Ave!

Domitian, As, Altar Reverse, Sold!

Æ; 28 mm/10.90gm     Rome, struck AD 85.

Con/ Fine

Obv/ IMP CAES DOMITIAN AVG GERM COS XI, laureate head right, wearing aegis.

Rev/ SALVTI AVGVSTI above and beneath the altar of the Ara Salutis Augusti with double-paneled door and horns above, S-C across fields.

Ref/ RIC 305

Seller's Note/ Domitian was a cruel and paranoid tyrant whose religious, military, and cultural propaganda fostered a cult of personality, and by nominating himself as perpetual censor, he sought to control public and private morals. Such despots become paranoid, thus in 85 AD, he erected a tight security system to detect and suppress sedition and coup plotting, a concern refected on the reverse of this coin.

The reverse legend, SALVTI AVGVSTI, roughly equates to Safety of the Emperor. Such references to Salus (Goddess of Health and Safety) often occur after the suppression of a coup against the emperor.