Nero’s Imperial Coinage: The Reverse Types That Shaped Roman Propaganda

Long before the Great Fire or the Domus Aurea, Nero used the humble coin to broadcast his image of a golden age. This episode zooms in on the reverse types of Nero’s coinage — from the triumphal arch of the Parthian settlement to the goddess Annona guaranteeing the grain supply, from the ‘Roma’ type celebrating the city’s rebirth to the ‘Decursio’ scenes of military pageantry. Lucas and Luna explore what these tiny engravings tell us about imperial messaging: how Nero presented himself as a bringer of peace, prosperity, and order, and how the coins contradict the hostile literary tradition. They also compare die studies that suggest the mint at Lugdunum (Lyon) and Rome produced subtly different propaganda. No episodes have covered this numismatic angle before. The conversation ends with a reflection on what survives when the buildings fall and the histories are rewritten — the coins remain. #Numismatics #Nero #RomanCoinage #ImperialPropaganda #Lugdunum #Annona #Parthia #Decursio #DomusAurea #GreatFire #RomanEmpire #AncientRome #CoinReverseTypes #Tacitus #Suetonius #Archaeology #History #FexingoHistory Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo