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Sestertius - Vespasian LIBERTAS RESTITVTA S C, Libertas and Roma
| Issuer | Roman Empire (27 BC - 395 AD) |
|---|---|
| Year | 71 |
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| Value | 1 Sestertius = 1/4 Denarius |
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| Obverse lettering | IMP CAESAR VESPASIANVS AVG P M T P P P COS III (Translation: Imperator Caesar Vespasianus Augustus, Pontifex Maximus, Tribunicia Potestate, Pater Patriae, Consul Tertium. Supreme commander (Imperator) Caesar Vespasian, emperor (Augustus), high priest, holder of tribunician power, father of the nation, consul for the third time.) |
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| Edge | Plain |
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| Additional information |
The LIBERTAS RESTITVTA ("liberty restored") type belongs to a carefully managed propaganda campaign Vespasian launched immediately after the chaos of 69 AD — the Year of the Four Emperors. Having seized power through civil war, he needed to project constitutional legitimacy, and the liberty-restored theme was borrowed deliberately from Augustan precedent, co-opting the language of republican restoration that Augustus himself had used a century earlier. The irony was not subtle, and was presumably not intended to be noticed.
RIC II.1 #89 places this among the earliest Vespasianic sestertii of the reign, struck at Rome in 71 AD following his return from Judaea.