Vespasian, 69-79, Tetradrachm

Vespasian, Tetradrachm, AR, reign AD 69–79; minted AD 69/70 at Antioch, 13.83 g, 26 mm. Laureate head of Vespasian right; legend ΑΥΤΟΚΡΑ ΟΥΕϹΠΑϹΙΑΝΟϹ ΚΑΙϹΑΡ ϹΕΒΑϹΤΟϹ. Reverse with eagle standing left on palm branch, wings spread; legend ΕΤΟΥϹ ΝΕΟΥ ΙΕΡΟΥ Β, indicating year 2 of the “new sacred era.” Struck at Antioch (Seleucis and Pieria) on the broad provincial flan typical of the series, with Greek legends and dated reverse. Reference: RPC II 1954.

Following the civil war of AD 69, Vespasian consolidated power from the eastern provinces, with Antioch functioning as a major administrative and military hub. The Antiochene tetradrachms, struck with Greek legends and explicit civic-era dates, supplied local payments and troop wages and circulated widely in Syria and Judaea. The formula ΕΤΟΥϹ ΝΕΟΥ ΙΕΡΟΥ (“of the new sacred year”) marks a local era inaugurated under the Flavians, with year B equating to AD 69/70, and the eagle reverse continues the long-standing Syrian tradition adapted to Roman imperial iconography associated with Jupiter.