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Roman Empire. Domitian caesar. Sestertius 80-81, Æ 24.00g.

Currency:CHF Category:Coins & Paper Money / Coins: Ancient Start Price:20,000.00 CHF Estimated At:25,000.00 CHF
Roman Empire. Domitian caesar. Sestertius 80-81, Æ 24.00g.
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The Roman Empire. Domitian caesar, 69–81. Sestertius 80-81, Æ 24.00g. CAES DIVI AVG VESP F DOMITIAN COS VII Laureate head r. Rev. S–C Syncretic deity of Victory and Spes advancing l., holding flower in upraised r. hand and palm branch in l. over shoulder. C –. BMC –. RIC p. 216 note 47 (this coin cited). CBN –. Apparently unique. A fabulous untouched light green patina and an unusually nice portrait, extremely fine. Ex NAC sale 33, 2006, 464. From the Luc Girard collection. This seemingly unpublished sestertius was struck in the final months that Domitian reigned as Caesar under his brother, the emperor Titus. It has a most unusual reverse that at first looks pedestrian–another Victory in flight–but it has an unusual feature that identifies the subject as a syncretic deity combining Victory and Spes, for in addition to the a palm branch this goddess also holds a lily flower, an attribute of Spes. She cannot be Nemesis, for neither the palm nor the lily is her repertoire of attributes. Syncretism was a standard feature of Greco-Roman religion, by which paganism evolved over the centuries. Serapis, Isis, Mithras and Cybele are all examples of successful syncretisms, in which the blending of features and attributes of gods achieved a general level of acceptance over time.