My favourite emperor is Vespasian, and my favourite period in Roman history the Flavian dynasty. Vespasian was no aristocrat. He stated as a career soldier, and after the murder of Nero seized control of the empire. It was a tumultuous year, with four contenders proclaiming themselves the new emperor. Galba, Otho, and Vitellius lasted only months before proving themselves inept. Vespasian, though, was a canny old bastard, and perhaps as important as his own practical statecraft was the convenient fact that he had two sons to carry on after him. Unlike the Julio-Claudians, who had been an aristocratic family used to imperial privileges for several generations, Vespasian was the sort of guy you could probably have played cards with, drank whiskey, and talked shop. He understood the need for dignity in his office, but was never pretentious. Vespasian's portrait on this coin show him for a crusty, vigorous, and relatively easy-going sort of ruler.

Rome under the Flavians was fairly peaceful, certainly prosperous, and had not yet become the military machine it became under the later Antoninines and Severans. Once he was emperor, Vespasian, wore the toga and put aside military armour. Christianity was still a tiny minority of religious cranks, viewed as a splinter group of Judaism by most Romans. The senate had not yet been relegated entirely to insignificance.

Vespasian died after about ten years of rule, and passed the curile chair peacefully to his elder son Titus. Titus took very much after his old man. As his father's chief military general, he had sacked Jerusalem and destroyed the temple of Solomon once and for all. This was seen as a necessity rather than a gratuitous cruelty by the Romans, who were sick of repeated Judean uprisings. In the same vein, Titus also ran Vespasians "secret police" As emperor himself he quickly put the rough stuff behind him... or delegated it at least. It was during Titus's watch that Mt. Vesuvius erupted, and the new emperor proved his worth by quickly organizing relief for the refugees. Unfortunately, Titus fell ill after about two years of rule, and died.

The new emperor was Vespasian's younger son Domitian. His rule began well enough, but unfortunately he had none of his father's or brother's discretion, and quickly grew autocratic. The empire seems to have been admiminstered efficiently enough for all that. It took 12 years for a number of senators, officers, and courtiers to decide enough was enough and plot Domitian's murder. To add insult to injury, the Senate refused to deify him in death as they had his father and brother.

The next emperor was Nerva, an old man and trusted member of the senate who ensured his safety by nominating a military stong man as his heir. Nerva died of natural causes a couple of years later and left the empire to Trajan, the start of the greatly successful Antoninine line of emperors.

Successful, yes, but the empire took a sharp turn toward militarization. Frrom that point, emperors were more at home in armour than togas.

The coin is a denarius, a silver coin about the same size but a little bit heavier than an old silver dime. The incscription on the face means "Emperror Caeser Vespasian Augustus" (His full official name as emperor.) The reverse means that he was consul for the 7th. time (the supreme office of the old Republic). The eagle is perched above a sacrificial alter. As these things go, this type of denarius is common and only set me back about $45.