Nerva's reign began in September 96 AD, hours after Domitian's assassination, and his earliest coinage was explicitly propagandistic — AEQVITAS AVGVST broadcast a direct repudiation of Domitian's fiscal abuses, particularly the aggressive tax enforcement that had alienated the senatorial class and provincial populations alike. The message was political calculation, not civic idealism.
RIC II#1 places this among the very first issues of the reign, struck at Rome within weeks of the accession.
Nerva's reign began in September 96 AD, hours after Domitian's assassination, and his earliest coinage was explicitly propagandistic — AEQVITAS AVGVST broadcast a direct repudiation of Domitian's fiscal abuses, particularly the aggressive tax enforcement that had alienated the senatorial class and provincial populations alike. The message was political calculation, not civic idealism.
RIC II#1 places this among the very first issues of the reign, struck at Rome within weeks of the accession.