Antoninianus (Coin) Portraying Empress Marcia Otacilia Severa (248, issued by Emperor Philip the Arab): Artwork and History

Antoninianus (Coin) Portraying Empress Marcia Otacilia Severa (248, issued by Emperor Philip the Arab) is in the Art Institute of Chicago collection. The museum lists its creator attribution as Roman.

The work and its context

The Art Institute of Chicago describes the work:

The front (obverse) of this coin portrays a bust of Otacilia Severa diademed and facing to the right. The back (reverse) depicts a hippopotomus to the right. This coin was issued to commemorate the Roman Millennium. The lavish birthday celebration featured one thousand gladiators who fought to the death and thousands of exotic animals like this hippopotamus, native to Egypt. Supplying the Romans with African animals for the games was a flourishing business.

Object facts

• Title: Antoninianus (Coin) Portraying Empress Marcia Otacilia Severa
• Date: 248, issued by Emperor Philip the Arab
• Artist attribution: Roman
• Place of origin: Rome
• Medium: Silver
• Dimensions: Diam.: 2.3 cm (15/16 in.)
• Type: Coin
• Department: Arts of Greece, Rome, and Byzantium
• Reference number: 1922.4898

Collection credit

Gift of Martin A. Ryerson

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The description above is credited to the Art Institute of Chicago and reused under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0; HTML formatting has been converted to plain text. Other catalogue metadata and the public-domain image are provided under CC0 1.0.