Galba's reign lasted just seven months before his murder in January 69 AD, and much of his bronze coinage was devoted to legitimizing a rule that never felt secure. Issuing coins in the name of Livia — dead for over thirty years by that point — was a calculated appeal to Augustan authority, positioning Galba as heir to the dynasty he had just replaced by force.
RIC I 66 is among the scarcer of his bronze types. The short window of production and the chaos of the Year of the Four Emperors that immediately followed left little time for wide distribution.
Galba's reign lasted just seven months before his murder in January 69 AD, and much of his bronze coinage was devoted to legitimizing a rule that never felt secure. Issuing coins in the name of Livia — dead for over thirty years by that point — was a calculated appeal to Augustan authority, positioning Galba as heir to the dynasty he had just replaced by force.
RIC I 66 is among the scarcer of his bronze types. The short window of production and the chaos of the Year of the Four Emperors that immediately followed left little time for wide distribution.