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Sow with piglets
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Antoninus Pius. 138-161 AD. Sestertius (25.9g, 33mm, 12h), Rome mint, struck 141-143 AD. Obv.: ANTONINVS AVG PIVS P P TR P COS III, laureate head right Rev.: S C in ex., Sow under oak tree suckling seven piglets; one more to the right.
RIC 629; BMC 1298; Cohen 775; Sear (II) 4226.
This type is part of a series depicting scenes from ancient Roman legends minted in preparation of the 900th anniversary of the founding of Rome (celebrated on April 21, A.D. 147). According to Vergil, The Trojan exile Aeneas sailed up the Tiber until he came upon a white sow nursing thirty piglets, and was to found a settlement on the site of this good omen, the town of Lanuvium, the precursor to Rome.
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