Aureus - Vespasian COS ITER FORT RED, Fortuna

Struck in 70 AD, the year Vespasian consolidated his grip on Rome after the catastrophic civil wars of 69 — the Year of the Four Emperors — this aureus belongs to the earliest phase of Flavian gold coinage. The COS ITER legend places it firmly in his second consulship, held jointly with Titus, a deliberate pairing meant to project dynastic continuity immediately after Nero's line had died out and three emperors had fallen in under eighteen months.

Fortuna Redux — Fortune the Home-Bringer — was invoked to celebrate Vespasian's return to Rome from Judaea. He had not yet set foot in the city as emperor when much of the western mint output bearing his name was already in circulation.