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AR25 - Vitellius L Α
| Issuer | Alexandria (Egypt) |
|---|---|
| Year | 69 |
| Type | Standard circulation coin |
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| Obverse description | Laureate bust of Emperor Vitellius facing right, with short hair rendered in fine strands beneath the laurel wreath. The portrait is rendered in the provincial Alexandrian style, with the legend partially encircling the bust reading ΩΛΟΥ ΟΥΙΤ ΚΑΙΣ ΣΕΒ ΓΕΡΜ ΑΥΤ (abbreviating Aulus Vitellius Caesar Sebastos Germanikos Autokrator). The portrait displays the characteristic heavy-jowled physiognomy associated with Vitellius in Roman portraiture. |
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| Edge | Plain |
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| Additional information |
Vitellius held Egypt only on paper. The province declared for him after Nero's suicide, but the Alexandrian prefect Tiberius Julius Alexander — himself a renegade Jewish aristocrat turned Roman administrator — switched allegiance to Vespasian on July 1, 69 AD, making that date the formal start of the Flavian dynasty. Coins struck at Alexandria in Vitellius's name represent a window of weeks, possibly days, before that reversal made them politically obsolete.
The billon fabric here is characteristic of the Alexandrian mint's controlled debasement under the early empire, distinct from the purer silver of Roman provincial issues elsewhere.