IONIA. Smyrna. Vespasian Junior, Caesar, ?-95/6. Hemiassarion (Bronze, 16 mm, 2.63 g, 1 h). OYΕCΠACIANOC NΕΩTΕPOC Bare head of Vespasian Junior to right.
Rev. ZMY[P]NAIΩN Nike advancing right, holding wreath in her right hand and palm frond over her left shoulder. BMC 319. Klose 5 (V2/R4). RPC I 1028. Rare. Some deposits and light cleaning scratches
, otherwise, nearly very fine.
From a European collection, formed before 2005.
The siblings Vespasian and Domitian Junior (their birth names are unknown) were the sons of Titus Flavius Clemens and Flavia Domitilla and, as such, the grandsons of Vespasian's older brother, Titus Flavius Sabinus. Domitian, whose own son, also named Domitian, had died in 82 (?), adopted the kindred infants in early 95 and renamed them in honor of himself and his father. The rare coinage in the name of Vespasian Junior issued in Smyrna strongly indicates that he was Domitian's chosen heir, but both Vespasian and Domitian Junior disappeared without a trace from history after their native parents, Sabinus and Domitilla, were respectively executed and exiled in May 95 on the charge of atheism. Domitian would not outlive his cousin for long, as he was murdered by a freedman of Domitilla named Flavius Stephanus just sixteen months later, which brought the rule of the Flavian dynasty to an abrupt end
