Bertolami Fine Art
Auction 12 29-30 October 2014
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Marcus Aurelius (161-180), Sestertius, Rome, AD 172-173; AE (g 23,60; mm 34; h 11); M ANTONINVS - AVG TR P XXVII, laureate bust r., drapery on l. shoulder, Rv. IMP VI - COS III, Mercury standing l. on pedestal, holding caduceus and purse, within a tetrastyle temple. On tympanum, a tortoise, cock, ram, caduceus, winged helmet and purse; in field, S - C; in ex. RELIG AVG. RIC 1075 var (laureate head); C 535.
Rare, strong portrait on large flan and detailed reverse composition, dark green patina: extremely fine - good extremely fine.
On the reverse is the representation of Mercury with its traditional attributes within a tetrastyle temple decorated with different elements related to this deity. The legend RELIG(io) AVG(usti), the religion of the emperor, connects the figure of Mercury with the religious feeling of Marcus Aurelius. Diodorus Siculus tells how in Egypt who wore the petasus and carried the caduceus was seen as a figure of connection with religious and spiritual world, so the presence of this god might be generically symbolic of emperor's religiosity. But the representation of Mercury might also be a reference to the event of the "miracle of the rain", occurred around 173 AD, when Marcus Aurelius was on the Danube to fight the advance of the Quadi. According to the Dione Cassius' tale, in this occasion, the Egyptian priest Harnuphis would invoke some deities including Mercury, as the god of the air, to make a miraculous rain fall on the roman soldiers that would take them to drink and saved from the attack of the enemy troops. This event is also represented in the reliefs of the Column of Marcus Aurelius in Rome.
Rare, strong portrait on large flan and detailed reverse composition, dark green patina: extremely fine - good extremely fine.
On the reverse is the representation of Mercury with its traditional attributes within a tetrastyle temple decorated with different elements related to this deity. The legend RELIG(io) AVG(usti), the religion of the emperor, connects the figure of Mercury with the religious feeling of Marcus Aurelius. Diodorus Siculus tells how in Egypt who wore the petasus and carried the caduceus was seen as a figure of connection with religious and spiritual world, so the presence of this god might be generically symbolic of emperor's religiosity. But the representation of Mercury might also be a reference to the event of the "miracle of the rain", occurred around 173 AD, when Marcus Aurelius was on the Danube to fight the advance of the Quadi. According to the Dione Cassius' tale, in this occasion, the Egyptian priest Harnuphis would invoke some deities including Mercury, as the god of the air, to make a miraculous rain fall on the roman soldiers that would take them to drink and saved from the attack of the enemy troops. This event is also represented in the reliefs of the Column of Marcus Aurelius in Rome.