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Roman Coins :
Emperor Marcus Aurelius : Roman Bronze Sestertius of Emperor Marcus Aurelius
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Roman Bronze Sestertius of Emperor Marcus Aurelius - C.2019
Origin: Mediterranean
Circa: 159
AD
Catalogue: V29
Collection: Numismatics
Medium: Bronze
$4,500.00
Location: United States
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| Description |
Obverse: Bust of the Emperor
Reverse: The God Mars Advancing Right
Holding
a Spear and a Trophy
Marcus Aurelius Antoninus was the
Emperor of
Rome from 161 until his death in 180
A.D. Born
Marcus Annius Verus, he was adopted by
the
emperor Antoninus Pius in 138, and
married his
daughter Annia Galeria Faustina a few
years
later. He succeeded to the throne
without
difficulty on Antoninus' death. Marcus
Aurelius
was educated by the best tutors in Rome
and was
a devotee of Stoicism. However, he felt
with
more religious fervor the communion of
man in
the unity of the universe than most
other Stoics.
In his later years, he wrote the
Meditations as a
relief from his lonely office, in which
he attempts
to reconcile his Stoic philosophy of
virtue and
self-sacrifice with his role as emperor.
How many hands have touched a coin in
your
pocket or purse? What eras and lands
have the
coin traversed on its journey into our
possession? As we reach into our
pockets to pull
out some change, we rarely hesitate to
think of
who might have touched the coin before
us, or
where the coin will venture to after it
leaves our
hands. More than money, coins are a
symbol of
the state that struck them, of a
specific time and
location, whether contemporary
currencies or
artifacts of long forgotten empires.
This stunning
hand-struck coin reveals an expertise of
craftsmanship and intricate sculptural
detail that
is often lacking in contemporary
machine-made
currencies. Although Marcus Aurelius’
Meditations is considered among the most
important books in history, his legacy
extends
beyond the written word. The
philosophical
leader Marcus Aurelius lives on in
artifacts like
this coin: concrete remnants of ancient
empires
passed from the hands of civilization to
civilization, from generation to
generation that
appear as vibrant today as the day they
were
struck.
- (C.2019)
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