IVDAEA CAPTA
499. Vespasian Æ Sestertius. Rome, AD 71. IMP CAES VESPASIAN AVG P M TR P P P COS III, laureate head right / IVDAEA CAPTA, palm tree with bound male captive standing to left, Jewess seated on cuirass in attitude of mourning to right, both figures surrounded by arms; S C in exergue. RIC 159; BMCRE 533 corr. (no spear before Jewess; same rev. die); BN 489-90 var. (no spears); Hendin 1500. 25.67g, 33.5mm, 6h. Extremely Fine; light cleaning marks in fields. Very Rare; “worthy of the finest collections” - NAC 94.
10,000
From the G.T. Collection of the Twelve Caesars; Ex Michael S. Gasvoda Collection, Numismatica Ars Classica AG, Auction 94, 6 October 2016, lot 159 (hammer: CHF 25,000); Ex Michael Weller Collection, Classical Numismatic Group, Triton VIII, 11 January 2005, lot 1007. The tale of dynastic change that emerged after months of civil war following the death of Nero in AD 68 began when Vespasian and Titus returned to Rome mid AD 71 to celebrate, in a joint triumph, the pacification of Judea. The consequent triumphal procession marked not only their victory but also an end to internal fighting, the prospect of peace to come and above all the supreme power of the Roman state. It was in this jubilant context that a new series of coins were minted with both an inscription Judaea Capta and a personification of the captured province. The two sides of this coin explicitly illustrate this twofold symbolism of the triumph. Issued in all denominations, in gold, silver and bronze, the series continued to be struck for twenty-five years under both Titus and Domitian: a new dynasty had begun. With great awe, Josephus marvels at the treasures and spolia that were paraded in the triumphal procession, “now it is impossible to describe the multitude of the shews as they deserve; and the magnificence of them all: such indeed as a man could not easily think of, as performed either by the labour of workmen, or the variety of riches, or the rarities of nature” (Jewish Wars VII, 5, 132 ff.). Modern scholarship assumes that together with these riches Vespasian and Titus staged captives as personifications of Judaea styled as Judaea Capta (Ida Ostenberg, 2009, Staging the World: Spoils, Captives and Representations in the Roman Triumphal Procession, p. 225). Such personifications would have brought visuals of the far-off captured lands to the Roman public as they were paraded through the city. The image of Judaea here nods to this possibility: draped and veiled, Judaea is seated, propped up by a trophy she is incorporated into the visual representation of Roman possessions. Grief stricken with her head in her hands Judaea is a vivid impersonation of the inhabitants of her land, embodying their sentiments and now subjugated to the Romans. While the reverse of this coin tells of past victory the imperial effigy on its obverse announces a new beginning, a departure from Julio-Claudian rule. There is a marked difference in the portrait of Vespasian compared with those of the first dynasty: he is bald, wrinkled and displays strong physiognomy. Although to a large extent this might well have simply been a reflection of his appearance in real life, in this, there is an emphatic siding with the more Republican image of men in power as opposed to that of Nero (Jane Fejfer, 2008, Roman Portraits in Context, p.407). Vespasian is both easily recognisable and distinctly different from the likes of Nero and the Julio Claudian dynasty.
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