Vitellius Bronze Sestertius, RIC I (second edition) Vitellius 113

Monetary Context and the Civil Wars of AD 69

The sestertius catalogued as RIC I (second edition) Vitellius 113 was produced against the backdrop of the rapid political collapses following the death of Nero in AD 68. The monetary system of the early Roman Empire, established under Augustus, placed the sestertius as the principal large base-metal unit, valued at four asses, two dupondii, or one-quarter of a silver denarius. Sestertii had traditionally functioned as the primary vehicle for political, civic, and religious iconography due to the expansive surface area of their flans. During the civil wars of AD 68 to 69, control over the imperial mint at Rome was essential for any claimant seeking to pay the urban praetorians, distributed donatives, and demonstrate administrative stability. Vitellius was recognized by the Senate in late April AD 69 following the suicide of Otho, but imperial aes production in his name did not commence at Rome until Vitellius formally entered the city in mid-July. The striking of sestertii at Rome required senatorial cooperation, signified formally by the letters S C (Senatus Consulto) on the reverse field. In this strained economic environment, Vitellius inherited depleted imperial coffers caused by civil strife and competitive donatives. The issuance of heavy bronze currency reaffirmed monetary continuity, confirming that the central administration remained capable of producing standard imperial coinage for state disbursements and commercial circulation.

Production and Mint Attribution

The type RIC I (second edition) Vitellius 113 is securely attributed to the mint of Rome. While Vitellius operated provincial mints in Gaul and northern Italy early in his campaign, particularly at Lugdunum and an uncertain military facility often identified with Tarraco or northern Italy, official imperial aes issues carrying the Senatus Consulto mark were concentrated almost exclusively at the capital. Die engraving at Rome was carried out by experienced engravers who had previously cut dies for Galba and Otho. These artisans established a distinctive imperial style characterized by high-relief obverse portraits and carefully proportioned allegorical figures. Sestertii of the Julio-Claudian tradition were manufactured using orichalcum, an alloy of copper and zinc prized for its bright, brassy luster resembling gold. Under the pressure of wartime supply disruptions, the composition of Roman brass in AD 69 frequently varied, showing fluctuating zinc content and trace impurities of lead and tin. Blanks were cast in individual open or two-part molds, then reheated and struck by hand between engraved iron or bronze dies. The heavy flans of this issue, typically measuring between 34 and 36 millimeters in diameter, required substantial physical force, often achieved using heavy sledgehammers. The surviving dies exhibit careful craftsmanship, indicating that despite political urgency, the Rome mint maintained its institutional standards until urban fighting engulfed the capital in late December AD 69.

Obverse Iconography and Imperial Image

The obverse of RIC I (second edition) Vitellius 113 presents a right-facing bust of Vitellius, laureate and draped. Roman portraiture under Vitellius returned decisively to a stark, unsparing verism that contrasted sharply with the idealizing tendencies of the Julio-Claudian dynasty. The engravers depicted Vitellius with his distinctive physiological attributes: a broad, heavy neck with prominent flesh folds, a massive jawline, a protruding lower lip, and deeply set features that conveyed physical maturity and worldly authority. Suetonius commented unfavorably on the emperor's corpulence and facial characteristics, but contemporary numismatic portraits served a calculated ideological purpose. In the context of Roman military tradition, such features communicated physical robustness, endurance, and gravitas, qualities highly regarded by the legions along the Rhine who had elevated him to supreme command. The laurel wreath binds his short, combed-forward hair, terminating in ties that fall gracefully behind the nape of the neck. The addition of drapery over the bust, visible at the base and shoulder, elevates the image beyond a plain military head, cloaking the new ruler in the formal mantle of an imperial magistrate. The relief is typically bold, commanding the central circular field of the planchet and leaving ample room for the circular inscription around the border.

Reverse Iconography: Honos and Virtus

The reverse design of this sestertius features two standing divine personifications: Honos (Honor) and Virtus (Valor), positioned in close thematic dialogue. Honos stands draped on the left, facing right toward Virtus; the figure holds a long sceptre upright in the right hand and cradles a cornucopiae, the horn of abundance, in the left arm. Opposite stands Virtus, helmeted and clad in short military attire, facing left toward Honos. Virtus rests the right foot upon a conquered helmet, holding an upright sceptre or spear in the left hand and a parazonium, the ceremonial sheathed sword of military command, in the right hand. In Roman state religion and military ideology, Honos and Virtus were frequently venerated together, having shared temples in Rome since the Republican era, notably the sanctuary dedicated near the Porta Capena by Marcus Claudius Marcellus. Their appearance on the coinage of Vitellius had profound symbolic resonance. Vitellius owed his elevation directly to the military might of the Germanic legions, an achievement represented by Virtus with her martial dress, parazonium, and foot placed triumphantly on a captured helmet. Simultaneously, Honos provided civic legitimacy and public respectability, holding the sceptre of governance and the cornucopiae of peace and prosperity. The letters S and C flank the figures, testifying that the Senate formally sanctioned this dual celebration of civic glory and martial valor.

Epigraphy and Legend Readings

The legends on RIC I (second edition) Vitellius 113 reflect the careful assembly of Vitellius's imperial titles during the summer of AD 69. The obverse legend reads continuously clockwise around the perimeter: A VITELLIVS GERMANICVS IMP AVG P M TR P. This expands in classical Latin to Aulus Vitellius Germanicus Imperator Augustus, Pontifex Maximus, Tribunicia Potestate. Vitellius had initially hesitated to accept the title Augustus and the praenomen Imperator when acclaimed by the army of Lower Germany, preferring the surname Germanicus, which celebrated the army that supported him. However, upon reaching Rome and securing senatorial confirmation, his full administrative apparatus incorporated the standard imperial titles. The titles Pontifex Maximus (chief priest) and Tribunicia Potestate (holder of tribunician power) were assumed in mid-July AD 69, providing a precise terminus post quem for the striking of this legend. The reverse bears the concise legend HONOS ET VIRTVS, identifying the two deities, accompanied in the field or exergue by S C for Senatus Consulto. The lettering on both faces exhibits the sharp, classical imperial alphabet characteristic of the central Rome mint, featuring well-defined triangular serifs, uniform letter height, and evenly spaced letter forms that curve harmoniously with the circular beaded border.

Typology and Chronological Sequence

Within the second edition of Roman Imperial Coinage Volume I, compiled by C. H. V. Sutherland, Vitellius 113 is classified under the official aes coinage struck at Rome between July and December AD 69. The chronology of Vitellian coinage is divided fundamentally between issues struck prior to his entry into Rome and those struck after his arrival. Early aes produced in the western provinces, including Lugdunum, typically omitted Pontifex Maximus and Tribunicia Potestate from the imperial title, reflecting the unratified status of his magistracies. Once established in Rome, the imperial mint initiated a coordinated series of sestertii celebrating themes of military victory, imperial concord, and traditional virtues. Type 113 stands alongside related reverse types such as Pax Augusti, Ceres Augusti, and Victoria Augusti, yet it is distinct in its paired personification of Honos and Virtus. While Galba had previously employed Honos and Virtus on his civil-war coinage to emphasize constitutional recovery, Vitellius adapted the motif to harmonize his legionary victory with senatorial acquiescence. Sutherland distinguished type 113 by its specific obverse combination of the laureate, draped bust facing right with the full P M TR P formula, separating it from rarer variants that feature an undraped head or alternative obverse legend breaks. Production of type 113 terminated when Flavian forces under Antonius Primus breached the walls of Rome in December AD 69, resulting in the capture and death of Vitellius.

Circulation Patterns and Monetary Afterlife

The circulation lifespan of Vitellius's sestertii was shaped by the political upheaval that immediately followed his defeat. Although the Flavian dynasty under Vespasian did not enforce an absolute, systematic damnatio memoriae that involved the official recall and melting of all base-metal coins, Vitellian bronze was subject to practical attrition. Because the Rome mint produced aes for Vitellius for less than six months, the total volume of type 113 struck was modest compared to the extensive sestertius issues of Nero or the subsequent massive output of Vespasian. In everyday commerce, sestertii circulated widely across Italy and the western provinces, where severe coin shortages during the civil war made any heavy, intrinsic-value brass coin acceptable in market transactions. Archaeological finds from military camps along the Rhine and Danube, as well as civic contexts in Roman Britain, Gaul, and Italy, demonstrate that Vitellian sestertii remained in circulation for several decades, gradually accumulating severe surface wear. By the second century AD, many such pieces had worn smooth or were removed from circulation during Trajanic monetary reorganizations. Surviving specimens of RIC I (second edition) Vitellius 113 are prized today for their fine die engraving and as physical testaments to one of the most volatile transition periods in Roman imperial history.

References

1. Coins of the Roman Empire in the British Museum, Vol. I: Augustus to Vitellius. pp. 376-378
2. The Roman Imperial Coinage, Vol. I (first edition). pp. 226-230
3. Online Coins of the Roman Empire: RIC I (second edition) Vitellius 113. ric.1(2).vit.113
4. The Roman Imperial Coinage, Vol. I: From 31 BC to AD 69 (revised edition). p. 272, no. 113
5. Roman History and Coinage, 44 BC - AD 69. pp. 102-108