Roma Numismatics Ltd
Auction XX 29-30 Oct 2020
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Vespasian AV Aureus. Rome, AD 76. IMP CAESAR VESPASIANVS AVG, laureate head right / COS VII above heifer standing to right on single ground line. RIC 96; C. 117; BMCRE 176; Calicó 622b. 7.46g, 21mm, 6h.
Near Mint State.
From the Long Valley River Collection;
Ex Heritage World Coin Auctions, CICF Signature Sale 3032, 10 April 2014, lot 23566 (sold for USD 37,500);
Ex Stack's Rare Coins, 2-3 December 1997, lot 349;
Ex Stack's Rare Coins, 10-11 December 1987, lot 3142;
Ex Bank Leu AG, Auction 38, 13 May 1986, lot 246.
Flavius Vespasianus rose to power from very humble origins and was made emperor by the Roman eastern army in the chaotic Year of the Four Emperors, AD 69. From the outset, therefore, the legitimisation of his rule required substantial efforts. It was crucial that Vespasian distanced himself from the scandals of the Neronian age and the turmoil of civil war. One way he sought to uphold his worth was through aligning himself with Augustan values. An obvious choice, since Augustus was not only the founding father of the principate, but also successfully reunited the Romans after decades of civil war.
This coin, though simple at first sight, is a fine example of Vespasian's effort to associate himself with Augustus. It takes up a type struck under the first emperor, although the subject of the original coin is somewhat disputed in scholarship: it might refer to one of four cow sculptures by the famous Greek artist Myron, which Augustus had placed in the Temple of Apollo (Sextus Propertius, The Love Elegies, II.31); to a statue of Poseidon Tauros, which he would have seen during his visit to Samos in 21/20 BC (Sutherland in RIC); or to the 'butting bull' coinage of Augustus' home town Thurium.
Whatever its original reference, in Vespasian's usage of the motif, there is further evidence that many of his contemporaries would have linked the image to Myron's statue. Since, after Augustus had housed Myron's sculptures in the Temple of Apollo for all citizens to admire, Nero, during the construction of his Domus Aurea claimed them as his own and transferred them to his private residence. Vespasian, in turn, put them back into the public sphere in the portico of his Temple of Peace built just after his accession as Pliny describes: "among the list of works I have referred to, all the most celebrated have now been dedicated by the emperor Vespasian in the Temple of Peace and his other public buildings; they had been looted by Nero, who conveyed them all to Rome and arranged them in the sitting-rooms of his Golden Mansion" (NH 34.84). Seen like this, this coin emphasizes Vespasian's alignment with Augustus not only by reproducing an Augustan motive but also more fundamentally by referring to an act reaffirming Augustan values: instead of preserving the treasures of the state to the exclusive usage by the emperor, as Nero did, both Augustus and Vespasian prided themselves in sharing them with the public.
Near Mint State.
From the Long Valley River Collection;
Ex Heritage World Coin Auctions, CICF Signature Sale 3032, 10 April 2014, lot 23566 (sold for USD 37,500);
Ex Stack's Rare Coins, 2-3 December 1997, lot 349;
Ex Stack's Rare Coins, 10-11 December 1987, lot 3142;
Ex Bank Leu AG, Auction 38, 13 May 1986, lot 246.
Flavius Vespasianus rose to power from very humble origins and was made emperor by the Roman eastern army in the chaotic Year of the Four Emperors, AD 69. From the outset, therefore, the legitimisation of his rule required substantial efforts. It was crucial that Vespasian distanced himself from the scandals of the Neronian age and the turmoil of civil war. One way he sought to uphold his worth was through aligning himself with Augustan values. An obvious choice, since Augustus was not only the founding father of the principate, but also successfully reunited the Romans after decades of civil war.
This coin, though simple at first sight, is a fine example of Vespasian's effort to associate himself with Augustus. It takes up a type struck under the first emperor, although the subject of the original coin is somewhat disputed in scholarship: it might refer to one of four cow sculptures by the famous Greek artist Myron, which Augustus had placed in the Temple of Apollo (Sextus Propertius, The Love Elegies, II.31); to a statue of Poseidon Tauros, which he would have seen during his visit to Samos in 21/20 BC (Sutherland in RIC); or to the 'butting bull' coinage of Augustus' home town Thurium.
Whatever its original reference, in Vespasian's usage of the motif, there is further evidence that many of his contemporaries would have linked the image to Myron's statue. Since, after Augustus had housed Myron's sculptures in the Temple of Apollo for all citizens to admire, Nero, during the construction of his Domus Aurea claimed them as his own and transferred them to his private residence. Vespasian, in turn, put them back into the public sphere in the portico of his Temple of Peace built just after his accession as Pliny describes: "among the list of works I have referred to, all the most celebrated have now been dedicated by the emperor Vespasian in the Temple of Peace and his other public buildings; they had been looted by Nero, who conveyed them all to Rome and arranged them in the sitting-rooms of his Golden Mansion" (NH 34.84). Seen like this, this coin emphasizes Vespasian's alignment with Augustus not only by reproducing an Augustan motive but also more fundamentally by referring to an act reaffirming Augustan values: instead of preserving the treasures of the state to the exclusive usage by the emperor, as Nero did, both Augustus and Vespasian prided themselves in sharing them with the public.