Maison Palombo
Auction 19 12 Dec 2020
View prices realized
► Sale information
Find similar lots
Antonin le Pieux (138-161) - Aureus - Rome (147-148).
Magnifique exemplaire.
Acheté à l'amiable en 2013 chez Maison Palombo (Marseille).
7.29g - C. 504 var. (sans draperie) - RIC 169a var.
(sans draperie) - Cal. 1578
Superbe – AU
The reverse legend, Consul quartum - Liberalitas quintum, explicitely refers to the emperor's fifth donation in AD 148, which took place - along with varied festivities - when celebrating the 900th anniversary of Rome, at the time of his Vota Decennalia and celebratory games (Primi Decennales). The cornucopia (horn of plenty) held by Liberalitas is an obvious symbol of abundance, but the identification of the object held in her right hand is less clear: possibly an abacus (counting frame), used in apportioning the coinage; or a tessera (tile) that bears the list of recipients, or even a shovel/scoop (for obtaining coins from the pile - with slots cut into it in order to take a specified number of coins). Indeed, though the congiarium (from the word congius which means a liquid measure of about three litres) had originally been a gift of oil or wine, it had soon become a distribution of money. The short entry in the Chronography of AD 354, part 16, indicates that " Antoninus Pius ruled 22 years, 8 months and 28 days. He gave a largess of 800 denarii.
While he was ruling, a column supporting some boxes fell in the Apollinarian circus and crushed 1,112 people. He died at Lorio", and it has therefore been suggested that Antoninus Pius once gave a donation of 32 aurei (see Th. Mommsen and J. Marquardt, Manuel des Antiquités romaines, vol. X, Paris, 1888, pp. 174-175), and also that Marcus Aurelius, on his return from an 8-year absence, gave a donation of 8 aurei to some 850 000 people (after Dio Cassius 71.32), but such high figures seem implausible; a cash distribution of 300 sestertii had taken place under Tiberius, and Nero had raised the amount to 400 sestertii (i.e. 100 denarii or 4 aurei), but in spring of AD 145, Antoninus' fourth largesse is recorded by Ostian Fasti to have amounted to 90 denarii per citizen. The Historia Augusta is less specific, but mentions that " the wedding of his daughter Faustina, whom he espoused to Marcus, he made most noteworthy, even to the extent of giving a donative to the soldiers" (Life of Antoninus Pius 10.2). The aurei struck for this distribution show the emperor seated on a platform - extending his arm toward a citizen with outstretched hands, which is a beautiful (if maybe implausible) depiction of a congiarium. Donativa were aimed at securing the loyalty of the soldiers, but liberalitas augustorum could also be extended to civilians, and Antoninus Pius gave an unusual high number of congiaria - at least nine of such largesse to the people!
Magnifique exemplaire.
Acheté à l'amiable en 2013 chez Maison Palombo (Marseille).
7.29g - C. 504 var. (sans draperie) - RIC 169a var.
(sans draperie) - Cal. 1578
Superbe – AU
The reverse legend, Consul quartum - Liberalitas quintum, explicitely refers to the emperor's fifth donation in AD 148, which took place - along with varied festivities - when celebrating the 900th anniversary of Rome, at the time of his Vota Decennalia and celebratory games (Primi Decennales). The cornucopia (horn of plenty) held by Liberalitas is an obvious symbol of abundance, but the identification of the object held in her right hand is less clear: possibly an abacus (counting frame), used in apportioning the coinage; or a tessera (tile) that bears the list of recipients, or even a shovel/scoop (for obtaining coins from the pile - with slots cut into it in order to take a specified number of coins). Indeed, though the congiarium (from the word congius which means a liquid measure of about three litres) had originally been a gift of oil or wine, it had soon become a distribution of money. The short entry in the Chronography of AD 354, part 16, indicates that " Antoninus Pius ruled 22 years, 8 months and 28 days. He gave a largess of 800 denarii.
While he was ruling, a column supporting some boxes fell in the Apollinarian circus and crushed 1,112 people. He died at Lorio", and it has therefore been suggested that Antoninus Pius once gave a donation of 32 aurei (see Th. Mommsen and J. Marquardt, Manuel des Antiquités romaines, vol. X, Paris, 1888, pp. 174-175), and also that Marcus Aurelius, on his return from an 8-year absence, gave a donation of 8 aurei to some 850 000 people (after Dio Cassius 71.32), but such high figures seem implausible; a cash distribution of 300 sestertii had taken place under Tiberius, and Nero had raised the amount to 400 sestertii (i.e. 100 denarii or 4 aurei), but in spring of AD 145, Antoninus' fourth largesse is recorded by Ostian Fasti to have amounted to 90 denarii per citizen. The Historia Augusta is less specific, but mentions that " the wedding of his daughter Faustina, whom he espoused to Marcus, he made most noteworthy, even to the extent of giving a donative to the soldiers" (Life of Antoninus Pius 10.2). The aurei struck for this distribution show the emperor seated on a platform - extending his arm toward a citizen with outstretched hands, which is a beautiful (if maybe implausible) depiction of a congiarium. Donativa were aimed at securing the loyalty of the soldiers, but liberalitas augustorum could also be extended to civilians, and Antoninus Pius gave an unusual high number of congiaria - at least nine of such largesse to the people!