Antoninianus (Coin) Portraying Empress Marcia Otacilia Severa

Arts of the Ancient Mediterranean and Byzantium

248, issued by Emperor Philip the Arab

Roman

The front (obverse) of this coin portrays a bust of Otacilia Severa diademed and facing to the right. The back (reverse) depicts a hippopotomus to the right.

This coin was issued to commemorate the Roman Millennium. The lavish birthday celebration featured one thousand gladiators who fought to the death and thousands of exotic animals like this hippopotamus, native to Egypt. Supplying the Romans with African animals for the games was a flourishing business.

Status: Currently Off View
Department: Arts of the Ancient Mediterranean and Byzantium

Culture: Ancient Roman
Title: Antoninianus (Coin) Portraying Empress Marcia Otacilia Severa
Place: Rome (Minted in)
Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.: 248 CE
Medium: Silver
Inscriptions: Obverse: OTACIL SEVERA AVG Reverse: SAECVLARES AVGG IIII
Dimensions: Diam.: 2.3 cm (15/16 in.)
Credit Line: Gift of Martin A. Ryerson
Reference Number: 1922.4898
IIIF Manifest The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world. Learn more.: https://api.artic.edu/api/v1/artworks/5709/manifest.json

Karen B. Alexander and Mary Greuel. Private Taste in Ancient Rome: Selections from Chicago Collections. Exh. cat. (Chicago: Art Institute of Chicago, 1990), cat. 51.
Karen B. Alexander, “From Plaster to Stone: Ancient Art at the Art Institute of Chicago,” in Karen Manchester, Recasting the Past: Collecting and Presenting Antiquities at the Art Institute of Chicago (Chicago: Art Institute of Chicago; New Haven: Yale University Press, 2012), p. 29.

Art Institute of Chicago, When the Greeks Ruled: Egypt After Alexander the Great, October 31, 2013 - July 27, 2014.

Martin A. Ryerson (1856-1932), Chicago; given to the Art Institute of Chicago, 1922.

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Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

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Antoninianus (Coin) Portraying Empress Marcia Otacilia Severa

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Culture

Title

Place

Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

Medium

Inscriptions

Dimensions

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Reference Number

IIIF Manifest The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world. Learn more.

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IIIF Manifest The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world.

Learn more.