Nero Coins

Nero was best known as the emperor who "fiddled while Rome burned." Stories that Nero was responsible for the Great Fire of 64 AD cannot be substantiated; it is most likely that he mounted a parapet to sing about the destruction of Troy during the fire. As a ruler who poisoned his mother and wife, it is not surprising that he took his own life--a final act of raging egotism--when a new emperor was chosen.

Nero revived the sestertius coin, perhaps because its size allowed even bigger portraits of him than other coins. Early coins display a certain modesty, a youthful caeser sometimes in a dual portrait with his mother Agrippina. Coins minted for his new status as emperor are easily distinguished from the caesar coins. Although his full reign lasted only about 15 years, the imperial Nero shows the strong effects of dissipated living--aging, weight-gain, a grim set of mouth and a protruding stubborn chin.