Nero’s Parthian Arch

332, Lot: 289. Estimate $300. Sold for $900. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

Nero. AD 54-68. Æ Sestertius (33mm, 23.72 g, 7h). Lugdunum (Lyon) mint. Struck circa AD 66. Laureate head left; globe at point of neck / Triumphal arch surmounted by emperor in facing quadriga accompanied by Pax and Victory, flanked by two soldiers; statue of Mars in side niche. RIC I 500; WCN 452. Fine, brown patina, edge knocks and bruises, light marks and scratches.

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 (Paetus lost 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, for the arch was rededicated if not entirely dismantled after Nero's ignominious end in AD 68, and is only known through its depiction on his coins.