98 | Roman Empire

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NERVA. Denarius. (Ar. 3.29g / 19mm). 97 AD Rome. Anv: IMP NERVA CAES AVG PM TR POT. Laureate bust of Nerva on the right. Rev: COS III PATER PATRIAE. Religious elements: Simulus, Aspergillus, Guttus and Lithuan. (RIC 24). AU. Exceptional, very rare specimen in this quality.

Between the governments of Domitian and Trajan is Nerva, who in just two years considerably improved relations with the Senate and established the imperial succession instead of hereditary, being traditionally considered as a model of civic virtues. Once he acceded to the imperial throne, the Roman Senate approved a "dammatio memoriae" towards Domitian having his coins melted, his statues demolished and his name erased from all public places. Nerva is considered by much of current historiography as one of the so-called five good emperors, a name already proposed by Machiavelli himself and which includes five members of the Antonine dynasty as they are, apart from the aforementioned Nerva, Trajano, Adriano, Antonino Pío and Marco Aurelio.
Regarding the portrait of his coins, a clear realism is appreciated where we can see, unambiguously, their angular features, accentuated by their thinness and the traces of age.