Numismatica Ars Classica
Auction 125 23-24 Jun 2021
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Ex Nomos sale 4, 2011, BCD, 1401..
Aureus 46-47, AV 7.75 g. TI CLAVD CAESAR AVG P M TR P VII IMP XI Laureate head r. Rev. IMPER RECEPT inscribed on praetorian camp, at the door of which stands a soldier with a standard. C 45. BMC 37. RIC 36. CBN 52. Calicó 362a (this obverse die).
Very rare and unusually complete for the issue. About extremely fine / extremely fine
Ex NAC sale 101, 2017, Ploil, 124. Privately purchased from CNG.
The Praetorian Guard originated during Republican times as a small troop of specially selected guards for Roman generals while encamped; by the reign of Augustus, the troops were drawn from the elite of Rome's legions throughout the empire and it had become the personal domain of the emperor, serving to protect his person as well as that of the imperial family. In A.D. 22/3 the praetorian prefect, Sejanus, convinced Tiberius to construct a camp for the troops, the Castra Praetoria, the walls of which are depicted on the reverse of this coin. The camp was erected just outside the north-eastern boundary of Rome, between the Viminalis and Colline Gates beyond the Servian Wall. The location both allayed concerns from the populace about having armed troops within the city itself, but also by its very proximity served as a healthy reminder which discouraged any sort of civil disorder. Being physically disabled and suffering a severe speech impediment, Claudius was a longshot for the imperial purple. His elevation came about immediately after the assassination of his nephew, the former emperor Gaius Caligula, who had treated him cruelly by making him the butt of jokes due to his physical ailments. When the praetorians stormed the palace in the aftermath of their assassination of Caligula, Claudius was discovered hiding amongst the curtains. His fears that he would also be killed, however, proved unfounded; the guardsmen immediately hailed him emperor and took him to the Castra Praetoria, where Claudius then pronounced he would pay each praetorian a bonus of 15,000 sestertii (150 aurei). Thus dramatically secured in his accession, Claudius recognized the support of the Praetorian Guard with two issues of coinage, this type showing a guardsman (or more likely Fides Praetorianorum – see RIC I p. 149, 6) standing behind the battlemented walls of the camp with the legend IMPER(atore) RECEPT(o), and a second type showing him greeting a soldier and with the legend PRAETOR(ianus) RECEPT(us) (RIC 11ff). Both types were employed on aurei and denarii during the first three years of Claudius' reign, although this reverse alone saw continued use until A.D. 47. During the later third century, three of the Praetorian camp's four walls were incorporated into construction of the Walls of Aurelian. The camp continued to serve as the base of the praetorians until A.D. 312, when Constantine the Great defeated Maxentius at the Battle of Milvian Bridge. Constantine disbanded the Praetorian Guard and had the camp destroyed. The only existing remains of the camp today are the camp's walls that were incorporated within the Walls of Aurelian.
Aureus 46-47, AV 7.75 g. TI CLAVD CAESAR AVG P M TR P VII IMP XI Laureate head r. Rev. IMPER RECEPT inscribed on praetorian camp, at the door of which stands a soldier with a standard. C 45. BMC 37. RIC 36. CBN 52. Calicó 362a (this obverse die).
Very rare and unusually complete for the issue. About extremely fine / extremely fine
Ex NAC sale 101, 2017, Ploil, 124. Privately purchased from CNG.
The Praetorian Guard originated during Republican times as a small troop of specially selected guards for Roman generals while encamped; by the reign of Augustus, the troops were drawn from the elite of Rome's legions throughout the empire and it had become the personal domain of the emperor, serving to protect his person as well as that of the imperial family. In A.D. 22/3 the praetorian prefect, Sejanus, convinced Tiberius to construct a camp for the troops, the Castra Praetoria, the walls of which are depicted on the reverse of this coin. The camp was erected just outside the north-eastern boundary of Rome, between the Viminalis and Colline Gates beyond the Servian Wall. The location both allayed concerns from the populace about having armed troops within the city itself, but also by its very proximity served as a healthy reminder which discouraged any sort of civil disorder. Being physically disabled and suffering a severe speech impediment, Claudius was a longshot for the imperial purple. His elevation came about immediately after the assassination of his nephew, the former emperor Gaius Caligula, who had treated him cruelly by making him the butt of jokes due to his physical ailments. When the praetorians stormed the palace in the aftermath of their assassination of Caligula, Claudius was discovered hiding amongst the curtains. His fears that he would also be killed, however, proved unfounded; the guardsmen immediately hailed him emperor and took him to the Castra Praetoria, where Claudius then pronounced he would pay each praetorian a bonus of 15,000 sestertii (150 aurei). Thus dramatically secured in his accession, Claudius recognized the support of the Praetorian Guard with two issues of coinage, this type showing a guardsman (or more likely Fides Praetorianorum – see RIC I p. 149, 6) standing behind the battlemented walls of the camp with the legend IMPER(atore) RECEPT(o), and a second type showing him greeting a soldier and with the legend PRAETOR(ianus) RECEPT(us) (RIC 11ff). Both types were employed on aurei and denarii during the first three years of Claudius' reign, although this reverse alone saw continued use until A.D. 47. During the later third century, three of the Praetorian camp's four walls were incorporated into construction of the Walls of Aurelian. The camp continued to serve as the base of the praetorians until A.D. 312, when Constantine the Great defeated Maxentius at the Battle of Milvian Bridge. Constantine disbanded the Praetorian Guard and had the camp destroyed. The only existing remains of the camp today are the camp's walls that were incorporated within the Walls of Aurelian.