![ROMAN. Nerva, Aureus, 'FORTVNΛ ΛVGVST' [ARI-418] - Image 2](https://colonialcoins.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/ARI-418-1.jpg)
Description
Roman Empire, Mārcus Cocceius Nerva (Nerva), Roman Emperor of the Nerva-Antonine Dynasty 96-98 AD, Gold Aureus (7.32g, 18mm), Rome mint 96 AD. Obverse: Laureate head of Nerva facing to the right, legend surrounds, “IMP NERVΛ CΛES ΛVG PM TR P COS II PP”. Reverse: The Divine Personification of the Imperial Cult of Virtues, Fortūna Augusta, stands left, draped and resting Cornucopia in left arm and holding rudder with right hand, legend surrounds, “FORTVNΛ ΛVGVST”. RIC-4; Calicó-963; BMCRE-10. An exceptional aureus of the foremost emperor of the Nerva-Antonine Dynasty portraying Nerva with notable dignity in-line with the dynastic emperors that proceeded him, evenly worn, good Very Fine, reverse Very Fine, quite rare.
The obverse Latin legend reads unabridged as “Imperātor Nerva Caesar Augustus, Pontifex Maximus, Tribūnīciā Potestāte, Cōnsule iterum, Pater Patriae”, with an English translation of “Imperator Nerva Caesar Augustus, Chief High Priest of the College of Pontiffs, holder of Tribunician Power, Consul for a second time, Father of the Fatherland”. The reverse Latin legend reads unabridged as “Fortūna Augusta” which names the central deity presented on the reverse – this inscription had a literal English translation of “the Augustan Luck/Fortune”.
Originally, Fortuna was the Roman deity of fate and chance – after the rise of the Roman Empire, rather than being a goddess of capricious luck, she evolved into a major Divine Personification of the Imperial Cult of Virtues specifically tied to moral authority, character, and political legitimacy of the emperor. She holds a Cornūcōpia – the horn of plenty – which represented the economic abundance and security of grain supply resulting from an emperor’s blessed reign, and she controls a ships rudder – the gubernāculum – which symbolised her power to steer human fate and, by extension, the emperor’s role in guiding the course of the Roman state. The idea of ‘Fortūna Augusta’ was particularly important for the first Roman emperor, Augustus, as he shifted the state from a Republic to an empire; Augustus faced legitimacy issues from a Roman people that bitterly hated the concept of a monarchy, and he constantly had to prove his authority was morally right, constitutional, and divinely sanctioned. This point was also important for the emperor of this offered Aureus, Nerva, who also faced legitimacy issues, in particular a lack of support from the Roman army who saw him as a civilian politician and a weak puppet installed by the Senate.
