October 12 -- Triumph and Tragedy in Rome

[Roman Collector]

On October 12, 166 CE, Roman co-emperors Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus celebrated a triumph in Rome after the victorious war against the Parthians. The army also brought from there the plague, which then ravaged the Empire for many years. It was popularly called the Antonine Plague or the Plague of Galen, and it spread throughout the Empire in the years 165-180 CE. It is believed that it was either smallpox or measles. The plague killed Verus (169 CE) and Aurelius (180 CE). Scientists estimate that 5 million people died as a result of the disease.

Here are a couple of coins of Marcus and Verus to commemorate this. Let's see your coins of these co-emperors!!

Marcus Aurelius, Augustus 161-180 CE.
Roman AR denarius, 3.15 g, 18.1 mm, 11 h.
Rome, 36th emission, 178 CE.
Obv: M ANTONINVS AVG, laureate head, right.
Rev: COS III P P, Annona standing left, holding corn-ears in right hand over modius and cornucopia in left hand; to right, prow.
Refs: RIC 424; BMCRE 691; Cohen 151; RCV 4893; MIR 436-4/30.

Lucius Verus, 161-169 CE.
Roman AR denarius, 3.17 g, 18.2 mm, 6 h.
Rome, December 161-December 162 CE.
Obv: IMP L AVREL VERVS AVG, bare head, right.
Rev: PROV DEOR TR P II COS II, Providentia standing left, holding globe in right hand and cornucopia in left hand.
Refs: RIC 482; BMCRE 202-204; RSC 155; RCV --; MIR 37-14/10

Edited October 13, 2023 by Roman Collector
Spelling.

[ominus1]

...'to the victors go the spoils'.....i have them in the '5(6)Good...:D

[Ryro]

Cool coins and write up, my friend. 

Makes one wonder if people back then would be so ignorant as to not take basic precautions; washing hands, social distancing, vaccinations etc, if they knew it would enhance their chances of survival?

Nevertheless, they didn't have the understanding that we have and all perished. 

Here's the first emperor to die of the plague:

And the second:

 

[expat]

Nice write up as introduction to a display of coinage from two Emperors who fell victim to the plague.

A worn and corroded Lucius with Victory crowning a trophy with shields at the base.

And his Brother

Edited October 13, 2023 by expat

[ambr0zie]

I had the chance to receive one Lucius Verus denarius and 2 Marcus Aurelius denarii in my first ancient coins purchase. 

Here is my first Verus (and I admit that it was the first time I heard about this emperor)

18,5 mm, 2,5 g.
Lucius Verus 161-169 AD. AR denarius. Rome. 161-162.
IMP L AVREL VERVS AVG, Head, bare, right / PROV DEOR TR P II COS II, Providentia standing left, holding globe and cornucopiae.
RIC III Marcus Aurelius 482; Cohen 155; BMC 202.

I also have a sestertius celebrating a victorious war 

32 mm, 20,98 g.
Lucius Verus 161-169 AD. Æ sestertius. Rome. 163-164. L AVREL VERVS AVG ARMENIACVS, head of Lucius Verus, laureate, right / TR P IIII IMP II COS II S C, Victory, winged, half-draped, standing right, fixing to a palm-tree with left hand shield inscribed VIC AVG
RIC III Marcus Aurelius 1397; BMC 1116.

And a posthumous denarius

18 mm, 2,70 g.
Divus Lucius Verus. Died 169 AD. AR denarius. Rome.
DIVVS VERVS, head of Lucius Verus, bare, right / CONSECRATIO, funeral pyre in four tiers (ustrina), adorned with statues and garlands, quadriga on top.
RIC III Marcus Aurelius 596B; RSC 55; BMC 503.

One of the Marcus Aurelius coins I mentioned might well be the best preserved coin I have. 

20 mm, 3,2 g.
Marcus Aurelius 161-180 AD. AR denarius. Rome. 175-176.
M ANTONINVS AVG GERM SARM, head of Marcus Aurelius, laureate, right / TR P XXX IMP VIII COS III, Mars, helmeted, naked except for cloak flying behind, advancing right, holding transverse spear in right hand and trophy, sloped over left shoulder, in left hand.
RIC III Marcus Aurelius 349.

No posthumous coin for him in my colleciton. 

[Qcumbor]

One of Verus' celebrating the victory mentioned in the OP

Lucius Verus, Denarius - Rome mint, 165 CE
L VERVS AVG ARM PARTH MAX, Laureate head of Verus right
TRP V IMP III COS II, Captive (Parthian or Armenian) seated right, before him, bow, quiver and shield
3.10 gr
Ref : Cohen # 273, RCV # 5358

 

On 10/13/2023 at 5:17 AM, Ryro said:

Makes one wonder if people back then would be so ignorant as to not take basic precautions; washing hands, social distancing, vaccinations etc, if they knew it would enhance their chances of survival?

I guess they didn't. It's only very recently (2 centuries ago) that someone thought it would be a good idea to have their hands washed :

Wikipedia page about Ignaz Semmelweis

"Ignaz Philipp Semmelweis (1 July 1818 – 13 August 1865) was a Hungarian physician and scientist of German descent, who was an early pioneer of antiseptic procedures, and was described as the "saviour of mothers". Postpartum infection, also known as puerperal fever or childbed fever, consists of any bacterial infection of the reproductive tract following birth, and in the 19th century was common and often fatal. Semmelweis discovered that the incidence of infection could be drastically reduced by requiring healthcare workers in obstetrical clinics to disinfect their hands. In 1847, he proposed hand washing with chlorinated lime solutions at Vienna General Hospital's First Obstetrical Clinic, where doctors' wards had three times the mortality of midwives' wards. The maternal mortality rate dropped from 18% to less than 2%, and he published a book of his findings, Etiology, Concept and Prophylaxis of Childbed Fever in 1861.

Despite his research, Semmelweis's observations conflicted with the established scientific and medical opinions of the time and his ideas were rejected by the medical community. He could offer no theoretical explanation for his findings of reduced mortality due to hand-washing, and some doctors were offended at the suggestion that they should wash their hands and mocked him for it. In 1865, the increasingly outspoken Semmelweis allegedly suffered a nervous breakdown and was committed to an asylum by his colleagues. In the asylum, he was beaten by the guards. He died 14 days later from a gangrenous wound on his right hand that may have been caused by the beating.

His findings earned widespread acceptance only years after his death, when Louis Pasteur confirmed the germ theory, giving Semmelweis' observations a theoretical explanation, and Joseph Lister, acting on Pasteur's research, practised and operated using hygienic methods, with great success."

Q

[Limes]

18 minutes ago, Qcumbor said:

One of Verus' celebrating the victory mentioned in the OP

Lucius Verus, Denarius - Rome mint, 165 CE
L VERVS AVG ARM PARTH MAX, Laureate head of Verus right
TRP V IMP III COS II, Captive (Parthian or Armenian) seated right, before him, bow, quiver and shield
3.10 gr
Ref : Cohen # 273, RCV # 5358

 

I guess they didn't. It's only very recently (2 centuries ago) that someone thought it would be a good idea to have their hands washed :

Wikipedia page about Ignaz Semmelweis

"Ignaz Philipp Semmelweis (1 July 1818 – 13 August 1865) was a Hungarian physician and scientist of German descent, who was an early pioneer of antiseptic procedures, and was described as the "saviour of mothers". Postpartum infection, also known as puerperal fever or childbed fever, consists of any bacterial infection of the reproductive tract following birth, and in the 19th century was common and often fatal. Semmelweis discovered that the incidence of infection could be drastically reduced by requiring healthcare workers in obstetrical clinics to disinfect their hands. In 1847, he proposed hand washing with chlorinated lime solutions at Vienna General Hospital's First Obstetrical Clinic, where doctors' wards had three times the mortality of midwives' wards. The maternal mortality rate dropped from 18% to less than 2%, and he published a book of his findings, Etiology, Concept and Prophylaxis of Childbed Fever in 1861.

Despite his research, Semmelweis's observations conflicted with the established scientific and medical opinions of the time and his ideas were rejected by the medical community. He could offer no theoretical explanation for his findings of reduced mortality due to hand-washing, and some doctors were offended at the suggestion that they should wash their hands and mocked him for it. In 1865, the increasingly outspoken Semmelweis allegedly suffered a nervous breakdown and was committed to an asylum by his colleagues. In the asylum, he was beaten by the guards. He died 14 days later from a gangrenous wound on his right hand that may have been caused by the beating.

His findings earned widespread acceptance only years after his death, when Louis Pasteur confirmed the germ theory, giving Semmelweis' observations a theoretical explanation, and Joseph Lister, acting on Pasteur's research, practised and operated using hygienic methods, with great success."

Q

Love the coin, but the story about the doctor is baffling! 

Edited October 14, 2023 by Limes

[Limes]

On 10/13/2023 at 4:33 AM, Roman Collector said:

On October 12, 166 CE, Roman co-emperors Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus celebrated a triumph in Rome after the victorious war against the Parthians. The army also brought from there the plague, which then ravaged the Empire for many years. It was popularly called the Antonine Plague or the Plague of Galen, and it spread throughout the Empire in the years 165-180 CE. It is believed that it was either smallpox or measles. The plague killed Verus (169 CE) and Aurelius (180 CE). Scientists estimate that 5 million people died as a result of the disease.

Here are a couple of coins of Marcus and Verus to commemorate this. Let's see your coins of these co-emperors!!

Marcus Aurelius, Augustus 161-180 CE.
Roman AR denarius, 3.15 g, 18.1 mm, 11 h.
Rome, 36th emission, 178 CE.
Obv: M ANTONINVS AVG, laureate head, right.
Rev: COS III P P, Annona standing left, holding corn-ears in right hand over modius and cornucopia in left hand; to right, prow.
Refs: RIC 424; BMCRE 691; Cohen 151; RCV 4893; MIR 436-4/30.

Lucius Verus, 161-169 CE.
Roman AR denarius, 3.17 g, 18.2 mm, 6 h.
Rome, December 161-December 162 CE.
Obv: IMP L AVREL VERVS AVG, bare head, right.
Rev: PROV DEOR TR P II COS II, Providentia standing left, holding globe in right hand and cornucopia in left hand.
Refs: RIC 482; BMCRE 202-204; RSC 155; RCV --; MIR 37-14/10

Thanks RC for the write up! Here are two coins of the emperors in somewhat better times...

[thejewk]

Here's Marcus in his younger days

[Ancient Coin Hunter]

Lucius Verus (161-169 C.E.) AE As

Obverse: Plain bust right, LVERVS AVG ARMENIACVS

Reverse: Emperor on horseback riding down foe (rare type)

Edited October 14, 2023 by Ancient Coin Hunter

[Ancient Coin Hunter]

Marcus Aurelius (161-180 C.E.) as Caesar

Egypt, Alexandria

AE Drachm.

Obverse: Bust of Marcus right

Reverse:  Elpis standing, holding flower and hitching skirt

Rare type

 

[DonnaML]

I don't have a lot of coins for either of them, certainly not compared to Hadrian or Antoninus Pius -- partly because I have no Provincial coins for Marcus Aurelius and only one for Lucius Verus. 

I'll skip the Antoninus Pius denarius with a young Marcus Aurelius on the reverse, because I posted it very recently in the thread devoted to A. Pius.

Here are some others, only the first one in the names of both Aurelius and Verus:

Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus, AR Denarius [Restored Issue of Mark Antony Legionary Denarius Leg. VI, probably issued for 200th anniversary of Battle of Actium], 168-169 AD, Rome Mint.  Obv. Praetorian galley moving left over waves with four crew members, ANTONIVS AVGVR around from 8 o’clock, IIIVIR R P C across below galley / Rev. Legionary eagle (aquila) facing left between two standards, ANTONINVS ET VERVS AVG REST [ = Restituit] around from 8 o’clock, LEG - VI across lower field. RIC III M. Aurelius 443 (at p. 248), RSC I Mark Antony 83 (ill. at p. 127), Sear RCV II 5236 (ill. at p. 341), BMCRE 500. 19 mm., 2.86 g.

*See Sear RCV II at p. 340: “Issue of Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus restoring the ‘Legionary’ Coinage of Mark Antony. The reasons for this remarkable restoration remain obscure. Mattingly (BMCRE, p. cxxiii) suggests that Legio VI Ferrata, which had fought for Antony at Philippi in 42 BC, may have played a leading role in the Parthian War of AD 164, the exceptional commemoration of this achievement on the coinage being prompted both by the the legion’s long and distinguished history and the similarity of the names ‘Antonius” and ‘Antoninus.” The 200th anniversary of the Battle of Actium [in 31 BC] perhaps provides a more obvious reason for the issue.” (Emphasis added.) 

See also https://www.forumancientcoins.com/numiswiki/view.asp?key=Restitutions for a discussion of restored coinage in general, defining it as “a name given to pieces of money copied from other pieces struck in the past,” from the verb restituo.  This type of Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus is the only restored coinage mentioned that was issued after the restored Republican coinage issued by Trajan, and the earlier restored issues minted under Titus, Domitian, and Nerva. (The “Divi” issues of Trajan Decius were intended to commemorate a number of honor certain previous emperors, but are not copied from specific coins of those emperors.) 

The original “LEG VI” Mark Antony legionary denarius on which this restoration issue was modeled is Crawford 544/19; see also David Sear's The History and Coinage of the Roman Imperators 356 at p. 232 (1998). Notable differences from the restored coin’s design include the fact that the galley on the obverse and the eagle on the reverse of the original both face right (as opposed to facing left on the restored coin), and that the obverse inscription on the original reads “ANT AVG,” whereas on the restored coin those abbreviations are fully spelled out as “ANTONIVS AVGVR,” presumably to avoid confusion. (Had the original obverse inscription been used on this coin, it would likely have been misread by most people as “ANTONINVS AVGVSTVS” -- a potential ambiguity not present when the original was issued 200 years earlier.) 

Marcus Aurelius AR Denarius, 165-166 AD, Rome Mint. Obv. Laureate head right, M ANTONINVS AVG - ARMENIACVS* / Rev. Roma, helmeted and draped, seated left with round shield at side, holding Palladium [statue of Pallas Athena taken to Rome by Aeneas] in her extended right hand and short vertical scepter (or spear) in left hand, P M TR P XX - IMP III COS III.  RIC III Marcus Aurelius 155 corr. (erroneously describes Roma as seated on shield and identifies Palladium as Victory); RSC II Marcus Aurelius 490 at p. 210 (Palladium and short spear); BMCRE IV Marcus Aurelius 392 at p. 438 & fn. (Palladium and short spear); https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/C_1937-0708-53 (same specimen as BMCRE 392, with same description); Sear RCV II 4923 (Victory and spear). 18 mm., 3.14 g., 6 h.  Purchased at Nomos Obolos Auction 22, 6 March 2022, Lot 610.

*See Edward A. Sydenham, Historical References on Coins of the Roman Empire (1968 ed.; orig. pub. 1917) at p. 109, explaining that Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus assumed the title of Armeniacus after the defeat of the Parthians and the recovery of Armenia (placing a new vassal on the Armenian throne), a victory achieved in 163 by Statius Priscus while Marcus Aurelius remained in Rome and Lucius Verus, dispatched from Rome in command of the troops, spent the time in Antioch “in luxury and dissipation, relegating the conduct of the war to his generals.”

Marcus Aurelius, AE Sestertius, 173 AD, Rome Mint. Obv. Laureate head right, slight drapery on left shoulder; M ANTONINVS AVG TR P XXVII / Rev. Marcus Aurelius standing left, holding scepter with left hand, and, with his right hand, raising by her right hand a kneeling figure of Italia, wearing a turret and holding a globe with her left hand; [RESTITVTORI ITALIAE] IMP VI COS III [bracketed portion off flan]. RIC III 1078, Sear RCV II 4997, Cohen 538. 30mm, 25.8g. [According to David Sear (see RCV II at p. 315), this coin "commemorates the deliverance of Italy from the threat of barbarian invasion resulting from the emperor's successes in his wars against the Germanic tribes of the Danubian region."] Purchased from Incitatus Coins, June 2020.

Divus Marcus Aurelius, AR Denarius, 180 BCE, Rome Mint. Obv. Bare head right, DIVVS M AN-TONINVS PIVS / Rev. Eagle standing right on globe, head left, wings raised, CONSECRATIO. RIC III 273 (Commodus), RSC II 91 (MA), Sear RCV II 5974 (Commodus), BMCRE 20 (Commodus). 19 mm., 3.32 g. Purchased from Harlan J. Berk, Ltd., 214th Buy or Bid Sale, Dec. 2020, Lot 242.

Link to Vimeo video of coin:

Lucius Verus AR Denarius, Rome Mint AD 165-169 [RSC] / AD 165 [Sear RCV II]. Obv. Laureate head right, L VERVS AVG ARM PARTH MAX / Rev. Captive Parthia, wearing breeches and peaked cap, seated right on ground with hands tied behind back; to right in front of captive, quiver, bow, and shield; TRP V IMP III COS II. 19 mm., 3.26 g. RIC III 540, RSC II 273 (ill. p. 231), Sear RCV II 5358, BMCRE IV 385. Purchased from Savoca 133rd Silver Auction, 15 May 2022, Lot 370.  

Lucius Verus AR Didrachm 161-166 AD, Caesarea, Cappadocia. Obv. Bare head right, ΑΥΤΟΚΡ ΟΥΗΡΟϹ ϹƐΒΑϹΤΟϹ / Rev. Mt. Argaeus (or cult image of same), surmounted by statue of Helios standing three-quarters left with long scepter in left hand and globe in right; flames to left and right on sides of mountain; animal [deer?] bounding left at bottom far left of mountain in front of large rock; tree in front of large rock at bottom far right; smaller rock dotted with trees[?] at bottom center; ΥΠΑ-ΤΟϹ Β [= COS II].  RPC [Roman Provincial Coinage] Online Vol. IV.3 7027 (temp.) [rev. var.] (see https://rpc.ashmus.ox.ac.uk/coins/4/7027); Sydenham 352 [rev. var.] [Sydenham, E., The Coinage of Caesarea in Cappadocia (London 1933)]; Metcalf, Caesarea 131a [rev. var.] [Metcalf, W.E., The Silver Coinage of Cappadocia, Vespasian-Commodus, ANSNNM (American Numismatic Society, Numismatic Notes & Monographs) No. 166 (New York 1996)]; Metcalf Hoard 694-718 & PL 39-40 [rev. var.] [see id.]; SNG von Aulock 6438 [rev. var.] [Sylloge Nummorum Graecorum, Deutschland, Sammlung Hans Von Aulock, Vol. 2: Caria, Lydia, Phrygia, Lycia, Pamphylia (Berlin 1962)]. 20 mm., 6.70 g., 6 h.