Nero. Æ Sestertius (26.88 g), AD 54-68. Rome, ca. AD 66. [IMP NER]O CLAVD CAESAR AVG GER P M TR P P P, laureate head of Nero left, globe at point of neck. Reverse: PACE P R TERRA MARIQ PARTA IANVM CLVSIT, S C across field, view of one side of the temple of Janus with latticed windows to left and garland hung across closed double doors to right. RIC 324; WCN 165; BMC 163. Glossy dark olive-green patina. Smoothing in the fields. Choice Very Fine. Estimated Value $700 - UP
The reverse legend proclaims that Nero "closed the doors of [the Temple of] Janus with the peace of the Roman people throughout the land and sea" while the reverse type illustrates the temple with its doors closed. Janus was the Roman god of beginnings and endings whose dual aspect was usually indicated by his depiction with two faces. The doors to his temple were traditionally opened to signify declarations of war and closed to indicate the end of hostilities. However, the vastness of the Roman empire and the numbers of enemies on its borders made it a very rare occasion when the doors of the Temple of Janus were closed. Nero's closure of the doors is usually associated with the successful campaigns of his general Cn. Domitius Corbulo in the East and the reassertion of Roman influence in Armenia on the border with the Parthian Empire. It is deeply ironic that in the year after Nero celebrated the closure of the doors of Janus the great and bloody Jewish Revolt broke out, showing that peace was indeed a rare commodity in the Roman Empire.
Peter Corcoran Collection, Ex Sincona 50 (23 October 2018), 1008; Yves Gunzenreiner Collection (Leu Numismatik AG 1 (25 October 2017), 178.