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Aureus - Vespasian S P Q R P P OB C S
| Issuer | Roman Empire (27 BC - 395 AD) |
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| Year | 71 |
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| Value | 1 Aureus = 25 Denarii |
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| Obverse description | Laureate head of Vespasian facing right, rendered with characteristic realism in the Flavian portraiture tradition, depicting the emperor's mature features including a broad forehead, strong jaw, and close-cropped hair beneath the laurel wreath. The bust is draped, with the paludamentum visible at the truncation. The encircling Latin legend reads IMP CAES VESPASIAN AVG PM TR P P P COS III, disposed around the full periphery of the flan within a beaded border. The portrait is executed with the bold, high-relief modelling typical of early Flavian aurei struck at the Rome Mint. |
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| Mintage | ND (71) |
| Additional information |
This aureus belongs to Vespasian's first year as undisputed emperor, issued in the immediate aftermath of the brutal civil war of 69 AD — the Year of the Four Emperors — and the fall of Jerusalem. The reverse type referencing the Senate and Roman people was a deliberate political gesture: Vespasian, a provincial general of relatively modest equestrian origins, needed to project constitutional legitimacy that Galba, Otho, and Vitellius had each failed to secure. The abbreviation OB CS — *ob cives servatos*, for saving the citizens — carried specific republican weight, last used meaningfully by Augustus.