Issued by the provincial mint at Tarraco (modern Tarragona) during the years following Augustus's death, this piece belongs to a short series honouring both of Tiberius's designated heirs simultaneously — Drusus, his biological son, and Germanicus, his adopted nephew. The pairing was politically loaded: Tiberius never fully reconciled the rival factions forming around each man, and Germanicus was dead by 19 AD, almost certainly poisoned in Syria under circumstances Tacitus documented with barely concealed suspicion.
Tarraco held special status as the administrative capital of Hispania Citerior, and its mint produced loyalist issues with notable promptness after transitions of power.
Issued by the provincial mint at Tarraco (modern Tarragona) during the years following Augustus's death, this piece belongs to a short series honouring both of Tiberius's designated heirs simultaneously — Drusus, his biological son, and Germanicus, his adopted nephew. The pairing was politically loaded: Tiberius never fully reconciled the rival factions forming around each man, and Germanicus was dead by 19 AD, almost certainly poisoned in Syria under circumstances Tacitus documented with barely concealed suspicion.
Tarraco held special status as the administrative capital of Hispania Citerior, and its mint produced loyalist issues with notable promptness after transitions of power.