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The Numismatic Evidence For The Neronia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 February 2009

D. W. Macdowall
D. W. Macdowall
Affiliation:
British Museum, London
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Extract

J. D. P. Bolton has argued in the C.Q. 1948 that although there is some confusion in the use of the term ‘quinquennalis’ in the first century A.D., the linguistic and literary evidence suggests that the Neronia (instituted by Nero in A.D. 60) was a four-yearly festival, that the celebration which Tacitus records in 65 was merely a postponement of part of the celebration due in 64, and that such a view is supported by the evidence of Nero's issues of Certamen Quinquennale semisses. Bolton divides these semisses into four main groups:

(i) Copper. With sc on reverse. Obverse: bare head of Nero; legend NERO (CLAVDIVS) CAESAR AVGVSTVS (GERMANIGVS) variously abbreviated.

Information

Type
Research Article
Information
The Classical Quarterly , Volume 8 , Issue 3-4 , November 1958, pp. 192 - 194
Copyright
Copyright © The Classical Association 1958

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References

1 C.Q., 1948, pp. 82–90, ‘Was the Neronia a freak festival ?’Google Scholar

2 B.M.C.R.E. i, introd., p. clxvi, ‘the portraiture on this coinage shows close resemblance to the undated gold and silver, but has practically no point of contact with the dated’.

3 Ibid. i, Nero, nos. 136 and 308.

4 Tacitus, , Annals 13. 31.Google Scholars B.M.C.R.E. i, Nero, nos. 191–7 and 335–7.

6 Dio Cassius 61. 18.

7 B.M.C.R.E. i, Nero, nos. 183–90 and 329–34.

8 Tacitus, , Annals 15. 18.Google Scholar

9 Ibid. 13. 41.

1 Suetonius, , Divus Claudius 20.Google Scholar

2 Suetonius, , Nero 13.Google Scholar

3 Cf. B.M.C.R.E. i, introd., p. clxxiv.

4 B.M.C.R.E. i, Nero, no. 113.

5 As Sydenham pointed out in The Coinage of Nero, p. 71.

6 Cf. p. 192, n. 2 above.

7 N.C., 1908, p. 316.

8 Reports of the Research Committee of the Society of Antiquaries, nos. vi, vii, x, and xvi.

9 Now in Rowley's House Museum, Shrewsbury.

10 In Colchester and Essex Museum, Colchester.

11 Report of the Research Committee of the Society of Antiquaries, xv.

12 Idem, xi.

13 Bulletin de la Société d'archéologie, sciences, arts et belles-lettres de la Mayenne, 1865, pp. 9 ff.

14 In Rijksmuseum J. G. Kam, Nijmegen, Netherlands.

15 In Rheinisches Landesmuseum, Bonn; information kindly supplied by Dr. Wilhelmina Hagen.

16 In Xanten Museum.

17 Bonner Jahrbücher, 111/12.

18 Information kindly supplied by Dr. Wilhelmina Hagen.

19 Information kindly supplied by Dr. C. M. Kraay.

20 From a group of coins in Pompeii Antiquarium.

21 From a group of coins in the Museo Nazionale Delle Terme, Rome.

22 In Capitol Museum, Rome, believed to have been found in the city.

23 Brera Collection, Milan.

24 Commune Collection, Milan. The pieces in both the Commune and Brera collections in Milan are unprovenanced, but it is un-doubtedly significant that only orichalcum semisses of Nero occur.

25 In Aquileia Museum.

26 In Museum Carnuntinum, Bad Deutsch Altenburg.

1 B.M.C.R.E, v, introd., p. xxiii.Google Scholar

2 Ibid. i, Nero, no. 259.

3 Ibid., introd., p. clxxxi.

4 Ibid., Nero, nos. 392–6.

5 I am deeply indebted to the keepers of the museums mentioned in these footnotes for allowing me to examine the coins in their collections and for providing information from their records about find-spots.

6 Suetonius, , Nero 13.Google Scholar