Roma Numismatics Ltd
Auction XII 29 September 2016
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Lucius Verus AV Aureus. Rome, AD 164. L VERVS AVG ARMENIACVS, laureate, draped and cuirassed bust right / TR P IIII IMP II COS II, Victory, naked to waist, standing right, holding writing instrument in right hand and with left hand steadying shield inscribed VIC AVG that is set atop palm tree. BMC 296; Calicó 2177; C. 247 var.; RIC 525. 7.26g, 19mm, 6h.
Fleur De Coin.
From the Ambrose Collection;
Ex Leu 50, 25 April 1990, lot 321.
Shortly after Lucius Verus succeeded to the position of co-emperor in AD 161, a position he shared with Marcus Aurelius, the peace Antontinus Pius had negotiated with the Parthians collapsed. The Parthian king Vologases IV invaded the Kingdom of Armenia, then a Roman client state, expelling the king and installing his own. Both initial attempts to recover the territory of Armenia by the Governor of Cappadocia, Marcus Sedatius Severianus, and the Governor of Syria, L. Attidius Cornelianus, were unsuccessful. Marcus Aurelius took the decision to send his imperial colleague Lucius Verus to defend the Eastern territories in person.
This aureus was struck shortly following the successful invasion of Armenia and capture of Artaxata in AD 183 by M. Statius Priscus, the former Governor of Britain who had been sent to replace Severianus as the Governor of Cappadocia. The obverse proudly boasts the title of Armeniacus, which was granted to Verus despite him having never seen combat. Verus is believed to have spent the majority of the campaign in Antioch, where his contribution to military matters is one of historical dispute.
Nevertheless, the recovery of Armenia into the empire as a subordinate client kingdom saw the end of the limited themes which had featured on the early gold issues of the two Augusti in favour of the new – Minerva, Felicitas, Pax – including Victory, who is depicted on the reverse of this coin.
Fleur De Coin.
From the Ambrose Collection;
Ex Leu 50, 25 April 1990, lot 321.
Shortly after Lucius Verus succeeded to the position of co-emperor in AD 161, a position he shared with Marcus Aurelius, the peace Antontinus Pius had negotiated with the Parthians collapsed. The Parthian king Vologases IV invaded the Kingdom of Armenia, then a Roman client state, expelling the king and installing his own. Both initial attempts to recover the territory of Armenia by the Governor of Cappadocia, Marcus Sedatius Severianus, and the Governor of Syria, L. Attidius Cornelianus, were unsuccessful. Marcus Aurelius took the decision to send his imperial colleague Lucius Verus to defend the Eastern territories in person.
This aureus was struck shortly following the successful invasion of Armenia and capture of Artaxata in AD 183 by M. Statius Priscus, the former Governor of Britain who had been sent to replace Severianus as the Governor of Cappadocia. The obverse proudly boasts the title of Armeniacus, which was granted to Verus despite him having never seen combat. Verus is believed to have spent the majority of the campaign in Antioch, where his contribution to military matters is one of historical dispute.
Nevertheless, the recovery of Armenia into the empire as a subordinate client kingdom saw the end of the limited themes which had featured on the early gold issues of the two Augusti in favour of the new – Minerva, Felicitas, Pax – including Victory, who is depicted on the reverse of this coin.