Aureus - Caligula S P Q R PP OB CS

Caligula struck this aureus following his serious illness of 37 AD, from which he emerged politically transformed — paranoid, erratic, and increasingly hostile to the Senate. The reverse legend references the honorary title *Pater Patriae* and the Senate's formal expressions of loyalty, gestures that within a few years rang hollow as relations between emperor and senate collapsed entirely. He was assassinated in January 41 AD, making the entire gold coinage of his reign compressed into roughly three years of production.