Aureus - Vitellius VICTORIA AVGVSTI, Victory

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.