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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;AncientJoe, post: 1906036, member: 44357&quot;]I won this coin at the most recent CICF sale, and it has the honor of being the first provincial coin I&#039;ve ever owned. And I&#039;m sure everyone will appreciate that I freed it from its NGC slab <img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie2" alt=";)" unselectable="on" unselectable="on" /></p><p><br /></p><p><img src="http://i1028.photobucket.com/albums/y342/AncientJoe/Nerva_zps33c88814.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /></p><p><br /></p><p><i>SYRIA. Antioch. Nerva (AD 96-98). AR tetradrachm (25mm, 15.43 gm, 11h). Dated &quot;New Holy Year&quot; 1 (AD 96/7). . KAIΣ ΣEB AVT NEPOVAΣ, laureate head right, with aegis around neck / ETOVΣ · NEOV · IEPOV · A, eagle standing right on thunderbolt, with wings spread; palm frond to right. McAlee 419; Prieur 149.</i></p><p><i><br /></i></p><p><i>Attractive old cabinet toning. An elegant portrait, and an overall impressive piece. NGC AU★ 5/5 - 5/5, fine style.</i></p><p><br /></p><p>Chosen by the senate, Marcus Cocceius Nerva succeeded Domitian in AD 96 as emperor. Nerva became known as the first of the “Good emperors”. In his short reign he implemented several improvements: the allotment of land to the urban poor, distribution of loans to farmers, and building of roads.</p><p><br /></p><p>Prior to his ascension, he had been a long-time central politician under the various emperors before him, particularly Domitian, Vespasian, and Nero.</p><p><br /></p><p>History is best understood in hindsight, and the Romans of the time could not have known how pivotal the murder of Domitian would prove to be. We have since recognized a clean break between the ‘Twelve Caesars’ and the ‘Adoptive’ emperors – something that would not have crossed the mind of a Roman living in the transition year of 96. Nerva was an elderly, childless senator who was descended from a long line of successful lawyers. His reign was not remarkable, but it served as a buffer between the dynastic nature of the previous century and the ‘adoptive’ character of the era that followed.</p><p><br /></p><p>The reign of Nerva was quite different than that of his predecessor: his was one of moderation and tolerance in comparison with the militant nature of Domitian, and had he been a younger, more energetic man – perhaps with an heir – it is hard to predict how the fate of Rome might have been altered.</p><p><br /></p><p>Domitian spoiled his army by increasing their salaries from 225 denarii per year (which had been the standard since the time of Julius Caesar) to 300 per year, and paid them in coins of increased weight and purity. This was a difficult act for an elderly senator to follow, especially since for at least six decades the army had been instrumental in making and maintaining emperors. Money was a key to Nerva’s success: he maintained Domitian’s standards of heavy, pure aurei and he devoted reverse types to the army.</p><p><br /></p><p>But even with Nerva’s fiscal and numismatic overtures, his relationship with the army was strained at best. Nerva started off as emperor under a precarious relationship with the army which suspected him of being involved in the conspiracy against Domitian. He made things right in their eyes by presenting them with a very apologetic speech but despite these efforts, there were two failed plots against the new emperor: one by troops stationed on the Danube, and another by praetorian guardsmen in Rome, who were principally seeking revenge on those who had murdered Domitian.</p><p><br /></p><p>Nerva made one of the most fortunate decisions of all time by deciding to select his successor based on merit, beginning the &quot;Golden Era of Rome&quot;. After less than two years as emperor, Nerva suffered a stroke in January AD 98 and was succeeded by his adopted son, Trajan, a successful general and then governor of Upper Germany.</p><p><br /></p><p>Because of Nerva&#039;s short reign, little change was made in the procedures of Rome and it continued along its militant and expansionist path throughout the reign of Trajan, only to be briefly curtailed under Hadrian, and restored out of necessity by later emperors.</p><p><br /></p><p>The reverse of this coin depicts a powerful eagle. The eagle had been the standard Ptolemaic reverse type and was adopted by Augustus for the first Roman coinage of Egypt. For the Romans the eagle was not only a symbol of Jupiter; it was inevitably associated with the legions and warfare. In the present case it may be the Alexandrian equivalent of the CONCORDIA EXERCITVVM type, which depicted clasped hands holding a legionary eagle resting on a prow. This was one of Nerva’s most characteristic types, employed on both precious metal and bronze coinage of the Rome mint throughout his brief reign.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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