Vespasian, 69-79. Denarius (Silver, 19 mm, 3.00 g, 5 h), Lugdunum, 71. IMP CAESAR VESPASIANVS AVG TR P Laureate head of Vespasian to right. Rev. IVDAEA DEVICTA Judaea, draped and veiled, standing left, her hands bound in front of her; behind, palm tree with two bunches of dates. BMC 388-91. Bromberg I 293 var. (plated). CBN 297. Cohen 243. Giard 12. Hendin 6518. RIC 1120. Samel 2289-90. Shoshana -. Rare. Beautifully toned and with a particularly expressive portrait, an unusually attractive and well preserved example of this difficult issue. Minor areas of weakness and with a few light marks, otherwise, very fine.



Struck at Lugdunum in 71 CE, this rare denarius belongs to the much scarcer IVDAEA DEVICTA group, in contrast to the more familiar IVDAEA issues of the Roman mint. The wording is unusually explicit: DEVICTA, 'defeated' or 'conquered', leaves no doubt that the type celebrates Rome’s victory in the Jewish War and the capture of Jerusalem. Judaea is shown standing before a fruiting palm tree with her hands bound, replacing the seated figure of the earlier issues with the more direct image of a captive. Issued in the year of Vespasian and Titus’ triumph at Rome, the type is one of the clearest expressions of the Flavian victory message.