The Roman Empire
Domitian


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Coin Details

  

Set Details
Coin Description:
Grade: NGC MS Strike: 5/5 Surface: 4/5
Owner: Kohaku
 
Set Category: Ancients
Set Name: The Roman Empire
Slot Name: Domitian
Research: Currently not available

Owner's Description

In 136 AD, the ailing Emperor Hadrian named Antonius Pius as adopted son and Caesar (or heir to the Throne). There were conditions: Antonius had to take on as adopted son and heir Lucius Aurelius (son of Hadrian’s previous Caesar) and the Emperor’s great-nephew, Marcus Aurelius (122-180 AD). After several days of contemplation, Antonius accepted, and, after Hadrian’s passing months later, became Emperor and fulfilled his end of the bargain. The young Marcus was educated by Rome’s greatest teachers; his favorite was the painter and Stoic philosopher Diognetus. Immersing himself in the subject, the precocious youth wore a traditional rough Greek cloak and slept on the ground (rather than a bed), much to his mother’s chagrin. Marcus was appalled upon hearing he would become Antonius’ adopted son and heir; he was more interested in philosophy than politics. Even so, Antonius - keeping his promise to Hadrian - was persistent in grooming Marcus to be future Emperor. Antoninus demanded that Marcus take up the habits of his new station, the aulicum fastigium or "pomp of the court." Marcus objected, preferring to live stoically. Marcus felt drowned in the growing paperwork, and complained to his imperial tutors. Throughout his reign, Antonius kept Marcus close by, progressively increasing his heir’s prestige and exposure with the Roman people. In 145 AD, Antonius married off his daughter, Faustina the Younger, to be Marcus’ wife and future Empress. During that time (probably between 145-147 AD), this interesting denarius was struck. It depicts Marcus bare-headed with a legend advertising Marcus’ status as Caesar and Emperor’s son. On the reverse is Honos, Roman god of honor, chivalry, and military justice, with a legend touting Marcus being named consul for a second time. On earlier Roman coinage, Honos was mostly naked, holding cornucopia and scepter, and accompanied by an armed and dangerous goddess Virtus, representing military valor. Here we see Honos alone, curiously donning a toga, his scepter replaced with an olive branch. Such representation is only seen on coins during Antonius’ reign as Emperor and Marcus’ as Caesar; afterwards, Honos ceases to appear on Roman coinage at all. This denarius was perhaps part of Antonius’ efforts to endorse Marcus and reinforce his imperial responsibility. When Antoninus died in 161 AD, Marcus accepted becoming Emperor: after all, it was his duty as per his Stoic training. He did have one condition, namely that his adoptive brother, Lucius, become co-Emperor. This was a first for Rome, and to kick things off Marcus and Lucius commensurately doubled their inaugural donative to the Roman troops. Early in the co-reign, Marcus stayed in Rome, handling the Empire’s legal and administrative needs, while his counterpart went to the eastern front, leading the battle against the Persians. Lucius and his talented generals managed victory, razing the Persian capital of Ctesiphon in 164 AD. Upon their return to Rome, they unfortunately carried with them a terrible pandemic (probably smallpox) that killed an estimated 5 million Romans in the coming years. Plague-stricken Rome came under increasing pressure from its bordering enemies. By 167 AD, the campaign against the northern barbarian tribes required both Marcus’ and Lucius’ presence. In 169 AD, Lucius would die of disease, leaving Marcus alone to lead the Legions for a while. Marcus accepted the responsibility and spent the majority of his remaining years continuing to protect Rome’s borders. In 177 AD, Marcus made his son Commodus co-Emperor, who later joined his father and the Legions at the northern front. While campaigning on the Danubian frontier the last decade of his life, Marcus recorded his thoughts and philosophies in a diary, later known as his Meditations. Succumbing to plague in 180 AD, the “last of the five good Emperors” died, but not his philosophical expression of service, duty, and quest for peace amidst conflict. Marcus summed his personal path thus: “Take heed not to be transformed into a Caesar, not to be dipped in the purple dye, for it does happen. Keep yourself therefore, simple, good, pure, grave, unaffected, the friend of justice, religious, kind, affectionate, strong for your proper work. Wrestle to be the man philosophy wished to make you. Reverence the gods, save men. Life is brief; there is but one harvest of earthly existence, a holy disposition and neighborly acts.” Coin Details: ROMAN EMPIRE, Marcus Aurelius, AD 161-180 AD, AR Denarius (3.61 g, 18 mm, 6 h), NGC Grade: MS, Strike: 5/5, Surface: 4/5, as Caesar 139-161 AD, Rome mint struck under Emperor Antonius Pius 145-147 AD, Obverse: Bare head right, AVRELIVS CAESAR AVG PII F, Reverse: Honos in toga standing left, holding branch and cornucopia, COS II, References: RIC III 429a (Pius), RSC 110.

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