Ptolemy of Mauretania, the son of Juba II and Cleopatra Selene, issued this denarius during the early years of his reign — a reign that ended in 40 AD when Caligula had him executed in Rome, reportedly over a dispute involving a purple cloak that upstaged the emperor. The killing extinguished the last client kingdom of North Africa with direct Ptolemaic blood and triggered a revolt under Aedemon that Rome spent years suppressing.
The "Caesarea" designation refers to the Mauretanian capital, renamed from Iol in honor of Augustus.
Ptolemy of Mauretania, the son of Juba II and Cleopatra Selene, issued this denarius during the early years of his reign — a reign that ended in 40 AD when Caligula had him executed in Rome, reportedly over a dispute involving a purple cloak that upstaged the emperor. The killing extinguished the last client kingdom of North Africa with direct Ptolemaic blood and triggered a revolt under Aedemon that Rome spent years suppressing.
The "Caesarea" designation refers to the Mauretanian capital, renamed from Iol in honor of Augustus.