Vespasian and his general. Personalized denarii for Roman Britain?

Abstract

A unique series of denarii from 77–78 B.C. shows how the mint authorities made a conscious effort to combine military victory and agricultural imagery. While various other interpretations remain unsatisfactory, there are indications that the series, referring to three major parts of Roman agriculture, could have been thought-out as a play on the name of Gnaeus Iulius Agricola (= »the farmer«), who began his major campaign in Britain in the very same year. This article aims to show how the reference to Agricola on Vespasian’s coins was not only possible but also politically convenient – even if this forces us to question the emperor’s strict monopoly on coin imagery.