Titus, as Caesar (AD 79-81). AV aureus (20mm, 7.25 gm, 6h). NGC VF 5/5 - 2/5, graffito, brushed, edge marks. Rome, AD 74. T•CAESAR•IMP•VESP, laureate head of Titus right / PONTIF-TR POT, Fortuna standing left on garlanded cippus, grounded rudder in right hand, cornucopia cradled in left arm. Calicó 751. RIC II.1 (Vespasian) 696. Vibrant, butterscotch surfaces compliment the well-struck devices. The elder son of Vespasian, Flavius Titus Vespasianus was born in AD 41 and seemed marked out for the life of an upper middle-class civil servant in the mold of his father. Vespasian won glory as a general during Claudius' invasion of Britain, and Titus grew into an intelligent, handsome, and charming young man who became his father's second in command for the Judaean campaign of AD 66-69. When Nero's regime collapsed in Rome, Vespasian seized the throne and Titus took over direction of the Judaean war, which culminated in the storming of Jerusalem in AD 70. Returning to Rome at the head of several legions, Titus was suspected of planning a coup, but he warmly greeted his father and was granted a stupendous triumph. Titus next served as Praetorian Prefect and was utterly ruthless in protecting his family's stranglehold on power. When Vespasian died in AD 79 and Titus was proclaimed emperor, many feared he would be another Nero or Caligula. But he soon emerged as an uncommonly benevolent ruler. HID09801242017 © 2023 Heritage Auctions | All Rights Reserved

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