Aureus (Coin) Portraying Emperor Antoninus Pius
138-161
- Medium
- Gold
- Classification
- Coin
- Dimensions
- Diam.: 2 cm (13/16 in.)
- Culture
- Roman Empire
- Museum
- Art Institute of Chicago, Arts of Greece, Rome, and Byzantium
- Credit line
- Gift of William F. Dunham
- Rights
- Public domain (CC0), as the museum states it.
- Who can see it
- Teens profiles and older: its subject is for older viewers (war, death, the Passion, drink or the like). How works are placed
View at the Art Institute of Chicago
About this work
On the front of this coin the Emperor Antoninus Pius, living up to his name, portrays himself practicing religious rites by making a sacrifice to the gods. On the back his daughter, the empress Faustina the Younger, is paired with an image of Juno who, as the wife of Jupiter, symbolized marriage and family and acted as the divine protector of children. Rome encouraged large families to populate its provinces and fill the army’s ranks. Faustina was the wife of Emperor Marcus Aurelius and mother of his thirteen children.
The inscription on the back of this coin translates to "Antoninus Pius ruled between 138-161 A.D."
Description © Art Institute of Chicago, CC BY 4.0
