Nero’s Parthian Arch

298, Lot: 114. Estimate $750. Sold for $950. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

Nero. AD 54-68. Æ Sestertius (35mm, 27.86 g, 6h). Rome mint. Struck circa AD 64. Laureate bust right, wearing aegis / Triumphal arch, showing the front, with a wreath hung across it, surmounted by emperor in facing quadriga accompanied by Pax and Victory, flanked by two soldiers; statue of Mars in side niche; the faces and plinths of the arch are ornamented with elaborate reliefs. RIC I 143; WCN 126. VF, dark greenish-brown patina, a few light scratches on reverse.

Ex Robert O. Ebert Collection.

This monumental triumphal arch was erected by Nero to commemorate Roman military campaigns against the Parthians in Mesopotamia and Armenia. Although not particularly successful in a military sense, with Paetus losing almost his entire army at Randeia in Armenia, the war did end with a peace treaty favorable to Rome that was upheld for nearly fifty years. This coin type is vitally important for architectural historians, as the arch is only known through its depiction on the coins.