01 NERO RIC 50

Ruler: Nero, AD 54-68

Obverse:  NERO CAESAR AVGVSTVS, laureate head to right

Reverse:  IANVM CLVSIT PACE P R TERRA MARIQ PARTA,  façade of the Temple of Janus with closed doors.

Mint: Rome, D 64-66

Denomination: Aureus

Weight:  

Reference:  RIC I 50 & 58; Calicó 409

Note: Very rare and desirable revere type of high historical significance! Nero was the only emperor to have ever used this reverse in th whole Roman coinage!

The Temple of Janus – the god of beginnings and endings – was one of Rome's most ancient. It was believed that Romulus built it after he made peace with the Sabines, and that king Numa decreed its doors should be opened during war and shut during times of peace. Its doors had been shut perhaps five or six times in all Roman history prior to the reign of Nero – once under king Numa (who originated the tradition), once at the end of the Second Punic War, three times under Augustus, and, according to Ovid, once under Tiberius. Thus, when in 65 peace had been generally established on all the empire's fronts, Nero did not hesitate to close the temple's doors. He marked the event with great celebrations and struck a large and impressive series of coins. The inscription on this issue is one of the most instructive on all Roman coins, for it announces "the doors of Janus have been closed after peace has been procured for the Roman People on the land and on the sea". Despite Nero's contentment with affairs on the empire's borders, the year 65 was not a happy one on the home front: much of Rome was still in ashes from the great fire of the previous year, Nero had narrowly escaped murder in the Pisonian conspiracy, and not long afterward he had kicked to death his pregnant wife Poppaea.

Collection : 18b Roman Aurei