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Greek city of Hierocaesarea in Lydia
Pseudo-autonomous. Time of Nero.
Bronze 15mm (3.33 grams) Struck circa 54-59 A.D. under Capito, high priest.
Reference: RPC I 2389
IЄPOKAICAPЄωN, Draped bust of Artemis Persica right, bow and quiver over shoulder.
ЄΠΙ ΚΑΠΙΤωΝOC ΑΡXΙЄΡЄωC / IE, Forepart of stag right.
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Artemis was one of the most widely venerated of the Ancient Greek deities. Some scholars believe that the name, and indeed the goddess herself, was originally pre-Greek. Homer refers to her as Artemis Agrotera, Potnia Theron “Artemis of the wildland, Mistress of Animals”. In the classical period of Greek mythology, Artemis (Greek: (nominative) Ἄρτεμις, (genitive) Ἀρτέμιδος) was often described as the daughter of Zeus and Leto, and the twin sister of Apollo. She was the Hellenic goddess of the hunt, wild animals, wilderness, childbirth, virginity and young girls, bringing and relieving disease in women; she often was depicted as a huntress carrying a bow and arrows. The deer and the cypress were sacred to her. In later Hellenistic times, she even assumed the ancient role of Eileithyia in aiding childbirth.
Artemis later became identified with Selene, a Titaness who was a Greek moon goddess, sometimes depicted with a crescent moon above her head. She was also identified with the Roman goddess Diana, with the Etruscan goddess Artume, and with the Greek or Carian goddess Hecate.
Hierocaesarea, from the Greek for “sacred” and the Latin for “Caesar’s” was a town and bishopric in the late Roman province of Lydia, the metropolitan see of which was Sardis.
This town is mentioned by Ptolemy (VI, ii, 16). Judging from its coins, it worshipped the goddess Artemis Persica.
The site of Hieroaesarea must have been between the modern Turkish villages of Beyova and Sasova, seven or eight miles southeast of Thyatira, on the left bank of the Koum-Chai, a tributary of the Hermus, in the Ottoman vilayet of Smyrna.
 Nero – 54-68 A.D.
Caesar, 50-54 (Under Claudius)
| Son of Agrippina Junior (by Ahenobarbus) | Husband of Claudia Octavia, Poppaea and Statilia Messalina | Father of Claudia Neronis | Adopted son, grand-nephew, and successor of Claudius | Step-brother of Claudia Antonia, Britannicus and Claudia Octavia | Nephew of Caligula | Grandson of Germanicus and Agrippina Senior | Great-grandson of Agrippa, Julia, Nero Claudius Drusus and Antonia |
Nero (Latin: Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus;15 December 37 – 9 June 68) was Roman Emperor from 54 to 68, and the last in the Julio-Claudian dynasty. Nero was adopted by his great uncle Claudius to become his heir and successor, and succeeded to the throne in 54 following Claudius’ death.
During his reign, Nero focused much of his attention on diplomacy, trade, and enhancing the cultural life of the Empire. He ordered theaters built and promoted athletic games. During his reign, the redoubtable general Corbulo conducted a successful war and negotiated peace with the Parthian Empire. His general Suetonius Paulinus crushed a revolt in Britain. Nero annexed the Bosporan Kingdom to the Empire and began the First Roman–Jewish War.
In 64, most of Rome was destroyed in the Great Fire of Rome, which many Romans believed Nero himself had started in order to clear land for his planned palatial complex, the Domus Aurea. In 68, the rebellion of Vindex in Gaul and later the acclamation of Galba in Hispania drove Nero from the throne. Facing assassination, he committed suicide on 9 June 68 (the first Roman emperor to do so) His death ended the Julio-Claudian Dynasty, sparking a brief period of civil wars known as the Year of the Four Emperors. Nero’s rule is often associated with tyranny and extravagance. He is known for many executions, including that of his mother, and the probable murder by poison of his stepbrother Britannicus.
He is infamously known as the Emperor who “fiddled while Rome burned” and as an early persecutor of Christians. He was known for having captured Christians to burn them in his garden at night for a source of light. This view is based on the writings of Tacitus, Suetonius, and Cassius Dio, the main surviving sources for Nero’s reign. Few surviving sources paint Nero in a favorable light. Some sources, though, including some mentioned above, portray him as an emperor who was popular with the common Roman people, especially in the East. Some modern historians question the reliability of ancient sources when reporting on Nero’s tyrannical acts.
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