Domitian - JUDAEA CAPTA Bronze 22mm (8.96 grams)
City of Caesaria circa 81-96 A.D.
Reference: Hendin 749 ($275); AJC II, Supp. VIII, 7
Laureate head of Domitian left; around DOMITIANVS CAES AVG GERMANICVS.
Minerva in flowing gown advances left holding trophy in right hand and shield
and spear in left.
You are bidding on the exact item pictured,
provided with a Certificate of Authenticity and Lifetime Guarantee of
Authenticity.
Judaea Capta coins were a series of commemorative coins originally
issued by the
Roman
Emperor
Vespasian to celebrate the capture of
Judaea and the destruction of the
Jewish
Temple in Jerusalem by his son
Titus in
70 AD during the
First Jewish Revolt. There are several variants of the coinage. The reverse
of the coins shows a Jewish female (representing Judaea) seated right in an
attitude of mourning at the base of a palm tree, with either a captive Jewish
male standing right, with his hands bound behind his back, or the standing
figure of the victorious emperor, or the goddess Victory, with a trophy of
weapons, shields, and helmets to the left.
The female figure may reflect the prophesy of
Isaiah 3:8,
25-26: "For Jerusalem is ruined, and Judah is fallen ... Thy men shall fall by
the sword and thy mighty in the war. And her gates shall lament and mourn, and
she being desolate shall sit upon the ground".
The Judaea Capta coins were struck for 25 years under Vespasian and his two
sons who succeeded him as Emperor - Titus and
Domitian.
These commemorative coins were issued in bronze, silver and gold by mints in
Rome, throughout
the
Roman Empire, and in Judaea itself.
[1]
They were issued in every denomination, and at least 48 different types are
known[2].
Only bronze 'Judaea Capta' coins were struck in
Caesarea,
in the defeated Roman
province of Judea. These coins are much cruder than the Roman issues, and
the inscriptions are in
Greek rather than
Latin. The designs feature the
Goddess Nike writing on a shield,
Minerva with
a spear, shield, trophy and palm tree, etc. Most such coins were issued during
the reign of the Emperor Domitian (81-96 AD).
Titus Flavius Domitianus (24 October 51 – 18
September 96), known as Domitian, was a
Roman
Emperor
who
reigned from 14 September 81 until his death. Domitian was the third and last
emperor of the
Flavian dynasty, the house which ruled the
Roman
Empire between 69 and 96 and encompassed the reigns of Domitian's father
Vespasian
(69–79), his older brother
Titus (79–81),
and that of Domitian himself.
Domitian's youth and early career were largely spent in the shadow of his
brother Titus, who gained military renown during the
First Jewish-Roman War. This situation continued under the rule of
Vespasian, who became emperor on 21 December 69 following the
civil war
known as the
Year of the Four Emperors. While Titus effectually reigned as co-emperor
with his father, Domitian was left with honours but no responsibilities.
Vespasian died on 23 June 79 and was succeeded by Titus, whose own reign came to
an unexpected end when he was struck by a fatal illness on 13 September 81. The
following day Domitian was declared emperor by the
Praetorian Guard, commencing a reign which lasted fifteen years—longer than
any man who had governed Rome since
Tiberius.[1]
As emperor, Domitian strengthened the economy by revaluing the
Roman coinage, expanded the border defenses of the Empire, and initiated a
massive building programme to restore the damaged city of
Rome. Significant
wars were fought in Britain, where
Gnaeus Julius Agricola expanded the Roman Empire as far as modern day
Scotland,
and in Dacia,
where Domitian was unable to procure a decisive victory against king
Decebalus.
Domitian's government nonetheless exhibited
totalitarian characteristics. As emperor, he saw himself as the new
Augustus,
an enlightened despot destined to guide the Roman Empire into a new era of
Flavian renaissance. Religious, military, and cultural
propaganda
fostered a
cult of personality, and by nominating himself perpetual
censor,
he sought to control public and private morals. As a consequence, Domitian was
popular with the people and the army but despised by members of the
Roman
Senate as a tyrant.
Domitian's reign came to an end on 18 September 96 when he was assassinated
by court officials. The same day he was succeeded by his friend and advisor
Nerva, who
founded the long-lasting
Nerva-Antonine dynasty. After his death, Domitian's memory was
condemned to oblivion by the Roman Senate, while senatorial authors such as
Tacitus,
Pliny the Younger and
Suetonius
published histories propagating the view of Domitian as a cruel and paranoid
tyrant. Modern history has rejected these views, instead characterising Domitian
as a ruthless but efficient autocrat, whose cultural, economic and political
programme provided the foundation of the peaceful 2nd century.
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