Roma Numismatics Ltd
Auction XX 29-30 Oct 2020
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Vespasian Æ Sestertius. Rome, AD 71. IMP CAES VESPASIAN AVG P M TR P P P COS III, laureate head right / IVDAEA CAPTA, palm tree; to left, Vespasian, holding spear and parazonium, standing right, with foot on helmet; to right, Jewish woman seated right on cuirass, in attitude of mourning. RIC 167; C. 239; BMCRE 546; Hendin 775. 25.33g, 34mm, 6h.
Good Very Fine; with (remarkably, for a Judaea Capta type) untouched surfaces.
Acquired from Heritage World Coin Auctions.
Struck for 25 years by Vespasian and his sons Titus and Domitian, the Judaea Capta coins were issued in bronze, silver and gold by mints in Rome, throughout the Roman Empire, and in Judaea itself. They were issued in every denomination, and at least 48 different types are known. The present piece proudly displays imagery of this significant Roman victory, after which Vespasian boldly closed the gates of the Temple of Janus to signify that all of Rome's wars were ended, and that the Pax Romana again prevailed.
The obverse portrait of Vespasian shows him as strong, robust and in the prime of life; the reverse celebrates Rome and Vespasian's triumph over the Jewish revolt in Judaea, which Titus had brought to a close the previous year with the capture of Jerusalem after a seven month siege and the destruction of the Second Temple. It had been a costly and devastating war which had cost the lives of twenty five thousand Roman soldiers and somewhere between two hundred and fifty thousand and one million Jewish civilians. The reverse design is simple, but contains powerful imagery: a Jewish woman is seated in an attitude of mourning beside a date palm; behind her looms large the figure of the victorious emperor. It has been occasionally suggested that the female figure represents Jerusalem, and it is sometimes noted that the reverse of this coin can be interpreted to reflect the prophecy of Isaiah 3:8, 25-26: 'For Jerusalem is ruined, and Judah is fallen... Thy men shall fall by the sword and thy mighty in the war. And her gates shall lament and mourn, and she being desolate shall sit upon the ground'.
It is also possible that the reverse is symbolic of the general enslavement of the Jewish population; Josephus reports that one of Titus' freedmen "selected the tallest and most handsome of the youth and reserved each of them for the triumph; of the rest, those over seventeen years of age he sent in chains to the mines in Egypt, while multitudes were presented by Titus to the various provinces, to be destroyed in the theatres by the sword or by wild beasts; those under seventeen were sold".
The Arch of Titus in Rome, completed by his brother Domitian shortly after his death and in commemoration of this victory, depicts the Roman army carrying off the treasures from the Temple of Jerusalem, including the Menorah, after the siege of the city had ended. The spoils were used to fund the building of the Flavian Amphitheatre, more commonly known as the Colosseum, the great lasting monument of the Flavian dynasty.
Good Very Fine; with (remarkably, for a Judaea Capta type) untouched surfaces.
Acquired from Heritage World Coin Auctions.
Struck for 25 years by Vespasian and his sons Titus and Domitian, the Judaea Capta coins were issued in bronze, silver and gold by mints in Rome, throughout the Roman Empire, and in Judaea itself. They were issued in every denomination, and at least 48 different types are known. The present piece proudly displays imagery of this significant Roman victory, after which Vespasian boldly closed the gates of the Temple of Janus to signify that all of Rome's wars were ended, and that the Pax Romana again prevailed.
The obverse portrait of Vespasian shows him as strong, robust and in the prime of life; the reverse celebrates Rome and Vespasian's triumph over the Jewish revolt in Judaea, which Titus had brought to a close the previous year with the capture of Jerusalem after a seven month siege and the destruction of the Second Temple. It had been a costly and devastating war which had cost the lives of twenty five thousand Roman soldiers and somewhere between two hundred and fifty thousand and one million Jewish civilians. The reverse design is simple, but contains powerful imagery: a Jewish woman is seated in an attitude of mourning beside a date palm; behind her looms large the figure of the victorious emperor. It has been occasionally suggested that the female figure represents Jerusalem, and it is sometimes noted that the reverse of this coin can be interpreted to reflect the prophecy of Isaiah 3:8, 25-26: 'For Jerusalem is ruined, and Judah is fallen... Thy men shall fall by the sword and thy mighty in the war. And her gates shall lament and mourn, and she being desolate shall sit upon the ground'.
It is also possible that the reverse is symbolic of the general enslavement of the Jewish population; Josephus reports that one of Titus' freedmen "selected the tallest and most handsome of the youth and reserved each of them for the triumph; of the rest, those over seventeen years of age he sent in chains to the mines in Egypt, while multitudes were presented by Titus to the various provinces, to be destroyed in the theatres by the sword or by wild beasts; those under seventeen were sold".
The Arch of Titus in Rome, completed by his brother Domitian shortly after his death and in commemoration of this victory, depicts the Roman army carrying off the treasures from the Temple of Jerusalem, including the Menorah, after the siege of the city had ended. The spoils were used to fund the building of the Flavian Amphitheatre, more commonly known as the Colosseum, the great lasting monument of the Flavian dynasty.