Coin Portraying Emperor Antoninus Pius

Arts of Greece, Rome, and Byzantium

138-139

Roman; minted in Alexandria, Egypt

Canopus, a port city in the Nile Delta, was famous for an ancient sanctuary dedicated to Osiris, god of vegetation and rebirth. His worship included a procession of his priests carrying jars filled with Nile water, the symbol of fertility. The jars, as depicted on this coin, were topped with the head of Osiris, here shown in profile, with an elaborate headdress. Emperor Antoninus Pius, who issued the coin, never set foot in Egypt, but he used this imagery to honor one of Egypt’s ancient traditions.

The date this coin was struck is indicated in the back inscription ” B “, which means the second year of the emperor’s reign, or 138-139 CE. Antoninus Pius reigned as emperor from 138-161 CE.

Status: Currently Off View
Department: Arts of Greece, Rome, and Byzantium

Artist: Ancient Egyptian
Title: Coin Portraying Emperor Antoninus Pius
Place: Egypt (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.: 138 CE–139 CE
Medium: Billon
Inscriptions: Obverse: [AVT K T AIΛ AΔΡ ANTΩNINOC EV CEB] Reverse: ETO-VC B
Dimensions: Diam.: 2.3 cm (15/16 in.)
Credit Line: Gift of Robert L. Grover
Reference Number: 1981.443
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/62850/manifest.json

Art Institute of Chicago, Annual Report: 1981-82 (Art Institute of Chicago, 1982), p. 29.

Robert L. Grover (1910-1998), Chicago; given to the Art Institute of Chicago, 1981.

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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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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.