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Home ▸ Catalog ▸ |Roman Coins| ▸ |The Twelve Caesars| ▸ |Vespasian||View Options:   | | | After a successful campaign in Judaea (which he left to his son Titus to finish), Flavius Vespasianus was declared emperor by his troops at Alexandria in 69 A.D. Upon the defeat of Vitellius by the Danubian legions, Vespasian went to Rome and consolidated his power. He built the Colosseum and other important public works. Vespasian was popular, being both down to earth and possessed of great wit. He was responsible for the economic and military recovery of Rome and is justly regarded as one of the greatest Roman emperors. |
| The ruins of Antioch on the Orontes lie near the modern city of Antakya, Turkey. Founded near the end of the 4th century B.C. by Seleucus I Nicator, one of Alexander the Great's generals, Antioch's geographic, military and economic location, particularly the spice trade, the Silk Road, the Persian Royal Road, benefited its occupants, and eventually it rivaled Alexandria as the chief city of the Near East and as the main center of Hellenistic Judaism at the end of the Second Temple period. Antioch is called "the cradle of Christianity," for the pivotal early role it played in the emergence of the faith. It was one of the four cities of the Syrian tetrapolis. Its residents are known as Antiochenes. Once a great metropolis of half a million people, it declined to insignificance during the Middle Ages because of warfare, repeated earthquakes and a change in trade routes following the Mongol conquests, which then no longer passed through Antioch from the far east. |  |
Vespasian, 1 July 69 - 24 June 79 A.D., Antioch, Seleucis and Pieria, Syria
Struck to pay Titus' legions during and after the First Jewish Revolt. RPC notes between 69 and 73 A.D. about 320 different dies were used, indicating about 6,500,000 Syrian tetradrachms might have been minted. This was the quantity Titus would have needed to pay his four legions. Hoard evidence finds many of these types in Judaea confirming they were used to pay the legions.RP114882. Silver tetradrachm, McAlee 334/2 (same dies); RPC II 1945; Prier 112; Wruck 79; BMC Galatia p. 179, 230; cf. SNG Cop 166 (year 1), VF, nice portrait, full obv. legend, flow lines, rev. a little off center, light marks, small closed edge cracks, weight 14.971 g, maximum diameter 26.2 mm, die axis 0o, Antioch (Antakya, Turkey) mint, 69 - 70 A.D.; obverse AYTOKPAT KAIΣA OYEΣΠAΣIANOY, laureate head right; reverse ETOYC B IEPOY (of holy year 2), eagle standing left on club left, head left, tail right, wings open, upright palm frond on left curving right; $300.00 (€282.00)
Vespasian and Titus, 1 July 69 - 24 June 79 A.D., Antioch, Seleucis and Pieria, Syria
Struck to pay Titus' legions during and after the First Jewish Revolt. RPC notes c. 320 different dies indicate 6,500,000 Syrian tetradrachms might have been minted. This was the quantity Titus would have needed to pay his four legions. Hoard evidence finds many of these types in Judaea confirming they were used to pay the legions.RY114290. Silver tetradrachm, RPC II 1943 (11 spec.), McAlee 9, McClean 9378, Prieur 110, F, bumps, marks, spot of green, graffito on reverse, weight 14.443 g, maximum diameter 23.8 mm, die axis 0o, Antioch (Antakya, Turkey) mint, "new holy year 2" = 69 - 70 A.D.; obverse AYTOKPAT KAIΣA OYEΣΠAΣIANOY, laureate draped bust of Vespasian on eagle; reverse T ΦΛAYI OYEΣΠ KAIΣ ETOYΣ NEOY IEPOY, laureate head of Titus right, B (year 2) right, star behind; scarce; $250.00 (€235.00)
Vespasian is depicted on the reverse in his role as Pontifex Maximus, the high priest of Rome, the president of the college of pontiffs, and responsible for overseeing the religion and sacred ceremonies of the Romans. On 17 December 384, after the Christian emperor Gratian refused the title, Pope Siricius took the title Pontifex Maximus.RS114803. Silver denarius, RIC II-1 546; RSC II 387; BMCRE II 98; BnF III 86; Hunter I 42; SRCV I 2305, F, weight 3.313 g, maximum diameter 18.7 mm, die axis 0o, Rome mint, 73 A.D.; obverse IMP CAES VESP AVG CENS, laureate head right; reverse PONTIF MAXIM (high priest), Vespasian seated right on seat without back, feet on footstool, long scepter vertical behind in right, olive branch in left; $140.00 (€131.60)
Jupiter or Jove, Zeus to the Greeks, was the king of the gods and god of the sky and thunder, and of laws and social order. As the patron deity of ancient Rome, he was the chief god of the Capitoline Triad, with his sister and wife Juno. The father of Mars, he is, therefore, the grandfather of Romulus and Remus, the legendary founders of Rome. Emperors frequently made vows to Jupiter for protection. The Roman's believed as the king of the gods, Jupiter favored emperors and kings, those in positions of authority similar to his own.RS114334. Silver denarius, RIC II-1 849, BMCRE III 276, RSC II 222, BnF III 249, SRCV I 2295, Choice F, well centered, flow lines, weight 3.304 g, maximum diameter 18.7 mm, die axis 180o, Rome mint, 75 - 76 A.D.; obverse IMP CAESAR VESPASIANVS AVG, laureate head right; reverse IOVIS CVSTOS (Jupiter the Guardian), Jupiter standing facing, nude, sacrificing from patera in right over small lit altar at feet on left, long scepter near vertical in left; $120.00 (€112.80)
The yoke of oxen symbolize colonization. The ceremonial founding of a colony included plowing a furrow, the pomerium, a sacred boundary, around the site of the new city. Although no legions were disbanded after the Jewish revolt, there were many retiring veterans that needed to be settled. Vespasian founded a colony at Caesarea Maritima, the first in the province.RS114802. Silver denarius, RIC II-1 944; RSC II 134; BMCRE II 209; BnF III 185; SRCV II 2289 var. (head right),, F, weight 3.166 g, maximum diameter 19.0 mm, die axis 180o, Rome mint, 77 - 78 A.D.; obverse IMP CAESAR VESPASIANVS AVG, laureate head left; reverse yoke of two oxen left (symbolic of marking the pomerium, the sacred boundary marked for the foundation of a new Roman colony), COS VIII in exergue; $110.00 (€103.40)
Judaean Kingdom, Herod Agrippa II, c. 49 - 95 A.D., for Vespasian
Herod Agrippa II was a teenager studying in Rome when his father died. He was too young to rule, so his father's kingdom was made a Roman province. In 49 A.D., he was given the kingdom of his uncle Herod of Chalcis as a tetrarchy, with the right to oversee the Temple in Jerusalem and appoint its high priest. In 53, Claudius made him king of areas previously ruled by Philip: Batanea, Trachonitis and Gaulonitis, and Lysanias in Abila. In 55, Nero added Galilee and Peraea. Paul the Apostle pleaded his case before Agrippa at Caesarea Maritima (Acts 26). Agrippa sided with Rome during the Jewish revolt. He ruled until at least 95 A.D. His territories were in Syria, Northern Palestine, and Galilee and excluded Jerusalem and Judaea.SH90326. Bronze AE 30, RPC Online II 2283; Meshorer Caesarea Paneas 166; Meshorer AJC II 38; Sofaer 240; SNG ANS 284; BMC Palestine p. 241, 13, F, weight 15.554 g, maximum diameter 29.5 mm, die axis 0o, Caesarea Paneas (Banias, Golan Heights) mint, 75 - 76 A.D.; obverse laureate head of Vespasian right; reverse Tyche-Demeter standing left, kalathos on head, two grain ears in extended right hand, cornucopia in left hand, star upper left, ETOY - KZ BA / AΓPI-ΠΠA (year 27, King Agrippa) flanking in two divided lines across field below center; ex CNG auction 233 (26 May 2010), lot 292 & auction 75 (23 May 2007), lot 863; SOLD
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