The front (obverse) of this coin portrays a bust of Marcus Aurelius facing right, bareheaded, wearing a cuirass (body armor) and paludamentum (military cloak). The back (reverse) depicts the goddess Roma-Virtus, helmeted, standing left in military garb, holding Victory and parazonium (a dagger).
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.
Obverse: AVRELIVS CAESAR AVG PII FIL
Reverse: TR POT VIII COS II
Dimensions
Diam.: 2 cm (13/16 in.)
Credit Line
Gift of Martin A. Ryerson
Reference Number
1922.4876
IIIF Manifest
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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.
Theresa Gross-Diaz, “Cat. 54 Aureus Portraying Marcus Aurelius: Curatorial Entry,” in Roman Art at the Art Institute of Chicago (Art Institute of Chicago, 2016).
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