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

Nero's later sestertii, struck from roughly 62 onward, coincide with the period after Burrus died and Seneca withdrew — the two moderating influences on his reign gone within months of each other. The coinage grows more assertive in its messaging from this point, with reverse types invoking peace and victory at a moment when the Armenian frontier under Corbulo was anything but settled. The Parthian question dominated Roman strategic thinking for the entire decade, and the eventual settlement of 63 AD required acknowledging a Parthian-nominated king on the Armenian throne, a compromise the mint's imagery conspicuously declined to advertise honestly.