AE SESTERTIUS - ROMA SEATED - Roman Mint - no globe - aVF - SCARCE
Struck TRP XIII = 9 des 66 - 9 des 67AD.
Obverse: IMP NERO CLAVD CAESAR AVG GER PM TR P XIII IMP PP
laureate bust right (no globe)
Reverse:
Roma seated left on cuirass, right foot on helmet, holding Victory, and parazonium (big dagger/small sword), shields on the ground - SC
36 mm 2,44 gr
Sear-I - "Roman Coins" (2000): no
1961 variant.
RIC-I - "new" "Roman Imperial Coinage", 2.ed C.H.V. Sutherland (1984)
no 358, Scarce
RIC-I - "old" "Roman Imperial Coinage", 1 ed, Harold Mattingly (1923):
no 205 variant, note 2
WCN - "The Western Coinages of Nero", David W. Mac Dowall, 1979,
no 168 variant
BMC - "Coins of the Roman Empire in theBritish Museum", Harold Mattingly (1923/1976): ? Walters Collection ?
Cohen: -
Ex:
John Sounders, Coin Galleries, London, May 1981
PHOTOS - from the splendid Nero Exhibition in British Museum - 27 May-28 October 2021 - "Nero, the man behind the myth" (Photos the last three days: 22-24 October 2021)
1. The first bust: usually in Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Gagliari - the main town of the island of Sardinia. This bust was found near Olbia, and illustrates the front page of the informative 304-page exhibition catalogue / book.
2. The second bust: State collection of Antiquities Glyptothek Munich.
We can see his more elaborate hairstyle, as we know from his coins.
3. The third bust: Capitol Museum in Rome - with hairstyle from the later years - waves, curls and long neck hair - and a beard.
4. The statue: Young Nero - the first object we met entering the Nero Exhibition.
The full statue of Nero as a boy is 153 cm high, and is from the Basilica at Veleia, South of Milano, Italy, and was part of a group representing several generations of the Julio-Claudian family, including the emperor Claudius and his mother Agrippina the younger.
The first 5 years of his rule was quite good, but later - as we know - he killed his mother, his first wife, and his early tutors. But the art-loving citar-player, singer and chariot-racer - was always very popular with the crowds.
His big sestertii showed great reverse carvings and interesting themes - they are to me the most lovely coins in the history of Rome.
HISTORY:
Caius Svetonius Tranquillus, Life of the Twelve Caesars, Nero, LIII: «Because he was thought to equal Apollo in music, and the sun in chariot-driving - he also tried to imitate the achievements of Hercules. It was told that a lion was trained for him to kill, either with a club, or with a close grip, in view of the people in the amphitheatre - and he performed naked"
XXVI:
«At night, he used to enter the taverns disguised in a hat or a wig, and rambled the streets for fun, which was quite dangerous. He used to beat those he met coming home from a late supper, and if they made any resistance, he would hurt them, and throw them into the sewer. He made burglary and robbed shops…”