Lot 198
Vespasian. Gold Aureus (7.05 g), AD 69-79. 'Judaea Capta' type. Lugdunum mint, AD 69/70. - The exceptional portrait and reverse details, point to Lugdunum as the mint of issue. IMP CAESAR VESPASIANVS AVG, laureate head of Vespasian right. Reverse: IVDAEA in exergue, Jewess seated right, head resting on hand in attitude of mourning; behind, trophy. Hendin 1464; RIC 1; BMC 31-4; Calicó 643. Boldly struck and well centered. Some scrapes and scattered light marks hardly detract from the high quality of this exceptional example. Very Rare. Extremely Fine. Value $35,000 - UP
The first coin of the standard 'Judaea Capta' series. In the 'Judaea Capta' coinage, the seated personified Judaea evokes the iconographic language of the defeated and degraded prisoner. The conquered province type has its own set of gestures expressing a mournful or abject context, which are derived from Roman funerary iconography. They include an attitude formed by the resting of the chin in the hand, a pose that evokes pensiveness, uncertainty, and grief with overtones of repentance or lamentation. Additionally, the mourner is shown with hunched shoulders, and a bowed and covered head. The depiction of the personified province recollects the Biblical description of the besieged Jerusalem by the prophet Isaiah (ca. 700 BCE): "For Jerusalem is ruined, and Judah is fallen… Thy men shall fall by the sword and thy mighty in the war. And her gates shall lament and mourn, and she, being desolate, shall sit upon the ground" (Isaiah 3:8-9; 25-26).
The imposing military trophy standing to the left of the picture looms over the back of the vanquished Judaea, taunting the humiliated figure, re-enforcing the fact that the weapons used to resist Rome are now spoils to the victors; they no longer hold power.
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| Realized $33,600 |
