Aureus (Coin) Portraying Emperor Vespasian (75-79, issued by Vespasian): Artwork and History

Aureus (Coin) Portraying Emperor Vespasian (75-79, issued by Vespasian) is in the Art Institute of Chicago collection. The museum lists its creator attribution as Roman; minted in Rome.

The work and its context

The Art Institute of Chicago describes the work:

Obverse: Head of Vespasian right, laureate Reverse: Fortuna, standing left on low garlanded altar, holding rudder in right hand and cornucopia in left In A.D. 68 the chaotic reign of the Roman emperor Nero came to an end with his forced suicide, but what followed was an equally chaotic struggle to succeed him. The support of the army was critical: the year A.D. 69 saw one general after another claim the throne only to be killed by one of his rivals. Finally, the Roman army in Egypt joined the army in Syria to back General Vespasian. Knowing that Egypt was the empire’s breadbasket, Vespasian’s first effort as emperor was to pacify and control this important province. The armor he wears on this coin emphasizes his role as a warrior king.

Object facts

• Title: Aureus (Coin) Portraying Emperor Vespasian
• Date: 75-79, issued by Vespasian
• Artist attribution: Roman; minted in Rome
• Place of origin: Rome
• Medium: Gold
• Dimensions: Diam.: 2 cm (13/16 in.)
• Type: Coin
• Department: Arts of Greece, Rome, and Byzantium
• Reference number: 1922.4867

Collection credit

Gift of Martin A. Ryerson

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The description above is credited to the Art Institute of Chicago and reused under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0; HTML formatting has been converted to plain text. Other catalogue metadata and the public-domain image are provided under CC0 1.0.