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Denarius S P Q R, Libertas
| Issuer | Roman Empire (27 BC - 395 AD) |
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| Year | 68-69 |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Weight | 3.4 g |
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| Obverse description | Draped bust of Libertas facing right, personified as a mature female figure wearing a necklace, with hair elaborately looped and gathered above the nape of the neck in a style characteristic of the late Julio-Claudian period. The portrait is rendered in fine relief with careful attention to the drapery folds at the shoulder. The encircling legend LIBERTAS RESTITVTA frames the effigy, proclaiming the restoration of freedom — a politically charged slogan of the civil war year. The die-work reflects the emergency coinage style of 68–69 AD, with an irregular flan typical of the period. |
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| Edge | Plain |
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This denarius belongs to the coinage of Clodius Macer, the legionary legate in Africa who revolted against Nero in 68 AD and briefly controlled Rome's grain supply — a stranglehold over the capital that made him genuinely dangerous. Unlike Galba, Otho, and Vitellius, Macer never marched on Rome; he simply threatened to starve it. Nero's death removed his justification for revolt, and Galba had him executed within months, making his entire coinage output compressed into less than a year.
The SPQR legend is a deliberate archaism, invoking senatorial authority at a moment when Macer needed legitimacy he could not claim through military victory alone.