Catalog
See full images - free registration
Continue with Google - no registration!
or register with email
Why register? Just to keep bots out of our catalog. Your email stays private - we will never share it or send you anything uninvited. We guarantee you that!
Aureus - Vitellius VICTORIA AVGVSTI, Victory
| Issuer | Roman Empire (27 BC - 395 AD) |
|---|---|
| Year | 69 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Denarius, Reform of Augustus (27 BC – AD 215) |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Weight | Log in to see details |
| Diameter | Log in to see details |
| Thickness | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Log in to see details |
| Technique | Log in to see details |
| Orientation | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | Log in to see details |
| Obverse description | Bare-headed, laureate bust of Vitellius facing right, rendered in high relief with fleshy, naturalistic portraiture characteristic of the Julio-Claudian tradition. A small globe appears at the base of the neck, symbolizing imperial dominion over the world. The portrait displays the emperor's characteristic heavy jowls and curling hair bound with a laurel wreath. A beaded border frames the design, with the Latin legend distributed around the periphery of the flan. |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | A VITELLIVS IMP GERMAN (Translation: Aulus Vitellius Imperator Germanicus Aulus Vitellius, supreme commander (Imperator) of the Germans.) |
| Reverse description | Log in to see details |
| Reverse script | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Edge | Log in to see details |
| Mint | Log in to see details |
| Mintage | Log in to see details |
| Additional information |
Vitellius held power for less than eight months in 69 AD — the Year of the Four Emperors — before being dragged through Rome and executed at the Gemonian Steps in December. His aurei were struck at a mint widely debated as either Lugdunum or Rome itself, with RIC placing this type at the latter. The VICTORIA AVGVSTI reverse is a pointed piece of wishful propaganda: Vitellius never secured a meaningful military victory, and his reign collapsed when Vespasian's Danubian legions crossed into Italy.
Survivorship is low relative to his Julio-Claudian predecessors, a direct consequence of damnatio memoriae and the brevity of production.