IONIA. Smyrna. Vespasian Junior, Caesar, circa AD 94/5. Hemiassarion (Bronze, 18 mm, 2.56 g, 1 h). O[Y]ЄCΠAC[I]ANOC NЄ[ΩTЄPOC] Bare-headed and draped bust of Vespasian junior to right. Rev. ZMYPNAIΩN Nike advancing left, holding wreath in her right hand and palm frond in her left. BMC 316-7. Klose XLII, 6-10. RPC II 1029. Very rare and with a charming portrait of the young heir to the throne. Struck somewhat off center, otherwise, very fine.




The siblings Vespasian and Domitian Junior (their birth names are unknown) were the children of Titus Flavius Clemens and Flavia Domitilla, and therefore also the grandsons of Vespasian's older brother, Titus Flavius Sabinus. Domitian, whose own son (also named Domitian) had died in 82, adopted the two infants in early 95 and renamed them in honor of himself and his father. The rare coinage bearing the name of Vespasian Junior, issued in Smyrna, strongly suggests that he was Domitian's chosen heir. However, both Vespasian and Domitian Junior vanished from history after their parents, Sabinus and Domitilla, were executed and exiled in May 95 on charges of atheism. Domitian did not survive his cousin for long, as he was murdered by a freedman of Domitilla, named Flavius Stephanus, just sixteen months later, bringing the rule of the Flavian dynasty to an abrupt end.