DOMITIAN
AD 81-96
AE14. 2.74g, 14.3mm
MINTED: JUDAEA, Caesarea Maritima, circa AD 83
REF: RPC II 2025 (Antioch); McAlee 41 (same); Hendin 1457
OBVERSE: [IMP DOMITIANVS], laureate head left.
REVERSE: [CAES AVG GERMANICVS], winged caduceus.

Notes:
Dark red-brown patina. Struck on a compact flan. 
A rare type. 
 
Historical Notes:
The site of Strato's Tower, an abandoned coastal village situated between Acre and Jaffa, was the site at which Herod the Great established the great port-city of Caesarea between 13-9 BC. When Judea became a Roman province in AD 6, Caesarea replaced Jerusalem as the capital of the region. From then, it served as residence and seat of Roman governors of the period such as Pontius Pilate and Antonius Felix. In July of AD 69, general Vespasian, who had two years earlier been sent by Emperor Nero to the region quell the Great Jewish Revolt, was in Caesarea when he was himself proclaimed emperor by the legions of Egypt, Syria and Judaea. After the throne was secured against his rival Vitellius, and when the Jewish revolt had been firmly put down, Caesarea was granted the title of a colony to recognize its role as Vespasian's base of operations. With the destruction of Jerusalem, the city would remain the political and economic centre of the province of Syria Palaestina until the end of the 4th century.