizens of their home city or community, but not citizens of Rome. They were subject to their traditional laws, not to Roman law. In the New Testament you can see the difference. In the Gospels, when Jesus of Nazareth was brought before the prefect Pontius Pilatus, he found the defendant had not violated any Roman law, but being a peregrinus, he was to be brought before a Jewish court, the Sanhedrin, who found him guilty of blasphemy according to Jewish law and sentenced him to death. When later Paul of Tarsus was arrested for the same motive, he said he was a Roman citizen and appealed to the imperial court in Rome. It was the right of any Roman citizen, and the governor could not ignore this. In Rome, a praetor was a judge. The "praetor inter civis et peregrinos" had to deal with cases opposing a Roman citizen and a peregrinus, who had two different legal statuses and were not subject to the same laws.
