Lot 1209
Galba. Silver Denarius (3.17 g), AD 68-69. Rome. IMP SER GALBA CAESAR AVG, laureate bust of Galba right, slight drapery on far shoulder. Rev. DIVA AVGVSTA, Livia standing facing, head left, holding patera and scepter. (RIC 189; BMC6; RSC 55a). Beautiful old grey-purple cabinet tone, pleasing portrait. Choice very fine. Estimate $2,500UP
Sulpicius Galba was the elderly governor of Hispania Tarraconensis who seized the opportunity to claim the imperial purple for seven months during the tumultuous Year of the Four Emperors (AD 68/9). Although he was a military usurper, Galba claimed legitimacy by associating himself with the family of Augustus, the first and most revered Roman emperor. As it happened, when his father married a second time, his new wife was Livia Ocellina, a distant relative of Livia, the wife of Augustus. The reverse type of this denarius trumpets this ephemeral connection to the Julio-Claudian house by depicting and naming Livia, who was given divine status in AD 42. While the type was a tool for creating an image of legitimacy it was also a bit of a gamble since the Julio-Claudian house had also produced Nero, the emperor whose inept reign created the situation in which rebel governors led to his downfall.
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