Many of the coins come from the year of four emperors, all very rare.
There are 78 coins in the collection, all silver denarii, in decent but not great condition. This is the second Roman coin hoard unearthed in Warwickshire since 2015. The first was larger, containing 440 silver denarii stashed in a large clay pot and buried in what is now Edge Hill, but what makes this one unique is that its coins date to 68-69 A.D., from the end of the reign of the Nero through the infamous Year of the Four Emperors.
The overthrow of Nero and his consequent suicide threw the empire into chaos. Competing generals vied for the throne, and coup followed coup installing Galba, Otho and Vitellius successively as emperors for a few months apiece. The civil wars ended when Vespasian became emperor in July of 69 A.D. and founded the Flavian dynasty that would rule Rome for 27 years.
This guy looks the part of an Imperator.
Wars are expensive things and private armies don’t fight just for the principle. Galba found this out from day one, as he’d been acclaimed emperor by the Praetorian Guard who had been promised by their calculating leaders monetary reward for their support, something they had developed a taste for under the Julio-Claudians. But Galba had no intention of paying for the loyalty of his own guard, and with the imperial treasury in the doldrums, the coins he struck weren’t going to line the pockets of soldiers.
Seven months later, Galba was a stabbed and decapitated corpse and Otho, who had bought 23 Praetorians to secure Galba’s fate, was emperor. He couldn’t afford to buy the loyalty, even temporary, of the army of Germania Inferior, however, so three months later he was dead and Vitellius, commander of said army was emperor. He got to enjoy a whole eight months as emperor thanks to that support before he was defeated by Vespasian and the legions of the east.
I'd love to know what impending threat motivated the original owner to bury the coins in the first place - but of course we'll never know for sure.
That, and what became of him. He never recovered his fortune so it is safe to bet his preps and saving came to naught...
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of denarii & Rome, this was a good book. It's history but it gave me a glimpse into a world I was really unaware of.
ReplyDelete"Ancient Rome on five denarii a day", by Philip Matyszak.
It sells cheap at some used book sites & it's probably on Amazon. After I read the book I went & got a passport because I knew that was the first step in actually seeing Rome...something I had to do after reading that book.
I have not made it yet...
“I'd love to know what impending threat motivated the original owner to bury the coins in the first place…” If I may hazard a guess, I’m inclined to think the owner of the coins fled to Warwickshire from the middle east region during what historian Josephus called “The Great Roman-Jewish War” and sought refuge. Why else would he have the Roman coins? Josephus described wholesale slaughter in Jerusalem, culminating in the destruction of the city and the great temple in August and September of 70 A.D. (within a generation, just as Jesus predicted in Matthew 24:35). Josephus estimates that 1.1 million Jews died in Jerusalem, 20,000 killed in Cesarea, 13,000 dead in Scythopolis, 50,000 dead in Alexandria, 40,000 dead in Jotapata… you get the picture. The Middle East was not a safe place at the time.
ReplyDeleteMatthew 24:34, that is.
ReplyDelete