Hello all,
Been some time, I haven't been able to take new photos because my tripod broke.
Work has been terribly busy too.
Here's a new
denarius which arrived recently.
RIC III 367.
Rome mint, 176-177 CE, 2.74. 18mm.
Die axis 11h.
Obverse:
M ANTONINVS AVG GERM SARM, Laureate
Head right.
Reverse: TRP XXXI
IMP VIII COS III PP,
DE SARM in
exergue.
The coin is porous but I picked it up all the same since the
DE SARM version seems to be scarcer than the DE
GERM.
In 169 CE the Marcomanni and
Quadi crossed the Danube, penetrated the intervening provinces, and invaded
Italy.
Lucius Verus died soon after the start of the war which left
Aurelius as the sole emperor. The culmination of their onslaught was a siege of
Aquileia. This was the first invasion of
Italy since the late second century BCE, when the Cimbri and Teutones
had been separately crushed by
Marius. After a rapid mobilization of forces
Aurelius turned
north and began
his counterattacks against the barbarians. On 23 Nov. 176 CE he held the triumph over Germans and Sarmati. Raetia and
Noricum became
Roman provinces.
The
victory was celebrated with an issue of coins in all three metals in 176 and 177, although the
bulk was struck in 177. There are other
denarii believed to subtly allude to the conflict, such as a Mercury
reverse which refers to the Rain Miracle.
