Roma Numismatics Ltd
E-Sale 52 10 Jan 2019
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Domitian AV Aureus. Rome, AD 92-94. DOMITIANVS AVGVSTVS, bare head right / GERMANICVS, Domitian standing in quadriga moving to left, holding laurel branch in right hand and sceptre in left; COS XVI in exergue. RIC 749; BN 190; C. 161 var. (laureate); BMCRE 213; Calicó 853. 7.55g, 20mm, 7h.
Good Very Fine; scattered marks, minor edge bruise. Very Rare - only four examples on CoinArchives.
Ex Gorny & Mosch 219, 10 March 2014, lot 392 (hammer: EUR 9,000);
Ex Triton XV, 3 January 2012, lot 1518.
This aureus belongs to a series struck in commemoration of Domitian's campaigns against the Chatti in Germany in AD 83, for which he celebrated a triumph and was hailed Germanicus, an honour he had desperately craved.
However, from the very outset it seems that commentators doubted the truth of Domitian's success against the Chatti and believed that his victory might have been exaggerated. Suetonius notes that before the campaign against the Chatti, the emperor had been dissuaded from a quite unnecessary expedition into Gaul and Germany, while Tacitus in his 'Agricola' states that Domitian "felt conscious that all men laughed at his late mock triumph over Germany". That the tribe had not been decimated in battle by Domitian is confirmed by their involvement in quelling the Revolt of Saturninus in AD 89, confirming the hints left by the ancient authors that the conquest of Germania was something of a sham.
Good Very Fine; scattered marks, minor edge bruise. Very Rare - only four examples on CoinArchives.
Ex Gorny & Mosch 219, 10 March 2014, lot 392 (hammer: EUR 9,000);
Ex Triton XV, 3 January 2012, lot 1518.
This aureus belongs to a series struck in commemoration of Domitian's campaigns against the Chatti in Germany in AD 83, for which he celebrated a triumph and was hailed Germanicus, an honour he had desperately craved.
However, from the very outset it seems that commentators doubted the truth of Domitian's success against the Chatti and believed that his victory might have been exaggerated. Suetonius notes that before the campaign against the Chatti, the emperor had been dissuaded from a quite unnecessary expedition into Gaul and Germany, while Tacitus in his 'Agricola' states that Domitian "felt conscious that all men laughed at his late mock triumph over Germany". That the tribe had not been decimated in battle by Domitian is confirmed by their involvement in quelling the Revolt of Saturninus in AD 89, confirming the hints left by the ancient authors that the conquest of Germania was something of a sham.