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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Julius Germanicus, post: 8191193, member: 80783&quot;]I just bought two recent books on my namesake, Germanicus Caesar, published as companions to the exhibitions in the Museums at Kalkriese (2015) and Haltern (2017):</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1434118[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>The second I first saw the picture of the arch with it&#039;s two gates I knew I just had to rebuild it as a companion to my single-gate arch of Titus and the tripple-gate arches of Septimius Severus and Constantine.</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1434126[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>The arch was built in 18 or 19 A.D by Caius Julius Rufus, a rich citizen of the town Mediolanum Santonum in Gallia, now known as Saintes in the french department Charente-Maritime:</p><p><br /></p><p>C(aius) IVLI[us] C(aii) IVLI(i) OTUANEUNI F(ilius) RVFVS C(aii) IVLI(i) GEDOMONIS NEPOS, EPOTSOVIRIDI PRON(epos)</p><p>[SACERDOS ROMAE ET AUG]USTI [AD A]RAM QU[A]E EST AD CONFLUENT[E]M, PRAEFECTUS [FAB]RUM, D(at)</p><p><br /></p><p><i>&quot;Caius Julius Rufus, son of Caius Julius Otuaneunus, grandson of Caius Julius Gedemo, great-grandson of Epotsovirid(i)us, priest of Rome and of Augustus at the altar at Confluens, prefect of works, gave [this arch]&quot;</i></p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1434124[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>The dedicatory inscriptions honoring the emperor Tiberius and his son Drusus junior are worn away. It is the better preserved dedication to his nephew and adoptive son, Germanicus, that makes this arch known as the &quot;Arch of Germanicus&quot; today:</p><p><br /></p><p>GERMANICO [CAESA]R<i> TI(berii) AUG(usti) F(ilio) </i></p><p><i>DIVI AUG(usti) NEP(oti) DIVI IULI PRONEP(oti) </i></p><p><i>[AUGU]RI FLAM(ini) AUGUST(ali) CO(n)S(uli) II IMP(eratori) II</i></p><p><i><br /></i></p><p><i><i>&quot;To Germanicus Caesar, son of Tiberius Augustus, grandson of the deified <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Augustus" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Augustus" rel="nofollow">Augustus</a>, great-grandson of the deified Julius, augur, flamen, augustales, consul for the second time, hailed imperator for the second time.&quot;</i></i></p><p><i><br /></i></p><p><i>[ATTACH=full]1434125[/ATTACH] </i></p><p><i><br /></i></p><p>The two principal heirs to the imperial throne during the reign of Tiberius (AD 14-37) were his nephew Germanicus (born 15 BC), and Drusus the younger (born 13 BC), his own son by his first wife Vipsania.</p><p><br /></p><p>Germanicus was the elder son of Nero Claudius Drusus and Antonia and was born in 15 BC. He lost his father six years later and in AD 4 was adopted by his uncle Tiberius, heir to the imperial throne of Augustus. His military exploits in Germany early in Tiberius&#039; reign further enhanced his reputation and popularity, his clear intention being to emulate his father&#039;s achievements in the area. Recalled to Rome by Tiberius in AD 17, Germanicus celebrated a magnificent triumph on 26 May. He was then dispatched to the East to take up a new command with extraordinary powers over all the eastern provinces. He reduced Cappadocia and Commagene to the status of provinces but then offended Tiberius by taking an unauthorized pleasure trip to Egypt, a country that had been barred to senators by Augustus. On returning to Antioch he quarreled with Piso, the governor of Syria, and soon afterwards was stricken with a mysterious illness that resulted in his death on 10 October AD 19. Piso was suspected of being implicated in the sudden and unexpected demise of the popular prince and later committed suicide, though he always protested his innocence. The Roman coinage in the name of Germanicus is all posthumous, the earlier issues belonging to the reign of his son the Emperor Caligula (AD 37-41), the later to that of his brother the Emperor Claudius (AD 41-54). This copper as (worth one-fourth of the orichalcum sestertius and one-sixteenth of the silver denarius) was struck by Caligula in the first year of his reign, less than twenty years after his father&#039;s death.</p><p><i><br /></i></p><p><i>[ATTACH=full]1434127[/ATTACH] </i></p><p><i><br /></i></p><p>GERMANICVS CAESAR TI AVGVST F DIVI AVG N - bare head of Germanicus left /</p><p>C CAESAR AVG GERMANICVS PON M TR POT around large S C</p><p>Copper As, struck under Caligula, Rome AD 37/39</p><p>28,13 mm / 11,10 gr</p><p>RIC (Caligula) 35; BMCRE (Caligula) 49; CBN (Caligula) 73; Cohen 1; Sear 1821</p><p><br /></p><p>As a result of Germanicus´ untimely death, Tiberius&#039; own son Drusus now became heir to the throne, and Sestertii and Asses were struck in his honor during Tiberius&#039; twenty-fourth tribunician year (AD 22-23), an unusually prolific period for the production of aes coinage at Rome. However, in AD 23 Drusus also died prematurely at the age of only thirty-six. It seems likely that he was the victim of the ruthlessly ambitious praetorian prefect Sejanus who had seduced his wife Livilla, sister of the late Caesar Germanicus, and had persuaded her to administer poison to her unfortunate husband. This example of the copper as (worth one-fourth of the orichalcum sestertius and one-sixteenth of the silver denarius) issued for Drusus Caesar has a fine portrait of the ill-fated 35-year-old prince. The obverse inscription describes him as “son of the Emperor Tiberius and grandson of the Divine Augustus”, the same pedigree which had been borne by his predecessor as heir, Germanicus. The reverse inscription records that Drusus was in the second year of his tribunician power (TRIBVN POTEST ITER) showing that he had been granted this distinction by Tiberius as part of his preparation for the succession to the imperial throne. The large S C, which is encircled by the inscription, stands for Senatus Consulto (“by the authority of the Senate”) and its prominence is indicative of the importance placed by the Senate on its constitutional prerogative to issue coinage. Under the Empire, this right was generally restricted to the aes denominations.</p><p><i><br /></i></p><p><i>[ATTACH=full]1434128[/ATTACH] </i></p><p><i><br /></i></p><p>DRVSVS CAESAR TI AVG F DIVI AVG N - bare head of Drusus left /</p><p>PONTIF TRIBVN POTEST ITER around large S C</p><p>Copper As, struck under Tiberius, Rome AD 22/23</p><p>29,80 mm / 11,32 gr</p><p>RIC (Tiberius) 45 ; BMCRE (Tiberius) 99; CBN (Tiberius) 78; MIR 2, Series 38/6; Cohen 2; Sear 1794</p><p><br /></p><p>Let´s see your coins of Germanicus and Drusus junior and share your thoughts on if and how they would have shared power had they had survived longer.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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