Servius Sulpicius Galba was seventy-one when he marched on Rome, and the Victory perched on her globe on the reverse of this denarius (RIC 175, struck at the Rome mint between AD 68 and 69) was meant to settle a question that hung over the entire empire: could a provincial governor topple a Julio-Claudian and call it legitimate? Nero had opened his wrists in June 68, the Senate had recognized Galba while he was still in Spain, and the silver pouring out of Rome under his name needed to insist, in the visual shorthand every legionary understood, that the new regime was not a coup but a vindication. Victory standing on the globe was Augustan vocabulary, the same image Octavian had used to dress up his own civil wars as cosmic order, and Galba reached for it without apology.
The trouble is that the legions in Germany were not persuaded, the Praetorians were already counting the donative he refused to pay, and within seven months of this coin's striking he would be hacked down in the Forum by Othonian cavalry. The wreath in Victory's hand was real silver. The victory itself lasted until January.
- Mint
- Rome
- Struck
- AD 68-69
- Authority
- Galba
- Reverse
- Victory standing left on globe, extending wreath with right hand and holding palm with left hand