Aureus (Coin) Portraying Emperor Antoninus Pius (145-161, issued by Antoninus Pius): Artwork and History

Aureus (Coin) Portraying Emperor Antoninus Pius (145-161, issued by Antoninus Pius) is in the Art Institute of Chicago collection. The museum lists its creator attribution as Roman, minted in Rome.

The work and its context

The Art Institute of Chicago describes the work:

The front (obverse) of this coin portrays the bust of Antoninus Pius right, bareheaded, wearing a cuirass (body armor) and paludamentum (military cloak). The back (reverse) depicts the goddess Roma seated facing left, holding Palladium (an ancient image of the goddess Pallas Athena) and spear, with a shield at side.

Object facts

• Title: Aureus (Coin) Portraying Emperor Antoninus Pius
• Date: 145-161, issued by Antoninus Pius
• Artist attribution: Roman, minted in Rome
• Place of origin: Rome
• Medium: Gold
• Dimensions: Diam.: 2 cm (13/16 in.)
• Type: Coin
• Department: Arts of Greece, Rome, and Byzantium
• Reference number: 1922.4875

Collection credit

Gift of Martin A. Ryerson

View the original

Explore the artwork in the Art Institute's collection, including its image and the museum's current catalogue details.

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.