Artemide Aste s.r.l.
Auction XLVIII 2 Dec 2017
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Nero with Statilia Messalina. AE 25 mm. Hypaepa mint, Lydia. Gaios. Ioulius Hegesippos Grammateus, c. 66-68 AD. Obv. NEPΩN/MECCAΛINA. Draped bust of Messalina right, facing laureate head of Nero left. Rev. YΠA/IOY ΓP- HΓHCIΠΠ/OC. Facing cult statue of Artemis. RPC 2543. BMC 21. AE. g. 10.17 RRR. Very rare and in good condition for the issue. Earthen green patina. A few traces of corrosion, otherwise good VF.
The third and final wife of Nero, Statilia Messalina was empress from 66-68. She was wealthy, well-bred, and was noted for her intelligence and beauty. Regrettably for her, she married Nero when he was at his most depraved.
Though Statilia Messalina's family was noble at the time of her marriage to Nero, its fame was recent, and due almost entirely to the achievements of T. Statilius Taurus, who was second only to Agrippa in his distinction as a commander of Augustus. She seems to have been a daughter of a later T. Statilius Taurus, who was consul in 44.
In 65 Nero had kicked to death his beloved wife Poppaea, who was then pregnant with their second child (the first one having died at 4 months old). After this tragic event, Nero went into depression, which only worsened after he was refused marriage by Claudia Antonia, another daughter of his adoptive father Claudius, and a half-sister of his first wife. For refusing, Nero implicated Claudia Antonia in Piso's plot of 65, and in the next year put her to death. Meanwhile, Nero continued his search for a bride.
In that same year, he decided upon Statilia Messalina, who had been a lover of his. However she had recently married Marcus (Julius) Vestinus Atticus – her fourth husband – a man who not only was one of the consuls of 65, but who was a political enemy of Nero. So Nero decided to remove Vestinus, but when it could not be proved that he had been privy to the murder plot of Piso, Nero resorted to strong-arm tactics. He sent guards to collect him at his home high above the Forum, but Vestinus locked himself in a bedroom and committed suicide.
Although Nero was murdered in the Palace coup of 68, Statilia Messalina survived the revolution and the civil war that followed. She would have married the futur emperor Otho (...) but his death not prevented the union. Indeed, Suetonius tell us that of the two letters Otho wrote the night before he commetted suicide, one of them was to Statilia Messalina.
Statilia Messalina is represented on a very few provincial issues.
(D. L. Vagi. Coinage and History of the Roman Empire, vol. I History, p. 173).
Provenance:
Helios 5, 794.
The third and final wife of Nero, Statilia Messalina was empress from 66-68. She was wealthy, well-bred, and was noted for her intelligence and beauty. Regrettably for her, she married Nero when he was at his most depraved.
Though Statilia Messalina's family was noble at the time of her marriage to Nero, its fame was recent, and due almost entirely to the achievements of T. Statilius Taurus, who was second only to Agrippa in his distinction as a commander of Augustus. She seems to have been a daughter of a later T. Statilius Taurus, who was consul in 44.
In 65 Nero had kicked to death his beloved wife Poppaea, who was then pregnant with their second child (the first one having died at 4 months old). After this tragic event, Nero went into depression, which only worsened after he was refused marriage by Claudia Antonia, another daughter of his adoptive father Claudius, and a half-sister of his first wife. For refusing, Nero implicated Claudia Antonia in Piso's plot of 65, and in the next year put her to death. Meanwhile, Nero continued his search for a bride.
In that same year, he decided upon Statilia Messalina, who had been a lover of his. However she had recently married Marcus (Julius) Vestinus Atticus – her fourth husband – a man who not only was one of the consuls of 65, but who was a political enemy of Nero. So Nero decided to remove Vestinus, but when it could not be proved that he had been privy to the murder plot of Piso, Nero resorted to strong-arm tactics. He sent guards to collect him at his home high above the Forum, but Vestinus locked himself in a bedroom and committed suicide.
Although Nero was murdered in the Palace coup of 68, Statilia Messalina survived the revolution and the civil war that followed. She would have married the futur emperor Otho (...) but his death not prevented the union. Indeed, Suetonius tell us that of the two letters Otho wrote the night before he commetted suicide, one of them was to Statilia Messalina.
Statilia Messalina is represented on a very few provincial issues.
(D. L. Vagi. Coinage and History of the Roman Empire, vol. I History, p. 173).
Provenance:
Helios 5, 794.