SPQR in Oak-wreath

[David Atherton]

Hello all!

I received this one today and wanted to share it with the group.

The obverse is a bit off center, but that was far out weighed in my opinion by the exceptional detail on the Oak-Wreath in the reverse.

BMCRE 103var b, RSC 516
Rome Mint, 73 A.D.
aEF

[wolfgang336]

That's one VERY sharp reverse. Any particular reason it was minted?

[David Atherton]

The BMCRE isn't really sure why the SPQR (senate and people of Rome) type was issued. A few theories are offered though:

Possibly it is a reference to Achaea being restored to the Senate that year.

Also that same year in which the type was minted it was the year of the 'Vota quinquennalia'.

Andrew,

Your coin is the same var b as mine. The other variants of the type have the same obverse legends but they are arranged differently.

[slokind]

Now, that is what a wreath ought to look like!  EF indeed.  And a fine head of Vespasian.  Pat L.

[Jochen]

This wreath is called 'oak wreath'. But whereas Andrews' wreath looks really like an oak wreath with its typically indented oak leafs David's wreath seems to be made from different staff. Any explanation?

Best regards

[curtislclay]

The wreath itself looks like oak on David's coin too, but it has odd spikes or quills extending from it, as also on Paris 88 pl. XXIX and BMC pl. 3.12.
What these spikes might signify, I have been wondering myself for decades!
SPQR within wreath must mean: the Senate and the Roman People bestowed this honorary wreath on the emperor.
However Vespasian was granted the corona civica, the oak wreath for saving the lives of his fellow citizens, upon his accession in December 69.  So why is a similar type being repeated in 73, with those curious spikes, and without OB C S referring to the salvation of the citizens?

[David Atherton]

Vespasian refounded Rome the same year the type was issued, possibly the Senate and People of Rome awarded him the corona civica in thanks.

Admittedly it's just speculation on my part.

[Numerianus]

Who minted the first denarius with SPQR in Oak-wreath?

[curtislclay]

David,
      What makes you say that Vespasian "refounded Rome" in AD 73?  Are you referring to his extension of the pomerium, the city boundary of Rome, in 74?

Numerianus,
       According to BMC I index, the type "SPQR in wreath" originated in the Civil War coinage of AD 68. 
       Caligula and Claudius had issued similar types, but always also naming the reason for the honor, OB C S.
       Between 55 and 60, the rev. type of Nero's aurei and denarii was closely similar to the "SPQR in wreath" type: EX S C within oak wreath, without OB C S, surrounded by a legend continuing Nero's titles from the obverse.

[David Atherton]

Curtis,

I was citing Albino Garzetti's "From Tiberius to the Antonines" pg. 244:

Rome must have put on a new face, as in the time of Augustus, so that in 73, when Vespasian and Titus as censors proclaimed the re-founding of the city...

There is no foot note explaining his source for this re-founding of Rome.

With the re-founding (if it did indeed occur), cenus, and the extension of the pomerium...73 and 74 were indeed very busy years for the father and son team!

[curtislclay]

        Garzetti must have some basis for his assertion, but I cannot find what it might be!
        Nothing in Dio or Suetonius about a refoundation of Rome in 73.  Nothing in the Critical Notes to the Garzetti book you quote, nor in Bengston's The Flavians or his Summary of Roman History, nor in Homo's lengthy biography of Vespasian, at least that I could find in a quick perusal.
        Probably the "refoundation" is just a modern conjecture, connected with Vespasian's assumption of the censorship in 73.

[Numerianus]

So, the type "SPQR in wreath" originated in the Civil War coinage of AD 68 (like the worn example that I have found recently
in between  junk coins of  Low Empire - a jackpot of lottery as Curtis says).  Then it was the most common for Galba.
Could it be just a symbol of military achievements of the ruler of this period with some emphasis that the power is emanated from the
senate and the people?

[David Atherton]

Curtis,

I checked Levick's biography on Vespasian and Brian W. Jones' work and have not found another reference to the re-founding taking place in 73.

I haven't had time to check Platner-Ashby's or L. Richardson's Topographical Dictionaries, perhaps under the pomerium topic in one of the two works there may be something.