Lot 3485

Description

Julia Domna, Augusta, (A.D. 193-217), AE as 33mm, (28.94 g), Rome mint, struck under Caracalla, c.214, obv. diademed and draped bust left, around IVLIA PIA FELIX AVG, rev. four Vestal Virgins sacrificing over altar in front of the Temple of Vesta, (S.7124 [£400 F, £1000 VF], RIC IV 594b [Caracalla] [R2], C.235). Nearly very fine/fine, dark brown patina, with a large flan and almost medallic in weight, very rare.

Ex Baldwin's London, from Christie's London Auction in 1973.
No examples with left bust noted in Coin Archives (since 2000), the left bust is much rarer than the right bust.

During the last five years of her life, following the murder of her younger son Geta in AD 212, Julia Domna virtually ran the government while Caracalla embarked on various military adventures. The emperor was much troubled by illness throughout his sole reign. On his way to the Parthian War in AD 214, he even visited the great shrine of Aesculapius at Pergamum in the hopes of finding a cure, an occasion marked by the striking of a remarkable series of medallic bronzes at the city.

This very rare sestertius of Julia Domna, issued at Rome in AD 214, is on the same theme and records vows for the health of Caracalla undertaken by the Vestal Virgins in a ceremony before the Temple of Vesta. The four Vestals are accompanied by two children and the sanctuary itself appears as a small domed structure in the background. Over the centuries no fewer than seven temples of Vesta occupied the site in the Forum at the northern corner of the house of Vestals. Most were the victims of fire, the sixth temple having been destroyed late in the reign of Commodus (AD 191). Julia Domna herself built the seventh, and the partially reconstructed ruins of this building are still to be seen today. (This note courtesy of CNG)