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Dupondius - Vespasian LIBERTAS PVBLICA S C, Libertas
| Issuer | Roman Imperial Mint |
|---|---|
| Year | 71 |
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| Orientation | Coin alignment ↑↓ |
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|---|---|
| Obverse script | Latin |
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| Reverse description | The personification of Libertas stands facing left in the central field, draped in a flowing stola and palla, holding a pileus (freedman's cap) in her extended right hand and a long vertical sceptre or vindicta rod in her left. The figure is rendered in the classical allegorical style typical of Flavian bronzes. The senatorial mark of authority, S C (Senatus Consultum), appears in the lower field flanking the figure to left and right. The legend LIBERTAS PVBLICA is distributed around the periphery, enclosed within a beaded border. |
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| Additional information |
Vespasian struck this issue in 71 AD, his first full year as sole emperor following the brutal civil wars of 69 — the Year of the Four Emperors — and the fall of Jerusalem. The LIBERTAS PVBLICA legend was a calculated political statement, invoking the restoration of public liberty after the chaos of Nero's final years and the successive military coups that followed. It was a standard Flavian rhetorical move: frame the new dynasty not as a seizure of power but as a rescue of the res publica.
RIC II.1 #272 places this among the Rome mint's substantial early Flavian output, produced while the dynasty was still establishing its legitimacy.