Roma Numismatics Ltd
Auction XII 29 September 2016
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Marcus Aurelius, as Caesar, AV Aureus. Struck under Antoninus Pius. Rome, AD 158-159. AVRELIVS CAES ANTON AVG PII F, bare-headed and cuirassed bust right / TR POT XIII COS II, Apollo standing left, holding patera and lyre. RIC 477b; C. 736; Calicó 1965. 7.33g, 18mm, 6h.
Extremely Fine. Very rare bust variant; no examples on CoinArchives.
Unusual among the Roman pantheon for keeping his original Greek identity, Apollo was raised from the position of a minor healing deity to one of the patron gods of the city of Rome by Augustus after the Battle of Actium in 31 BC, when he had a temple built to the god on the Palatine Hill, significantly within the pomerium (the formal and ritual boundary of the city). In a further departure from the pattern of the major Roman gods Apollo did not rule a specific domain, but covered a more eclectic range of functions as god of 'youthful masculine beauty', the god of 'music and poetry' and the god of 'light and purity'. The depiction seen on the reverse of this rare and attractive aureus is Apollo Musagetes, the leader of the Muses, shown with the lyre to signify music and the patera showing religious sensibility. The design was most likely based on the cult statue of Apollo by the sculptor Bryaxis, of which ancient descriptions survive, that was placed in the Temple of Apollo at Daphne, a suburb of Antioch, in the early third century BC and survived until the temple burnt down in AD 362.
This particular representation of Apollo is a fitting depiction for a coin of Marcus Aurelius as he is known to have been heavily influenced by the philosophic way of life during his schooling as a young man. Indeed, he is said to have found the transition to his new station as heir designate to his adoptive father Antoninus Pius, with all the pomp of the imperial court and the responsibilities that came with being princeps iuventutis, head of the equestrian order, particularly difficult to reconcile with his chosen lifestyle.
Struck in AD 158-159, the portrait of Aurelius that we see on this coin is markedly different to the representation of the man ten years earlier, as can be seen in the previous lot. Here we have a man of approximately 37 who is shown with the vigour and skill to lead the empire, a prescient issue coming as it did only two years before the death of Pius. This particularly rare obverse bust type, shown with the military cuirass, presents us with an interesting contrast to the more gentle attributes the future emperor is given in the reverse design and again pre-empted events to come, though Aurelius took no active part in them himself: upon the death of Pius his old enemy Vologases IV of Parthia invaded the Kingdom of Armenia, which was at this time a Roman client state and had been the subject of disputes since AD 155.
Extremely Fine. Very rare bust variant; no examples on CoinArchives.
Unusual among the Roman pantheon for keeping his original Greek identity, Apollo was raised from the position of a minor healing deity to one of the patron gods of the city of Rome by Augustus after the Battle of Actium in 31 BC, when he had a temple built to the god on the Palatine Hill, significantly within the pomerium (the formal and ritual boundary of the city). In a further departure from the pattern of the major Roman gods Apollo did not rule a specific domain, but covered a more eclectic range of functions as god of 'youthful masculine beauty', the god of 'music and poetry' and the god of 'light and purity'. The depiction seen on the reverse of this rare and attractive aureus is Apollo Musagetes, the leader of the Muses, shown with the lyre to signify music and the patera showing religious sensibility. The design was most likely based on the cult statue of Apollo by the sculptor Bryaxis, of which ancient descriptions survive, that was placed in the Temple of Apollo at Daphne, a suburb of Antioch, in the early third century BC and survived until the temple burnt down in AD 362.
This particular representation of Apollo is a fitting depiction for a coin of Marcus Aurelius as he is known to have been heavily influenced by the philosophic way of life during his schooling as a young man. Indeed, he is said to have found the transition to his new station as heir designate to his adoptive father Antoninus Pius, with all the pomp of the imperial court and the responsibilities that came with being princeps iuventutis, head of the equestrian order, particularly difficult to reconcile with his chosen lifestyle.
Struck in AD 158-159, the portrait of Aurelius that we see on this coin is markedly different to the representation of the man ten years earlier, as can be seen in the previous lot. Here we have a man of approximately 37 who is shown with the vigour and skill to lead the empire, a prescient issue coming as it did only two years before the death of Pius. This particularly rare obverse bust type, shown with the military cuirass, presents us with an interesting contrast to the more gentle attributes the future emperor is given in the reverse design and again pre-empted events to come, though Aurelius took no active part in them himself: upon the death of Pius his old enemy Vologases IV of Parthia invaded the Kingdom of Armenia, which was at this time a Roman client state and had been the subject of disputes since AD 155.