Sestertius - Nero DECVRSIO S C

The DECVRSIO type commemorates the military exercise known as the decursio — a cavalry drill performed publicly, often as part of imperial funerary games or to display martial readiness. Nero staged elaborate versions of these displays, partly as political theater at a time when his relationship with the army was never fully secure. Whether the issue was tied to a specific event or served a more general propagandistic function remains debated among specialists.

RIC I 397 falls within the later Neronian orichalcum series produced at Rome, struck after Nero's monetary reform of 64 AD which adjusted the weight standards for both gold and silver coinage.