Roma Numismatics Ltd
E-Sale 106 16 Feb 2023
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Vespasian Æ As. "Judaea Capta" issue. Rome, AD 71. IMP CAES VESPASIAN AVG COS III, laureate head to right / VICTORIA NAVALIS, Victory standing to right on prow to right, holding wreath and palm; S-C across lower fields. RIC II 503; C. 632; BMCRE 616. 11.04g, 27mm, 6h.
Near Very Fine.
Purchased from Fritz Rudolf Künker GmbH & Co. KG, March 2009.
The Judaean campaign being land-based, Vespasian's VICTORIA NAVALIS reverse type seems somewhat oddly placed, and accordingly Harold Mattingly, in his introduction to the Coins of the Roman Empire in the British Museum (BMCRE Vol. II) had the following to say: "Victoria Navalis on her prow demands a word of explanation. Laffranchi has suggested a definite commemoration of Actium, and he is probably right in so far as a parallel is drawn between Augustus and Vespasian, both victorious in the East. But there had been little naval fighting in the Jewish war, and the Civil War, to which veiled reference might be made, had been won on land, against the advice, or even the orders of the emperor. The official policy of Vespasian had been that of a slow but certain victory by blockade of Rome from Egypt; and it is to call attention to the wisdom and importance of this policy that the coins were designed."
Near Very Fine.
Purchased from Fritz Rudolf Künker GmbH & Co. KG, March 2009.
The Judaean campaign being land-based, Vespasian's VICTORIA NAVALIS reverse type seems somewhat oddly placed, and accordingly Harold Mattingly, in his introduction to the Coins of the Roman Empire in the British Museum (BMCRE Vol. II) had the following to say: "Victoria Navalis on her prow demands a word of explanation. Laffranchi has suggested a definite commemoration of Actium, and he is probably right in so far as a parallel is drawn between Augustus and Vespasian, both victorious in the East. But there had been little naval fighting in the Jewish war, and the Civil War, to which veiled reference might be made, had been won on land, against the advice, or even the orders of the emperor. The official policy of Vespasian had been that of a slow but certain victory by blockade of Rome from Egypt; and it is to call attention to the wisdom and importance of this policy that the coins were designed."