CALIGULA SILVER DENARIUS – ISSUE CELEBRATING GERMANICUS – VF NGC GRADED ROMAN IMPERIAL COIN OF THE 12 CAESARS (Inv. 21500)

$9,500.00

21500. ROMAN EMPIRE. GAIUS (CALIGULA), AD 37–41.
Silver Denarius, 3.59 g, 18 mm. Issue of Lugdunum, AD 37–38.
Obv. C CAESAR AVG GERM [P M TR POT], bare head of Caligula right. Rev. GERMANICVS CAES [P C AVG GERM], bare head of Germanicus right.
RIC I rev, 12.
NGC VF, Strike 4/5, Surface 3/5, “banker’s mark,” “marks,” “edge cut,” dark toning.

The types of this denarius serve to advertise the legitimacy of Gaius (Caligula) and to contrast him with the reign of the hated Tiberius. While his own portrait appears on the obverse, that of his father C. Julius Germanicus, a nephew of Tiberius, who was also married to Agrippina the Elder, the granddaughter of Augustus and Gaius’ mother, appears on the reverse. The portrait of Germanicus clearly indicates Gaius’ connection to the Julio-Claudian line of emperors but also capitalizes on his father’s great popularity with the Roman people. In AD 14–16, Germanicus served as proconsul of Germania and Gaul, where he waged a series of campaigns against the German tribes, avenging the terrible defeat at the Teutoberg Forest (AD 9) and recovered two of the three eagles taken by the Germans from the destroyed legions. For this great achievement, Germanicus was granted a full triumph in Rome before being sent to the East to reorganize the provinces there. Unfortunately, during a dispute with Cn. Calpurnius Piso, the governor of Syria in AD 19, Germanicus fell ill and died. He was only thirty-three. It was suspected by many that Piso had poisoned him on the orders of a jealous Tiberius. The loss of this youthful general came as a great blow to the Romans, who idolized him and even compared him to Alexander the Great.