Lot 4390

AE Sestertius (Rome AD 97, 21.76 g) - IMP NERVA CAES AVG PM TR P COS III PP Laureate head right / VEHICVLATIONE ITALIAE REMISSA 'With the levy for supplying the imperial transport system being abolished for Italy' Two mules grazing, one left, the other right, in front of the pole and harnesses of a cart resting upright (SC in ex.) (RIC II 93 / Banti 44 / BMC 119) - VF, some roughness, very rare. The vehiculatio was an imperial institution as a means of providing a more efficient organization of transport and communication between Rome and the rest of the empire. It consisted of many stations where the travelers could find food and accomodation. The costs for this system were payed out of the munus vehicularium, a levy to be paid by the population. But as this transportation system grew rapidly due to the expansion of the empire the costs became too heavy a burden for the tax payers. Nerva decided to abolish the taks and from then on to be payed by the imperial treasury. This coin commemorates this abolition.