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Sale 108
Lot 193
Vespasian. Gold Aureus (7.23 g), AD 69-79. Judaea Capta type. Lugdunum, AD 71. IMP CAESAR VESPASIANVS AVG TR P, laureate head of Vespasian right. Rev. TRIVMP AVG in exergue, emperor on triumphal quadriga right, holding palm and eagle-tipped scepter, being crowned by Victory standing behind him and accompanied by trumpeter; before horses, soldier escorting captive. Hendin 1475; RIC 1127; BN 17; BMC 397; Calicó 689. An important Jewish rarity. Very Fine. Estimate Value $30,000 - UP
From the S. Moussaieff Collection. We sold a similar (but slightly inferior example in Goldberg 41 (27 May 2007), lot 2786) and again in Goldberg 90, lot 3044 which realized $78,000. This lot has been officially exported from Israel through the Israel Antiquities Authority.
Simon bar Giora Aureus
This very rare 'Judaea Capta' - themed aureus, minted to commemorate the recently concluded Jewish War, is most notable for its reverse type. The exergual inscription simply reads: TRIVMP AVG (Triumph of Augustus [Vespasian]). Depicted with particular clarity is the imperial quadriga in the way it would have appeared in the triumphal procession, preceded by a soldier who looks back at the emperor, while escorting a captive with hands bound behind. Robert Deutsch (BAR Jan/Feb 2010, 51-53) identifies the captive as the most important leader of Jerusalem in the Jewish War, Simon bar Giora.
The triumph celebrated by Vespasian and Titus in 71 A.D. was a magnificent showcase of the abundance gleaned from the victory over the destroyed province. Booty taken back to Rome after the war was prodigious. When the Romans entered the Temple court, "so glutted with plunder were the troops, one and all, that throughout Syria the standard of gold was depreciated to half its former value" (Josephus, de Bello Judaico, 6.316-322).
The triumph itself was described in vivid detail by Josephus, who was an eye-witness to the event (de Bello Judaico, 7.24): "…as dawn was breaking [Titus and Vespasian] emerged, crowned with laurel wreaths and wearing the time-honored purple clothes…. It is impossible to do justice in the description of the number of things to be seen and the magnificence of everything… For almost all the remarkable and valuable objects which have ever been collected … were on that day massed together, affording a clear demonstration of the might of the Roman Empire. The quantities of silver, gold and ivory, worked into every conceivable form, were not like those usually carried in a triumph, but resembled, as it were, a running river of wealth… The greatest amazement was by the floats… For many were three or four stories high… Standing on his individual float was the commander of each of the captured cities showing the way he had been taken prisoner… Spoil in abundance was carried past. None of it compared with that taken from the Temple in Jerusalem, a golden table [the showbread table], and a golden lamp stand [the menorah]… The Law [Torah; The Five Books of Moses] was carried last of all the spoil.
The procession culminated at the Temple of Jupiter Capitolinus… where they still had to wait for the traditional moment when the news was brought of the death of the enemy leader. In this case he was Simon bar Giora, who had passed in procession with captives and had been dragged under the lash, with his head in a noose, to a spot near the Forum. That is the traditional place at Rome for the execution of those condemned to death for war crimes. When his end was announced and a general cheer had arisen, they started the sacrifices…."
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