Roma renascens i Roma resurgens w ikonografii monet Galby, Witeliusza i Wespazjana
Roma renascens and Roma resurgens in coin iconography of Galba, Vitellius, and Vespasian

Summary/Abstract: In the years 68—69 AD coin issues appeared that, apart from ROMA RENASCENS or ROMA RESVRGENS legend, depicted the fighting/struggling Roma and the Roma bringing victory, and then the very goddess lifted by the emperor. All of it alluded to the events that transpired during “the year of the four emperors” (68—69). The issuers, that is, Galba, Vitellius, and Vespasian appropriated the legend about the Roma renascent and resurgent to the situation occuring within the state. The motif, presented by the said emperors, featured themselves as leaders deeply involved in the fate of Rome, which — due to progressing civil war — was thrown into chaos, as did the entire Roman Empire, and that naturally affected detrimentally the City’s image. Therefore, in the numismatic images, Galba and Vitellius faught (oftentimes shoulder to shoulder with Roma herself), and the goddess depicted was to bring about the victory to them. Emperor Vespasian pushed the imagery considerably further, aligning Roma’s image with the durability of his power, since this emperor’s coins presented the goddess as a woman whom he was helping to emerge from recent misfortunes. Thus, he could symbolically appear to his people as a defender and restitutor that would restore the state to its former glory.

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