Coins of the Romans Relating to Britain Author:John Yonge Akerman Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: BRITANNICUS. [born A.d. 42.—Poisoned A.d. 55.] This prince, the son of Claudius by Messalina, was born in the second consulship of his father. His original... more » name was Germanicus, that of Bri- tannicus having been given him by the senate, in consequence of the victories obtained by the generals of Claudius in Britain; and by this he is better known in history. By the intrigues of his step-mother, Agrippina, he was removed from the succession to the empire to make way for her son Nero, and was destroyed during the festivities of the Saturnalia by the court poisoner, Locusta.f The only coin of Roman fabric with the effigy of Britannicus, is the one described below. It is of the large brass size, and is noticed by Eckhel, J as having been first brought to light at Rome in the year 1773. Obverse. TI. CLAVDIVS CAESAR AVG. F. BRITAN- NICVS. Tiberius Claudius Ccesar Augusti Filii, Dion Cass. lib. Ix. f Tacit. Ann. lib.xiii. c. 16. t Doct. Num. Vet. vol. vi. p. 254. Britannicus. Bare head of Britannicus to the right. Reverse. S. C. Senatus Consulto. Mars marching to the right with spear and shield. Alabanda, Thessalonica, Nicomedia, Ilium, and other Greek cities, struck coins in honour of this unfortunate prince; but as they belong to a distinct series, they are not here described, f I cannot, however, pass over two coins in the cabinet of Mr. Thomas, who justly holds them in high estimation. The first is of gold. Obverse. No legend. The laureated head of Claudius to the right. See Pellerin, Melanges, tom. ii. p. 28. Id. Rec. tom.ii. Sestini, Lettere iv. p. 26. Seguin, Selecta Num. and Eckhel, Doct. Num. Vet. vol. vi. p. 254. 'j- The coins of Britannicus, though of inferior execution, are especially interesting from the circumstance of his busts being...« less