Reproduction Aureus of Vespasian – Pax

Obverse: Laureate, bust of Vespasian right. Text around IMP CAESAR VESPASIANVS AVG.

Reverse: Pax (Peace) standing left holding olive branch in right hand and winged caduceus (a rod, entwined at one end by two serpents) in left arm. Text around COS ITER TR POT (consul again, holder of tribunitian power).

History: While Vespasian besieged Jerusalem during the Jewish rebellion, emperor Nero committed suicide and plunged Rome into a year of civil war known as the Year of the Four Emperors. After Galba and Otho perished in quick succession, Vitellius became emperor in April 69AD. The Roman legions of Roman Egypt and Judaea reacted by declaring Vespasian, their commander, the emperor on 1 July 69. Upon the defeat of Vitellius by the Danubian legions, Vespasian went to Rome and consolidated his power and established the Flavian dynasty.

This coin was struck to appeal to the goddess Pax to deliver peace at the time the First Jewish Revolt was coming to its end. In April 70 Titus (Vespasian’s son) besieged Jerusalem, the centre of Jewish rebel resistance in the Roman province of Judaea. Following a brutal five-month siege, the Romans destroyed the city and the Second Jewish Temple.

Vespasian ruled until his death in 79AD. He had ended the civil war and instability in the Roman empire and initiated several ambitious construction projects including the Templum Pacis in 75AD in Pax’s honour.

Date: Rome mint, 70AD

Diameter: 1.9cm