Lot 4896

Description

Nero, (A.D. 54-68), AE sestertius, Rome mint, issued A.D. 64, (25.82 grams), obv. laureate head of Nero to right, around NERO CLAVD CAESAR AVG GER P M TR P IMP P P, rev. view of the port of Ostia with pharos (light tower) and ships. In front the reclining river god of the Tiber. Above [AVG - VSTI], below S P Q R OSTC. (S.1953, RIC 178. BMC 132). Very rare and very fine, portrait almost extremely fine.

Julius Caesar recognized the value of expanding Rome's port facilitites at Ostia, but it was Claudius who began actual building it in 42 AD. As part of the construction, one of Caligula's pleasure galleys was scuttled and filled with cement where above it was constructed a lighthouse surmounted by a statue of Neptune. Although the actual date of completion is not certain, it must have occurred shortly before this sestertius was minted in 64 A.D.. A further expansion of the facilities was required under Trajan and Hadrian. By the fourth century, however, the port's importance began to diminish as a result of silting. Soon the region became a breeding ground for malaria and was abandoned.