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Auction: 23007 - Ancient Coins Including the 'Kyrios' Collection of Greek Coins and featuring the 'Ostorius' Collection of Roman Gold
Lot: 191

(x) Roman Empire, Nero (AD 54-68) AE Sestertius, Lugdunum c. AD 65, NERO CLAVD AVG GER PM TRP IMP PP, laureate bust left, rev. PACE PR TERRA MARIQ PARTA IANVM CLVSIT, Temple of Janus with closed double doors, 28.46g (BMC 320; RIC 439), a lovely coin with an attractive patina and some fanstastic detail, especially on the temple itself, near good extremely fine

PROVENANCE

Purchased from Spink by private treaty, c. 1997-2004, with ticket - £690



"But with blood and slaughter the whole world would welter, did not the bars unbending hold the wars barricaded". So, the god Janus remarks in Ovid's Fasti alluding to the Roman custom of the gates of the temple of Janus being shut at times of peace. When the gates are shut, Janus barricades war inside allowing the world to be at peace.


This tradition went back to the very origins of the Republic when the temple was founded by Numa. Famously, the bellicosity of the Romans allowed the doors to be shut on only two occasions in the Republic, once in the time of Numa and again after the 1st Punic War. It was Augustus' famous closure of them after the Battle of Actium which became the third. His claim to have brought pax to the world lay at the very foundation of his new regime.


The story, however, was a lie. Not just Augustus' claim that all wars were now over, but it seems to have been a 'tradition' which he seemingly invented. Nevertheless, the potent symbol of the closed doors would endure throughout the principate. The most famous of subsequent closures would be in the reign of Nero after his Parthian wars as commemorated on this coin.


It would be fair to call this Sestertius an act of Neronian propaganda. Nero invoked this 'Augustan' peace to celebrate the end of a war he did not actually win. From AD 58-63, a dispute over succession in Armenia had provoked the first military confrontation between the Romans and the Parthians since Mark Antony. Gnaeus Domitius Corbulo had waged the war on Nero's behalf. The highpoint of which saw Corbulo catapult the decapitated head of an Armenian noble directly into an Armenian assembly in the blockaded city of Tigranocerta prompting them to immediately surrender. Corbulo flattened Armenia removing the Parthian candidate for the Armenian throne, Tigranes. However, the subsequent Parthian counterattack saw many of Corbulo's successes reversed, and after the humiliating defeat at Rhandeia terms were reached. Tigranes would remain in power in Armenia, provided that he pretended to be the client king of Nero too. Needless to say, this was hardly a glorious victory. In his usual ironic tone, Tacitus mocked Nero's erection of trophies and arches on the Capitoline hill as Nero took advantage of general ignorance over the actual political situation.


The war ended in 63, however this coin was not struck until 66 when Tigranes himself made the journey to Rome to swear his loyalty to Nero. The theatrics staged by this occasion were notorious, including stunts like the guiding of all the furniture in the theatre of Pompey. The celebrations started in Puetoli where Tigranes got to show off his skills by shooting buffalos in the arena. It was, however, the events in Rome which were to become legendary. Nero received Tigranes dressed up in the costume of the triumphator as the king of Armenia knelt before him pledging his loyalty. Artaraxa was even going to be renamed 'Neronia'.


This coin, one of Nero's most famous issues, was struck for the occasion - a powerful declaration of universal peace, reminiscent of Augustus himself. The reverse type of the temple also serves as our best indication for what the temple of Janus actually looked like. So far, no archaeological remains and even its location is widely disputed.


Subject to 5% tax on Hammer Price in addition to 20% VAT on Buyer’s Premium.

Sold for
£1,100

Starting price
£900