Sestertius - Vitellius PAX GER ROM S C, Roma and Victory

Vitellius held power for less than eight months in 69 AD — the Year of the Four Emperors — and his mint output was concentrated almost entirely in those chaotic months between his German legions' proclamation of him in January and his murder in December. The PAX GER ROM legend was a pointed claim: his rise had been driven by the Rhine armies, and framing that military coup as a peace settlement was deliberate propaganda aimed at legitimizing a reign that most of Rome's eastern provinces refused to accept.

RIC I#119 is among the scarcer of his sestertius types, a direct consequence of how abruptly production ceased when Vespasian's forces entered Rome.