Roma Numismatics Ltd
Auction XVII 28 Mar 2019
View prices realized
► Sale information
Find similar lots
Caligula Æ Sestertius. Rome, AD 37-38. C CAESAR AVG GERMANICVS PON M TR POT, laureate bust left / AGRIPPINA DRVSILLA IVLIA, the three sisters of Caligula standing facing: Agrippina, as Securitas, holds cornucopiae in right hand resting on column, with left hand on shoulder of Drusilla, as Concordia, who holds patera and cornucopiae; Julia, as Fortuna, holds rudder and cornucopiae; SC in exergue. RIC 33; C. 4; BN 4; BMCRE 36. 24.11g, 35mm, 6h.
Extremely Fine; a beautiful coin displaying remarkable preservation of fine detail. Rare.
Purchased from Bertolami Fine Arts Ltd, London;
Ex private British collection.
The truth of Caligula's relationship with his sisters, and with Drusilla in particular as his favourite of the three may never be accurately discerned from the surviving historical sources; we only say with certainty that Caligula was devoted to his sister. When in AD 37 Caligula succeeded to the throne he arranged the marriage of Drusilla to his friend, Marcus Aemilius Lepidus. Furthermore during an illness in 37 CE, the emperor changed his will to name Drusilla his heir, making her the first woman to be named heir in a Roman imperial will (probably an attempt to continue the Julian line through any children she might have, leaving her husband as regent in the interim). Caligula recovered however, but in June AD 38 at the age of about twenty-two, Drusilla died, seemingly of an illness; the loss of his favourite sister badly affected the emperor who buried her with the honours of an Augusta, acted as a grieving widower, and a year later named his newborn (and only known) daughter Julia Drusilla in his sister's memory. Meanwhile, the widowed husband of Drusilla and now heir apparent Marcus Aemilius Lepidus reportedly became a lover to Livilla and Agrippina, with whom he was alleged to have plotted against the emperor. Discovered, Lepidus was executed swiftly and Livilla and Agrippina were exiled to the Pontine Islands.
Extremely Fine; a beautiful coin displaying remarkable preservation of fine detail. Rare.
Purchased from Bertolami Fine Arts Ltd, London;
Ex private British collection.
The truth of Caligula's relationship with his sisters, and with Drusilla in particular as his favourite of the three may never be accurately discerned from the surviving historical sources; we only say with certainty that Caligula was devoted to his sister. When in AD 37 Caligula succeeded to the throne he arranged the marriage of Drusilla to his friend, Marcus Aemilius Lepidus. Furthermore during an illness in 37 CE, the emperor changed his will to name Drusilla his heir, making her the first woman to be named heir in a Roman imperial will (probably an attempt to continue the Julian line through any children she might have, leaving her husband as regent in the interim). Caligula recovered however, but in June AD 38 at the age of about twenty-two, Drusilla died, seemingly of an illness; the loss of his favourite sister badly affected the emperor who buried her with the honours of an Augusta, acted as a grieving widower, and a year later named his newborn (and only known) daughter Julia Drusilla in his sister's memory. Meanwhile, the widowed husband of Drusilla and now heir apparent Marcus Aemilius Lepidus reportedly became a lover to Livilla and Agrippina, with whom he was alleged to have plotted against the emperor. Discovered, Lepidus was executed swiftly and Livilla and Agrippina were exiled to the Pontine Islands.