Here is a coin struck in the saddle, almost literally. By the spring of 68 Servius Sulpicius Galba, governor of Hispania Tarraconensis, had thrown in with Vindex's revolt against Nero and was riding north through Gaul at the head of an improvised army, his legitimacy resting on little more than nerve and the loyalty of provincial troops. The obverse legend SER • GALBA • IMP withholds the title Augustus that he had not yet dared to claim, while the image of the new commander galloping forward with hand outstretched, in full military dress, advertises a general on the move rather than an emperor on a throne.
The reverse answers the obvious question of where his authority comes from: HISPANIA personified, draped and bareheaded, flanked by the javelins and round shield of her warlike reputation and the grain stalks of her wealth, the province itself standing surety for the man. This is propaganda produced at a mint that we still cannot pin to a city, by a regime that did not yet exist, for an emperor whose seven months in Rome would end with his head on a pole in the Forum. For the moment of striking, though, the message was simpler and entirely accurate: the legions of Spain had decided who would rule, and the rider on the obverse was on his way to collect.
- Mint
- Uncertain mint in Gaul
- Struck
- Struck circa April to late autumn AD 68
- Authority
- Galba
- Reverse
- Bareheaded and draped bust of Hispania right, with two javelins above a round shield to the left and two stalks of grain to the right