Long Table 185. The Imperial Coinage of Nerva, Part 3: Nerva and the Roman Empire

In the final installment of the three-part series that explores the messages, audiences, and relative frequencies of designs of Nerva’s imperial coinage (96-98 CE) according to recorded finds and hoards, ANS Deputy Director Nathan Elkins focuses on Nerva’s types depicting personifications of imperial ideals. These are among the most common images on Nerva’s coinage, and were thus perhaps the most important designs on the coinage; personifications allowed viewers to see what they wished in broad messages connoted by Libertas, Fortuna, Aequitas, or Iustitia. Whereas previous installments of this series focused on types most relevant to military audiences and the inhabitants of the city of Rome, this session emphasizes the broad ability of personifications to communicate messages to virtually any free inhabitant of the empire.