Nero, Lugdunum (Lyon) mint, emission 3, 65 AD.,
Æ Sestertius (35-36 mm / 24,79 g), brass, axes about coin alignment ↑↓ (ca. 190°),
Obv.: NERO CLAVD CAESAR AVG GER P M TR [P IMP P P ?] , his laureate head facing l., small globe at point of neck (RIC obverse type 31 G (?)).
Rev.: PACE P R TERRA MARIQ PARTA IANVM CLVSIT / S - C , Janus temple with closed door to right.
RIC I (new), 177, 439 (?, common) ; RIC I (old) 171 ; Coh. 144 corr. ; BMC 320 ; WCN 426 ; Kankelfitz 24 .
Ex Kankelfitz coll.
In ancient Rome, the main Temple of Janus stood in the Roman Forum. It had doors on both ends, and inside was a statue of Janus, the two-faced god of boundaries. The Temple doors (the "Gates of Janus") were closed in times of peace and opened in times of war.
The closing of the Temple doors was a very rare event. It is said to have happened for the first time under King Numa Pompilius (715-673 BC.), for the second time under Titus Manlius in 235 BC, three more times by Augustus in 29 BC, 25 BC, and possibly 13 BC a sixth time by Nero in 66 AD and a seventh time under Vespasian in AD 70. It is likely that Trajan and Hadrian and Antoninus Pius each closed the Gates of Janus once.