An emperor who's short reign only known for his gluttony! Added this denarius of Vitellius to my collection. While I currently have no plans to assemble a set of the 12 Caesars, this particular coin was too good of a deal to pass up at 45€ listed on Ma-Shops. Although I waited for over a month to receive the coin. I'm just happy with the bust and his name being clear. Vitellius, A.D. 69, AR Denarius, 3 g Obv: A VITELLIVS GERM IMP AVG TR P; laureate head right. Rev: CONCORDIA P R; Concordia, dr., seated l., r. holding patera, l. cornucopia. This is the seller's photo, I'm really surprised Ma-shops allows such poor quality images. I was gonna leave the coin as it is, but ended up cleaning the coin with sodium thiosulfate to get rid of the horn silver. Please share your coins of Vitellius!
Vitellius is one of those few Emperors who did not strike "captives" coinage or struck them in very limited numbers. Vitellius' only ones relate to Judaea Capta and are rare and expensive. An "affordable" one sold at Nomos 5 years ago for 28,000 CHF + fees. I really wish I'd had $20,000 or so to spare for the one at Berk's BBS 220, which I though deserved much more. (I thought someone would buy it outright at $34.5K.) The Sir A.J. Evans coin, published by Hendin and others: NOT MY COIN I actually sold the coin below, but this is the one I'll try to replace for my "captives" collection. Why is that a "captives" coin (almost)? Libertas is holding the vindicta -- the rod used in the ceremony of the manumission of slaves -- and the liberty cap, symbolizing their freedom: NO LONGER MY COIN
Vitellius is one of the very first emperors I focused on when I started collecting Roman coins in the late 80's. Managed to assemble this small collection of his coins, still in my collection.
I don't think the allegory of Libertas holding the liberty cap and the vindicta has any relation with captives. It's a purely political notion, Libertas meaning non-monarchic regime. The USA minted coins with the same allegory in the late 18th century... Not My Coin : United States of America, half-cent with Libertas (er... Liberty) with the liberty cap and the vindicta.
Right, it's very well known that's where the French / American version of Liberty comes from. I'm sure the Roman coins also meant it in the political sense (as in, "I [Vitellius or other emperor], liberate you from whatever came before"). But you can find any number of sources explaining that the vindicta & pileus were used in the manumission of slaves ceremony. A typical excerpt (which goes on) chosen by convenience (many others are available to the same effect): The ceremony of the Manumissio by the Vindicta was as follows: — The master brought his slave before the magistratus, and stated the grounds (causa) of the intended manumission. The lictor of the magistratus laid a rod (festuca) on the head of the slave, accompanied with certain formal words, in which he declared that he was a free man ex Jure Quiritium, that is, "vindicavit in libertatem." ... It may be true that originally the manumission by Vindicta only gave libertas and not civitas... https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/secondary/SMIGRA*/Manumissio.html Edit: And reference on the cap: The legal act of manumission was often followed by a religious ceremony in the temple of Feronia, where the freedman appeared clad in the toga or dress of a Roman citizen, and with a pileus, or particular kind of cap, on his shaven head. This last circumstance explains the expression “servos ad pileum vocare” (Liv. 24.32), which means to promise slaves their liberty in order to induce them to join in some civil disturbance (cf. Plaut. Amph. 3.4,16; Poen. 5.2, 2; Serv. ad Aen. 8.564). The pileus was still worn in the time of Justinian, since he declares that slaves who attend the funeral of their master with the cap of freedom on their heads (pileati) become Roman citizens (Cod. 7, 6, 1.5) https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0063:id=manumissio-cn Just to clarify again, I don't think Libertas Roman coins were about literal slaves; this was a figurative symbol/metaphor for liberty/"freedom from X."
