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Sestertius - Nerva VEHICVLATIONE ITALIAE REMISSA S C
| Issuer | Roman Empire (27 BC - 395 AD) |
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| Year | 97 |
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| Shape | Round (irregular) |
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| Obverse description | Laureate bust of Emperor Nerva facing right, depicted with a draped and cuirassed shoulder, rendered in the restrained, realistic portraiture style characteristic of Flavian-era Roman imperial coinage. The emperor's aged features — including a thin face, prominent nose, and short curly hair beneath the laurel wreath — are rendered with individualistic precision. The encircling legend runs clockwise from the lower left around the full periphery of the flan. The portrait is set in high relief against a flat field, consistent with official Roman senatorial bronze coinage of the late first century AD. |
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| Obverse lettering | IMP NERVA CAES AVG P M TR P II COS III P P (Translation: Imperator Nerva Caesar Augustus, Pontifex Maximus, Tribunicia Potestate Secunda, Consul Tertium, Pater Patriae. Supreme commander (Imperator) Nerva, Caesar, emperor (Augustus), high priest, holder of tribunician power for the second time, consul for the third time, father of the nation.) |
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| Additional information |
In 97 AD, Nerva abolished the vehiculatio burden on Italian communities — the compulsory obligation to provide transport, animals, and lodging to imperial couriers passing through their towns. The system had been chronically abused under Domitian, with officials commandeering resources far beyond legitimate need. This sestertius commemorates that relief directly, making it one of the few Roman bronze issues explicitly tied to a named fiscal or administrative reform rather than a military event or dynastic occasion.
Nerva's reign lasted just fifteen months. The window for striking RIC 104 was narrow.