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Denarius - Vitellius VESTA P R QVIRITIVM, Vesta
| Issuer | Roman Empire (27 BC - 395 AD) |
|---|---|
| Year | 69 |
| Type | Standard circulation coin |
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| Obverse description | Laureate head of Emperor Vitellius facing right, rendered in high relief with characteristically heavy features and layered hair; a globe appears at the base of the neck truncation, a distinctive iconographic element on Vitellian coinage. The portrait is executed in a robust, somewhat provincial style typical of the Year of the Four Emperors. The encircling legend runs clockwise around the obverse field. The flan is slightly irregular in shape, consistent with hand-struck Roman silver coinage of the period. |
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| Obverse lettering | A VITELLIVS IMP GERMAN (Translation: Aulus Vitellius Imperator Germanicus Aulus Vitellius, supreme commander (Imperator) of the Germans.) |
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Vitellius held power for only eight months in 69 AD — the Year of the Four Emperors — before Vespasian's forces defeated him at the second Battle of Bedriacum. His coinage was struck across multiple mints simultaneously as he consolidated support, and the invocation of Vesta on this issue was deliberate political messaging: aligning his regime with Rome's most ancient and inviolable state cult at a moment when the legitimacy of his rule was openly contested by two rival claimants. He was dragged through the streets of Rome and killed in December of that year.