Obverse: Portrait of the Emperor Crowned
with a
Laurel Wreath
Reverse: A Jewess Mourning at the Base
of a
Palm Tree, Armor About
Many unfortunate disasters occurred in
the
Roman Empire during the reign of Titus.
An
epidemic of plague swept the empire,
fire burned
in Rome for three days, and Mount
Vesuvius
erupted on the Bay of Naples, burying
Pompeii
and Herculaneum and killing thousands of
people. Much of Titus’ reign is marked
with his
acts of kindness in trying to ease the
suffering of
his unfortunate people. Titus succeeded
his
father as emperor after his death. He
had been
Caesar under his father Vespasian during
the last
few years of his reign and helped
Vespasian to
govern wisely. Titus fell very much in
love with
Berenice, the Jewish queen and sister of
King
Agrippa II. Together, Agrippa and
Berenice ruled
parts of Palestine and Syria as client
king and
queen of Rome. Though they cooperated
with
the Romans, some of their subjects did
not,
starting a bloody rebellion that
ultimately led to
the destruction of Jerusalem and the
Temple.
Most of the Roman citizens sharply
disapproved
of the affair between an heir to the
throne and a
foreign queen, much as they had when
Julius
Caesar and Marc Antony had tried to make
Cleopatra their queen. Sadly, Titus
sent his one
true love back to Jerusalem in order
that he
might not offend Roman society. The
Colosseum, or Flavian Amphitheater, was
completed during the reign of Titus.
Titus died
from a short illness after having
reigned two
years and two months. There was a rumor
that
his brother Domitian poisoned him, but
there is
no real evidence to support the
accusation.
How many hands have touched a coin in
your
pocket or purse? What eras and lands
have the
coin traversed on its journey into our
possession? As we reach into our
pockets to pull
out some change, we rarely hesitate to
think of
who might have touched the coin before
us, or
where the coin will venture to after it
leaves our
hands. More than money, coins are a
symbol of
the state that struck them, of a
specific time and
location, whether contemporary
currencies or
artifacts of a long forgotten empire.
This
stunning hand-struck coin reveals an
expertise
of craftsmanship and intricate
sculptural detail
that is often lacking in contemporary
machine-
made currencies. This coin is a
memorial to an
ancient ruler passed from the hands of
civilization to civilization, from
generation to
generation that appears as vibrant today
as the
day it was struck.
- (C.2018)
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