Obv: Head left. Rev: Galley. Metal: Billion 10.7 grams, 24 mm diameter. Condition: VG.

At first the empire was in the good hands of Nero's civil servants, but in 62 AD Nero took complete control. Nero was enthusiastic about the arts but his extravagances and vanity made him a very unpopular ruler. One time Nero entered himself in the chariot race at the Olympics, he had a 10 horse chariot that he could not control and fell-off. After the race, although he failed to complete the race, he demanded that he be declared victor because everyone knows 10 horses had to win the competion. Another story is that one evening the generals called on Nero to make a decision on an uprising in Gual by "Vindex" - Nero said he would sleep on it. In the wee hours of the morning, he called an emergency meeting and summoned all the generals - to hear about his newest musical instrument design. Later in planning the campaign Nero was more concerned about the victory performers than the soldiers. Of course, everyone has heard how he let Rome burn (maybe even started the fires). During Nero's reign a lot of billion tetradrachms were struck in Egypt. They were similar in weight and quality with the last of the Ptolamic coins. They were the size of tetradrachms but with a silver percentage equal to a Roman denarius and traded at par with the Roman denarius.