Much rarer than the
Roman dupondius depicting
Octavian and the devine
Caesar (
DIVOS IVLIVS), is the
provincial counterpart from the present day
French city of
Vienne which was called 'Vienna' in ancient times. Like the later coins of
Nemausus with
Agrippa and
Augustus, these coins from
Vienna could easily be halved, so in
military context in
Germania Inferior, these halves are regularly found.
Not like the example I bought: it was 'beeped-up' in the South of
France.
The
obverse text goes from top to bottom and from right to left: IM[P]
CAE[SAR
DIVI F] DIVI
IVLI and the left half shows the
head of
Caesar. The
reverse shows a galley with a rather strange (pyramidal) upper structure and the letters C.I.V. which stand for:
Colonia Julia Viennensium.
It is described in
RPC as 517 and is supposed to date from around 37 BC. Most coins from this single issue remained in circulation and are often very worn.
Good and
complete examples are extremely expensive; that's why I am very happy with this nice half.
Frans
photo taken with my mobile phone.
F
