Ave!

Vespasian, Denarius, Vesta Standing and Sacrificing reverse

AR; 19mm/3.1gm        Rome mint; 1 July 69 - 24 June 79 A.D.

Con/ A lustrous and well centered example with the obverse in very high relief. Soft strike on the reverse, otherwise, Very Fine.

Obv/ IMP CAES VESP AVG P M COS IIII; laureate head right

Rev/ VESTA; Vesta standing left, holding simpulum in right hand, long scepter vertical behind in left hand

Ref/  RIC Vol II-1 360; RSC II 574

Seller's Note/ Vesta was the Roman goddess of the hearth (home) and, derived from that, was important for the security of the state (homeland). She was rarely depicted in human form, and was more often represented by the fire of her temple in the Forum Romanum. Entry to her temple was permitted only to her priestesses, the Vestal Virgins. The Vestals were unlike any other public priesthood. They were chosen before puberty from several suitable candidates, freed from any legal ties and obligations to their birth family, and enrolled in Vesta's priestly college of six priestesses. They were supervised by a senior vestal but chosen and governed by Rome's leading male priest, the pontifex maximus—in the Imperial era, and is this case, the emperor Vespasian.