Roma Numismatics Ltd
Auction XXV 22-23 Sep 2022
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Lucius Verus AV Aureus. Rome, AD 166. L VERVS AVG ARM PARTH MAX, laureate and cuirassed bust to right / TR P VI IMP IIII COS II, Victory standing to right, holding palm branch and placing on palm tree a shield inscribed VIC PAR. RIC III 564 (Aurelius); C. 278; BMCRE 430 note; Faces of Power 349 (this coin); Calicó 2190 (same obv. die). 7.34g, 20mm, 6h.
Fleur De Coin; a perfect coin in every respect, struck from dies of elegant and refined style.
This coin published in H. Gitler & G. Gambash, Faces of Power - Roman Gold Coins from the Victor A. Adda Collection (Jerusalem, 2017);
Privately purchased from B & H Kreindler;
Ex Numismatica Ars Classica AG, Auction 119, 6 October 2020, lot 127;
Ex Victor A. Adda Collection, Christie's, Highly Important Ancient Coins, 9 October 1984, lot 85.
Shortly after Lucius Verus succeeded to the position of co-Emperor in AD 161, a position he shared with Marcus Aurelius, the peace Antoninus 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 following the successful invasion of Armenia and capture of Artaxata in AD 163 by M. Statius Priscus, the former Governor of Britain who had been sent to replace Severianus as the Governor of Cappadocia. The following year, Roman forces captured the Parthian capital of Ctesiphon. The obverse proudly boasts the titles Armeniacus and Parthicus, which were granted to Verus in AD 163 and AD 164 despite him having never seen combat. He is believed to have spent the majority of the campaign in Antioch, where his contribution to military matters is one of historical dispute. Nevertheless, he received a hero's welcome in Rome in AD 166 and basked in the glow of a triumph. 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 and Victory, who is depicted on the reverse of this coin.
Fleur De Coin; a perfect coin in every respect, struck from dies of elegant and refined style.
This coin published in H. Gitler & G. Gambash, Faces of Power - Roman Gold Coins from the Victor A. Adda Collection (Jerusalem, 2017);
Privately purchased from B & H Kreindler;
Ex Numismatica Ars Classica AG, Auction 119, 6 October 2020, lot 127;
Ex Victor A. Adda Collection, Christie's, Highly Important Ancient Coins, 9 October 1984, lot 85.
Shortly after Lucius Verus succeeded to the position of co-Emperor in AD 161, a position he shared with Marcus Aurelius, the peace Antoninus 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 following the successful invasion of Armenia and capture of Artaxata in AD 163 by M. Statius Priscus, the former Governor of Britain who had been sent to replace Severianus as the Governor of Cappadocia. The following year, Roman forces captured the Parthian capital of Ctesiphon. The obverse proudly boasts the titles Armeniacus and Parthicus, which were granted to Verus in AD 163 and AD 164 despite him having never seen combat. He is believed to have spent the majority of the campaign in Antioch, where his contribution to military matters is one of historical dispute. Nevertheless, he received a hero's welcome in Rome in AD 166 and basked in the glow of a triumph. 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 and Victory, who is depicted on the reverse of this coin.