Description
| RULER | Nero |
| DATE | 67-68 AD |
| DENOMINATION | AE17 |
| MATERIAL | Bronze, AE |
| SIZE & WEIGHT | 17 mm, 4,17 gr |
| OBVERSE | NEPWN, laureate head right [countermark: radiate head right in oval] |
| REVERSE | ETPYC VPKAICAPEWN, Boule seated left, dropping pellet into voting urn |
| REFERENCES | RPC I 4063; Ziegler 51 (V2/R2); SNG Levante 1368; (for countermark: Howgego 102 var. (radiate). |
| PROVENANCE | Ex German private collection, acquired between 1960 – 1990 |
| LITERATURE | RPC identifies the countermark as Howgego 23 (bearded head of Zeus right) while Ziegler identifies it as Howgego 102 (male head right). This sharply struck countermark reveals a radiate head with the features of Nero. This depiction of Nero is most likely that of the Colossus, a 120 foot tall bronze statue of Nero as Sol that was created by Zenodorus for the vestibule of the Domus Aurea, or Golden House, a massive palace constructed by Nero after the fire of 64 AD. This is a common reverse type on imperial aurei and denarii (cf. RIC I 46-47). The statue was destroyed after Nero’s downfall in 68, but its memory was retained in the popular name of the amphitheater constructed by the Flavians at the same site-the Colosseum.” |
