Ancient Roman Coins (III)

 

 

Date  / Authority	161-180 CE / Roman Empire – Marcus Aurelius
Denomination  / Metal	Sestertius / AE (Bronze)
Minting Place (Zecca)	Roma
Obverse (Dritto)	ANTONINVS AVG TR P XXIII  above laureated head of M. Aurelius
Reverse (Rovescio)	SALVTI AVG COS, S C, figure of Salus,  standing, left, feeding a snake  out of a a patera, left hand holding a spear, S C
Weight	21.13 grammes
Diameter	30 mm.

“Be solicitous only to live well for the present; and you may go on till death, to spend what remains of life, with tranquillity, with true dignity, and complacence with the divinity within you”                                                      (M. Aurelius, “Meditations”)

Marcus Aurelius was born in 121 CE and died in 180 CE. He was a Roman emperor from 161 to 180 and a Stoic philosopher.

His name at birth was probably Marcus Annius Verus like his father, the praetor Marcus Annius Verus. After his father’s death, he was raised by his grandfather and later adopted, together with Lucius Verus,  by his uncle, Antoninus Pius. After the death of the emperor Antoninus Pius, he reigned together with Lucius Verus until 169 and, after the death of the latter, he reigned alone until 180.

Between the years 170 and 180 he wrote the so-called Meditations which are considered a masterpiece of the Stoic philosophy.

The equestrian bronze statue of Marcus Aurelius at the Capitoline Museums is the only bronze statue of ancient emperors survived in Rome. Differently from many other bronze statues, the Marcus Aurelius’ one was not melt down by the iconoclast fury of the christians, probably, because it was thougth to be a statue of Costantine, the first emperor that officially legalized the christian cult.  Until 1981, the statue was standing in the middle of Piazza del Campidoglio (the “Capitolium Square”) where it was placed in 1538 during the redesign of the Square made by Michelangelo Buonarroti. Some years after the relocation of the original bronze statue in the Museums, a replica was put in the Square. 

Marcus Aurelius’ statue, Musei Capitolini, Roma (foto: m.v.)

Marcus Aurelius’ statue, Palazzo Altemps, Roma (foto: m.v.)

Copy of the M. Aurelius’ equestrian statue in Piazza del Campidoglio

 

References:

• Aurelius Antoninus M. “The Meditations of the Emperor Marcus Aurelius Antoninus”, English translation from the Greek, Printed by  R. Foulis, Glasgow, MDCCXLII.
• Online Coins of the Roman Empire (OCRE) http://numismatics.org/ocre/
• Wikipedia