Catalog
See full images - free registration
Continue with Google - no registration!
or register with email
Why register? Just to keep bots out of our catalog. Your email stays private - we will never share it or send you anything uninvited. We guarantee you that!
Denarius - Vitellius, Aulus Vitellius Germanicus, and Vitellia LIBERI IMP GERM AVG
| Issuer | Roman Empire (27 BC - 395 AD) |
|---|---|
| Year | 69 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Denarius, Reform of Augustus (27 BC – AD 215) |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Weight | Log in to see details |
| Diameter | Log in to see details |
| Thickness | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Log in to see details |
| Technique | Log in to see details |
| Orientation | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | Log in to see details |
| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Confronting draped busts of Vitellius's young son (Petronianus) and daughter (Vitellia), facing left and right respectively, set within the field without additional decorative elements. The two juvenile portraits are rendered in a simplified but competent style, emphasizing the dynastic ambitions of the short-lived emperor. The reverse legend LIBERI IMP GERM AVG arcs around the upper and lower periphery, proclaiming the children of the commander. This reverse type is noteworthy as a rare example of children depicted on Roman imperial coinage of the Julio-Claudian and Year of the Four Emperors period. |
| Reverse script | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | LIBERI IMP GERM AVG (Translation: Liberi Imperatoris Germanicus Augustus Children of the supreme commander (Imperator), Germanicus and Augustus.) |
| Edge | Log in to see details |
| Mint | Log in to see details |
| Mintage | Log in to see details |
| Additional information |
Vitellius struck this denarius during his brief reign in 69 AD — the Year of the Four Emperors — almost certainly while his hold on power was already deteriorating. The LIBERI type, honoring his children, was a calculated dynastic gesture from a man who had no dynasty. His son and daughter appear in the legend as props in a legitimacy performance that lasted months, not years. Vitellius was dead by December, dragged through Rome and thrown into the Tiber.
RIC I 101 is scarce by any measure, a product of a mint operating under military pressure with no long-term mandate.