Gaius (Caligula), 37-41. Sestertius (Orichalcum, 36 mm, 29.70 g, 6 h), Rome, 37-38. C CAESAR AVG GERMANICVS PON M TR POT Laureate head of Gaius to left. Rev. AGRIPPINA - DRVSILLA - IVLIA / S C Agrippina as Securitas, standing facing, head to right, leaning on column and holding cornucopiae in her right hand, placing her left hand on shoulder of Drusilla as Concordia, standing facing, head to left, holding patera in her right hand and cornucopiae in her left; to right, Julia as Fortuna, standing facing, head to left, holding rudder in her right hand and cornucopiae in her left. BMC 36. CBN 4. Cohen 24. RIC 33. Rare and with a lovely light green patina. Slightly rough and some areas of smoothing, otherwise, about extremely fine.



This magnificent sestertius of Caligula, with its perfectly centered strike and crisp details, depicts on the reverse the emperor’s three sisters — Drusilla, Julia Livilla, and Agrippina the Younger — shown as goddesses. According to ancient sources — especially those hostile to Caligula — the emperor was said to have an unnatural fondness for his sisters, particularly for Drusilla, whom he had deified after her death in 38 AD, even naming his own daughter, Julia Drusilla, in her honor. The remaining sisters, Julia Livilla and Agrippina, soon began plotting against Caligula, for which he banished them. After Caligula’s death in 41, Claudius revoked their exile, allowing them to return to Rome. Following the execution of his wife, Messalina, in 48, Claudius married his niece, Agrippina the Younger (Julia Livilla had meanwhile been starved to death), who later conspired to murder her husband in favor of her son, the future emperor Nero — a plot that ultimately led to her own death.