Denarius - Juba II Caesarea

Juba II ruled Mauretania as a client king under Augustus and then Tiberius for roughly half a century — an extraordinarily long tenure by any measure of Roman provincial governance. Educated in Rome after his father's defeat at Thapsus in 46 BC, Juba was arguably more Roman than Mauretanian, and his coinage reflects that: a deliberate instrument of legitimacy aimed as much at Rome as at his own subjects.

The Caesarea mint, which Juba himself refounded and renamed from Iol, remained the kingdom's primary issuing authority throughout his reign. Year 10 of his reckoning places this piece early in his rule, before the full administrative machinery of the kingdom had fully consolidated.