Ancient Coin of the Day: Realistically today, there could only be one topic - as a birthday present for Nero, let's look at how a young princeps can age rapidly in the role! #ACOTD #Nero

Image: RIC Nero 3; British Museum (R.6509). Link - http://numismatics.org/ocre/id/ric.1(2).ner.3

The numismatic portraits of Nero are among some of the best-known from the early Empire, not least because they are - some cases - seemingly unflattering, giving a rather 'jowls-and-all' representation of the Princeps.

The first coin today is an aureus of AD 54, with an Obverse featuring portraits of Nero and his mother, Agrippina the Younger, facing one another. The Legend here AGRIPP AVG DIVI CL AVD NERONIS CAES MATER - 'Agrippina Augusta, wife of the Deified Claudius, mother of Nero Caesar -

...which stands as ready testimony to her influence in the early stages of his reign. His portrait, however, is that of a fresh-faced and youthful Princeps, fitting for a young man who became Emperor shortly before his 17th birthday.

The Reverse of this coin is centred upon an oak-wreath with the inscription EX S C - 'By decree of the Senate' - with the Legend NERONI CLAVD DIVI F CAES AVG GERM IMP TR P - 'For Nero Caesar Augustus Germanicus, son of the Deified Claudius, Imperator, with Tribunician Power'.

However, by AD 64, the excesses of Nero's reign are taking a visible toll on him. The Reverse shows Nero in a radiate headdress, holding a palm frond of victory and Victory on a globe. The radiate...

Image: RIC Nero 46; British Museum (R.6521). Link - http://numismatics.org/ocre/id/ric.1(2).ner.46

...headdress - typically associated with Deified emperors - perhaps speaks towards the 'pretensions of divinity' which manifested in his commissioning of the Colossus, the huge statue of him which dominated the city, and which Martial (1.70.7) also described as 'radiate'.

The coins from the final years of his reign, such as this aureus of AD 66-67, show Nero approaching the age of 30. He is heavy-set to say the least in this portrait.

Image: RIC Nero 66; British Museum (R1874,0715.9). Link - http://numismatics.org/ocre/id/ric.1(2).ner.66

There is something of an irony in that the Reverse of this final coin shows an enthroned 'Salus' - the personification of Health and Welfare.

For more on the coins of Nero, see:

Hekster, Olivier, et al. “Making History with Coins: Nero from a Numismatic Perspective.” The Journal of Interdisciplinary History, vol. 45, no. 1, 2014, pp. 25–37.

http://www.jstor.org/stable/43829562 

#ACOTD #Nero