Numismatic and History Discussion Forums > Roman Coins Discussion Forum

Civil War 68/69 CE "Eid Mar"

<< < (2/3) > >>

Jay GT4:
Perhaps because Nero was condemned as an enemy of the state by the Senate.  The conspirators felt the same way towards Julius Caesar.

Fascinating coin.

Steve Minnoch:
If the legend is also read across both sides (and it appears all on one side of another related coin with shield reverse) you have a type apparently seeking the restoration of liberty by anticipating the removal of a tyrant, that tyrant obviously being Nero, at a stage where nobody seeing the coin needs to be thinking that Galba is a successor to the dictator Caesar.

It's kind of interesting that both daggers and pilei feature in Suetonius' account of the period:
Nero 57
"He met his death in the thirty-second year of his age, on the anniversary of the murder of Octavia, and such was the public rejoicing that the people put on liberty-caps and ran about all at city."

Galba 11
"To these sudden dangers was added news of Vindex’s death, which caused Galba the greatest alarm, and being now apparently bereft of support, almost precipitated his suicide. But when word from the City arrived that Nero was dead and that the people had sworn allegiance to him, he set aside the title of governor and assumed that of Caesar.

He then began his march to Rome in a general’s cloak, with a dagger, hanging from his neck, at his chest, and did not resume the toga until his main rivals had been eliminated, namely the commander of the Praetorian Guard in Rome, Nymphidius Sabinus, and the commanders in Germany and Africa, Fonteius Capito and Clodius Macer."

There's a couple of free articles covering these coins in part of the wider picture of their types, in German and French.
https://www.academia.edu/27909725/
https://www.academia.edu/45378620/

cicerokid:


Thanks Steve!

Regards

John

David Atherton:
This is such a fantastic coin on many levels! Thank you so much for sharing it here.

Ron C2:
My suspicion is that the Romans were likely less aware (the mob. Not the educated elite) of the nuances of 100 year old history than the Senate and emperor.  I don't think Roman citizenry of the time would have equated Augustus with Julius Caesar as closely as we do today.

In my mind, the later Emperors and people likely saw Caesar as a tyrant or symbol of possible tyranny, around the time of Galba.  He was imperator and dictator, he was never a lawful emperor in the sense of Augustus and his successors.

Galba was likely pandering to popular sentiment of the moment, perhaps disavowing tyranny with this issue, a raprochement with the people and Senate when he was still cementing his claim.

I'm not sure I put any faith into Suetonius' account. It is pretty much accepted fact that Caesar was so popular and so mourned after Mark Antony's eulogy that the mob literally broke apart the funerary procession and cremated the dead dictator on their own terms in the forum by sacking the surrounding buildings for wood. Hardly the action of people wearing liberty caps and throwing a party. That sounds much more like brutonian propaganda from the ensuing civil war.

Navigation

[0] Message Index

[#] Next page

[*] Previous page