EMPIRE, SILVER DENARIUS OF VESPASIAN, Ephesus, ca. AD 71, 3.387g, 6h. RIC 1429. Attractively toned. Bold portraits struck in high relief. Good extremely fine. Numismatica Ars Classica 2016 (97) lot 99; Cayón Subastas 2007 (13 December) lot 3238
The portraits of Vespasian and his designated successors, his sons Titus and Domitian, here serve to draw attention to Vespasian's founding a new dynasty, and probably to reassure the Romans that there was a plan for an orderly succession in the Flavian house, an important message after the upheaval of the recent civil war. Little information survives about the government during Vespasian's ten-year rule. He reformed the financial system at Rome after the campaign against Judaea ended successfully and initiated several ambitious construction projects. He began the building of the Flavian Amphitheatre, better known today as the Roman Colosseum.