Fine Coins Showcase
Antiquities Showcase
Show Empty Categories
Shop Search
Shopping Cart
My FORVM
Contact Us
About Forum
Shopping at Forum
Our Guarantee
Payment Options
Shipping Options & Fees
Privacy & Security
Forum Staff
Selling Your Coins
Identifying Your Coin
FAQs
zoom.asp
Vitellius, 2 January - 20 December 69 A.D.
In July 69, Vitellius learned that the armies of the eastern provinces had proclaimed their commander, Vespasian, as emperor. Vitellius, aware that he would be defeated, negotiated terms of resignation, but the praetorians refused to allow him to carry out the agreement, and forced him to return to the palace. When Vespasian's troops entered Rome he was dragged out of a lodge where he was hiding, taken to the fatal Gemonian stairs, and executed. His body was thrown into the Tiber according to Suetonius; Cassius Dio's account is that Vitellius was beheaded and his head paraded around Rome, and his wife attended to his burial. "Yet I was once your emperor," were his last words. His brother and son were also killed.SH68884. Silver denarius, RIC I 36, BMCRE I 94, RSC II 101, BnF III 13, SRCV I 2191, VF, a few small bumps and scrapes, Tarraco mint, weight 3.467g, maximum diameter 18.5mm, die axis 180o, Jan - Jul 69 A.D.; obverse A VITELLIVS IMP GERMAN, laureate head left, globe with palm-branch at point of bust; reverse VICTORIA AVGVSTI (the victory of the Emperor), Victory flying left, wings raised overhead, small round shield inscribed S P Q R in right; from the Jyrki Muona Collection; rare; SOLD
Page created in 0.734 seconds.
