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Sestertius - Galba ADLOCVTIO S C

Issuer Roman Empire (27 BC - 395 AD)
Year 68-69
Type Standard circulation coin
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Obverse description Bare-headed, laureate draped bust of Emperor Galba facing left, rendered in high relief with strongly individualized portraiture characteristic of the Julio-Claudian and early Flavian tradition. The emperor's aged features — prominent brow, hooked nose, and furrowed neck — are rendered with realist precision. The paludamentum (military cloak) is visible at the truncation of the bust. The encircling Latin legend runs along the outer border, separated from the effigy by a beaded inner border.
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Obverse lettering SER SVLPI GALBA IMP CAESAR AVG P M TR P
(Translation: Servius Sulpicius Galba, supreme commander (Imperator), Caesar, emperor (Augustus), high priest, tribunician power.)
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Additional information

Galba's reign lasted just seven months, from June 68 to January 69 AD, cut short when Otho's faction bribed the Praetorian Guard to murder him in the Forum. The ADLOCVTIO type — depicting the emperor addressing troops — was a deliberate piece of propaganda from a man who understood his grip on the legions was tenuous from the start. He had marched on Rome from Spain with the support of frontier armies but then alienated them almost immediately by refusing the customary accession donative, reportedly saying he levied soldiers, he did not buy them.

RIC I#468 is among the more short-lived imperial bronzes, produced at Rome across a single reign year.

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