Vespasian, 69-79. Aureus (Gold, 20 mm, 7.29 g, 5 h), Lugdunum, 72. IMP CAES VESPAS AVG P M TR P IIII P P COS IIII Laureate head of Vespasian to right. Rev. DE IVDAEIS Trophy, consisting of helmet, cuirass, crossed shields, spears and greaves; at base, helmet and a pile of shields. BMC 402. Bromberg II 601. Calicó 627d. CBN 305-6. Cohen 139. Giard 55. Hendin 6504. RIC 1179. Samel -. Shoshana I 20519. Rare. Small graffito on the obverse and minor traces of mounting on the edge, otherwise, very fine.



The unusually direct legend DE IVDAEIS, ‘[victory] over the Jews’, sets this rare aureus apart from the more familiar issues referring to the conquered province as IVDAEA. Struck at Lugdunum in 72-73 CE, it places the emphasis not on Judaea as a mourning personification, but on the military defeat of the Jewish rebels themselves. The trophy assembled from captured arms reaches back to a long-established Roman language of victory (see the note on lot 354 above), familiar from Republican and Imperatorial coinage, where trophies and enemy weapons proclaimed the defeat of a foreign foe. In the aftermath of the fall of Jerusalem and the triumph of 71 CE, this traditional image was given a specifically Flavian meaning by the legend DE IVDAEIS. The result is one of the most concise expressions of the Judaean victory in Vespasian’s gold coinage: an ancient symbol of Roman conquest combined with an unusually explicit reference to the defeated enemy.