Sestertius - Nero S C, Mars, Pax, and Victory

Nero's sestertii from this period were struck at a moment when the emperor was actively renegotiating Rome's relationship with Parthia — the uneasy settlement of 63 AD over Armenia required a diplomatic fiction in which Tiridates was crowned by a Roman general rather than the emperor himself, preserving Parthian dignity while technically maintaining Roman supremacy. The coinage of these years reflects that posturing directly.

RIC I#143 is among the better-documented types of Nero's bronze output, produced at the Rome mint during a phase when orichalcum sestertii were being struck at comparatively high volume before the weight reduction that followed later in the reign.