Claudius I, with Agrippina II (niece and wife of Claudius), AR Denarius. Rome, AD 50-51. TI CLAVD CAESAR AVG GERM P M TRIB POT P P, laureate head of Claudius I to right / AGRI[PPINAE] AVGVSTAE, draped bust of Agrippina II to right, wearing crown of corn ears, her hair in long plait behind. RIC I 81; BMCRE 75; BN 82; RSC 4. 3.51g, 18mm, 8h.

Extremely Fine. Very Rare.

Auctioned in association with and on behalf of Numismática Lucernae, Jaén.

Before Agrippina II, Livia was the only Roman empress to appear on coins in her own person, although even she was never named. Here we have a coin that explicitly presents the new wife of Claudius I. Upon first glance, Agrippina appears as in her public portrait (see Inv. No. MA 3133, MND 848, Louvre Museum, Paris) and with the title Agrippinae Augustae; in this guise she is consort and mother of the male members of the imperial family and therefore essential to dynastic continuity. But, with further observation, it becomes apparent that Agrippina is wearing a crown of corn ears, which offers a further insight into the empress' public role. The crown is an allusion to the goddess Ceres, patroness of the sanctities of home-life and of the harvest and the corn itself is symbolic of fertility, thus by association this accoutrement transforms the image of Agrippina into that of the ideally conceived Roman empress.

At the time of this issue, part of a series of five new types, the promotion of Agrippina as an ideal empress was particularly important as her marriage to Claudius and promotion to Augusta, together with Claudius' adoption of her son Nero, was received with widespread disapproval: the marriage between a niece and uncle was considered immoral in Roman society. It quickly became apparent however that this was not a marriage for love but rather one for power, at least on the part of Agrippina. Within a few months she had set out to eliminate everyone from the imperial court who she considered posed a potential threat to her position or that of her son. Agrippina charged her primary rival Lollia Paulina with black magic, she broke off the marriage between praetor Lucius Junius Silanus Torquatus and Claudia Octavia so that her own son could marry Claudia Octavia, and she ordered the murder of Silanus' eldest brother so that he could not seek revenge.