Nero, 54-68. Sestertius (Orichalcum, 34 mm, 27.78 g, 6 h), Lugdunum, circa 65. NERO CLAVD CAESAR AVG GER P M TR P IMP P P Laureate head of Nero to left; globe at point of neck. Rev. PACE P R TERRA MARIQ PARTA IANVM•CLVSIT• / S - C Temple of Janus with latticed window on the left and a garland hung across the closed double doors to the right. BMC 320. Cohen -. RIC 439. Patina stripped and with some roughness, otherwise, good very fine.


The Temple of Janus Geminus was not actually a temple, but a small walled enclosure in Rome near the Basilica Aemilia, with gates or doorways at either end. It was unusual in that its architecture consisted of two arches with doors and side walls. Since Janus was the god of both beginnings and endings, his temple represented the same in relation to Rome's wars: when its doors were closed, as depicted on this beautiful sestertius, Rome was at peace, fighting no enemies, and if its doors were open, this meant that Rome's soldiers were engaged in war.

It is perhaps not surprising that in Rome's long history of military conquests, the temple's doors were rarely closed. In fact, when the empire was at peace, as it was during Nero's reign after the cessation of hostilities with Parthia, it was such an unusual event that Nero felt obliged to depict it on his coinage. He did this both on his aurei, which show only the entrance to the temple, and his bronze coins, which depict the complete temple from either the left or the right with wreathed doors and a double row of windows along the outer wall. The type proclaimed Nero as a militarily successful emperor, aligning him with the divine Augustus and thus capitalizing on the first emperor's enduring reputation as a bringer of peace.