Numismatica Ars Classica
Auction 120 6-7 Oct 2020
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Vespasian, 69 – 79
Aureus, Lugdunum 72-73, AV 7.38 g. IMP CAES VESPAS AVG P M TR P IIII P P COS IIII Laureate head r. Rev. DE – IVDAEIS Trophy; below, pile of arms. C 319. BMC 402. RIC 301. CBN 305. Calicó 627. Hendin 769.
Very rare and in exceptional condition for the issue, undoubtedly among the finest specimens
in private hands. An important and fascinating issue with an unusual portrait and a
symbolic reverse composition. Extremely fine / about extremely fine
Vespasian fought in Claudius invasion of Britannia in AD 43 and served as a proconsular governor of Africa in AD 63, yet his personal conflicts with powerful figures made his early career difficult. He incurred the enmity of Agrippina, the wife of Claudius, and deeply offended Nero when he fell asleep during one of the Emperors long and uninspired lyric recitals. Despite these problems and a failing family fortune that compelled him to enter the mule trade, in AD 66 he was given command of the Jewish War (AD 66–73) after it became clear that the Syrian legate C. Cestius Gallus could not handle the rebels on his own. Together with his son Titus, Vespasian spent AD 67 repressing the Zealot Jewish rebels in Galilee and becoming acquainted with Josephus, the captured rebel who would go on to write the history of the war. In the following year Vespasian conquered the coastal cities of Judaea as well as Samaria, Idumaea, and Peraea and began to prepare for a final push to take the rebel stronghold of Jerusalem. Then it happened- the increasingly erratic and embattled Nero committed suicide on 9 June AD 68 and plunged the entire Empire into a bloody civil war known as the Year of the Four Emperors. The year AD 69 was largely taken up by the struggles of the usurpers Galba, Otho, and Vitellius to claim the imperial purple. At last, in July, the legions under Vespasian proclaimed him Augustus in opposition to Vitellius. Under these circumstances, Vespasian left the siege of Jerusalem in the hands of Titus and departed for Rome, where the forces of Vitellius were easily defeated. Titus captured and destroyed Jerusalem in August AD 70 after a grueling siege of four months. The glory of this victory redounded on the new Emperor, who had begun the war and under whom it had been brought to a successful conclusion. Thus, in AD 71, Vespasian celebrated a grand triumph in Rome together with the victorious Titus and his younger son Domitian. This saw vast quantities of booty and equally large numbers of prisoners paraded through the streets of Rome as commemorated in the surviving relief panels of the Arch of Titus and described in the history of Josephus. Epigraphic evidence indicates that the value of the spoils was so great that it financed the construction of the Colosseum. This monument in Rome became a memorial of the triumph of Vespasian and Titus, and a centerpiece of Flavian propaganda, which focused on the victory in the Jewish War. The present aureus, which was struck in the years following the triumph of AD 71 still makes a point of harping on the victory over the Jewish rebels by depicting a trophy of arms with a surrounding Latin legend identifying them as "taken from the Jews". One wonders whether the inscription refers only to the trophy or if it might also have served to label the coin as produced from gold plundered from Jerusalem. This seems not at all unlikely considering the metallurgic studies of Roman Republican coins that suggest that the vast majority of coins were struck from metal plundered or otherwise extracted from the provinces. In this case one can only imagine what possible treasure the metal of this coin may have belonged to before it was melted down and struck into this rare and exceptionally preserved coin of Vespasian. One also wonders whether this coin may have been struck in part to pay for Vespasians construction of the Colosseum and other monuments as part of his rebuilding program in Rome. It is a coin of artistic merit and great historical interest from every angle.
Aureus, Lugdunum 72-73, AV 7.38 g. IMP CAES VESPAS AVG P M TR P IIII P P COS IIII Laureate head r. Rev. DE – IVDAEIS Trophy; below, pile of arms. C 319. BMC 402. RIC 301. CBN 305. Calicó 627. Hendin 769.
Very rare and in exceptional condition for the issue, undoubtedly among the finest specimens
in private hands. An important and fascinating issue with an unusual portrait and a
symbolic reverse composition. Extremely fine / about extremely fine
Vespasian fought in Claudius invasion of Britannia in AD 43 and served as a proconsular governor of Africa in AD 63, yet his personal conflicts with powerful figures made his early career difficult. He incurred the enmity of Agrippina, the wife of Claudius, and deeply offended Nero when he fell asleep during one of the Emperors long and uninspired lyric recitals. Despite these problems and a failing family fortune that compelled him to enter the mule trade, in AD 66 he was given command of the Jewish War (AD 66–73) after it became clear that the Syrian legate C. Cestius Gallus could not handle the rebels on his own. Together with his son Titus, Vespasian spent AD 67 repressing the Zealot Jewish rebels in Galilee and becoming acquainted with Josephus, the captured rebel who would go on to write the history of the war. In the following year Vespasian conquered the coastal cities of Judaea as well as Samaria, Idumaea, and Peraea and began to prepare for a final push to take the rebel stronghold of Jerusalem. Then it happened- the increasingly erratic and embattled Nero committed suicide on 9 June AD 68 and plunged the entire Empire into a bloody civil war known as the Year of the Four Emperors. The year AD 69 was largely taken up by the struggles of the usurpers Galba, Otho, and Vitellius to claim the imperial purple. At last, in July, the legions under Vespasian proclaimed him Augustus in opposition to Vitellius. Under these circumstances, Vespasian left the siege of Jerusalem in the hands of Titus and departed for Rome, where the forces of Vitellius were easily defeated. Titus captured and destroyed Jerusalem in August AD 70 after a grueling siege of four months. The glory of this victory redounded on the new Emperor, who had begun the war and under whom it had been brought to a successful conclusion. Thus, in AD 71, Vespasian celebrated a grand triumph in Rome together with the victorious Titus and his younger son Domitian. This saw vast quantities of booty and equally large numbers of prisoners paraded through the streets of Rome as commemorated in the surviving relief panels of the Arch of Titus and described in the history of Josephus. Epigraphic evidence indicates that the value of the spoils was so great that it financed the construction of the Colosseum. This monument in Rome became a memorial of the triumph of Vespasian and Titus, and a centerpiece of Flavian propaganda, which focused on the victory in the Jewish War. The present aureus, which was struck in the years following the triumph of AD 71 still makes a point of harping on the victory over the Jewish rebels by depicting a trophy of arms with a surrounding Latin legend identifying them as "taken from the Jews". One wonders whether the inscription refers only to the trophy or if it might also have served to label the coin as produced from gold plundered from Jerusalem. This seems not at all unlikely considering the metallurgic studies of Roman Republican coins that suggest that the vast majority of coins were struck from metal plundered or otherwise extracted from the provinces. In this case one can only imagine what possible treasure the metal of this coin may have belonged to before it was melted down and struck into this rare and exceptionally preserved coin of Vespasian. One also wonders whether this coin may have been struck in part to pay for Vespasians construction of the Colosseum and other monuments as part of his rebuilding program in Rome. It is a coin of artistic merit and great historical interest from every angle.