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As - Galba LIBERTAS PVBLICA S C, Libertas
| Issuer | Roman Imperial Mint |
|---|---|
| Year | 68-69 |
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| Value | 1 As = 1⁄16 Denarii |
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| Obverse description | Bare-headed and laureate bust of the Emperor Galba facing left, rendered in a bold, somewhat austere style characteristic of late Julio-Claudian and early Flavian portraiture. A small globe appears at the truncation of the neck, symbolizing universal dominion. The emperor's features are depicted with realistic aged gravitas, including a prominent nose and firm jaw. The encircling legend is distributed around the periphery of the flan. The portrait exhibits the strong, unidealized character typical of Roman Republican tradition revived under the Year of the Four Emperors. |
|---|---|
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| Obverse lettering | SER GALBA IMP CAESAR AVG P M TR P (Translation: Servius Galba Imperator Caesar Augustus, Pontifex Maximus, Tribunicia Potestas Servio Galba, supreme commander (Imperator), Caesar, emperor (Augustus), high priest, tribunician power.) |
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| Additional information |
Galba's reign lasted just seven months, and his coinage reflects the frantic legitimacy-building of a man who seized power in his mid-seventies after Nero's suicide. The LIBERTAS PVBLICA type was politically calculated — Galba needed to distance himself from Neronian tyranny fast, and the liberty theme was the bluntest available instrument for doing so. It convinced almost no one.
RIC I 72 is an as struck at Rome. Galba was dead by January 69, murdered by the Praetorian Guard he had refused to pay a promised donative — the same grievance that had undone Pertinax a century later.