Aureus (Coin) Portraying Emperor Gordian III (239 (late July-December), issued by Gordian III): Artwork and History

Aureus (Coin) Portraying Emperor Gordian III (239 (late July-December), issued by Gordian III) 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 profile head of Emperor Gordian III facing right, laureate, wearing a cuirass (body armor) and paludamentum (military cloak). On the back (reverse), Victory walks left, a wreath in her right hand, and a palm branch over left shoulder.

Object facts

• Title: Aureus (Coin) Portraying Emperor Gordian III
• Date: 239 (late July-December), issued by Gordian III
• 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: 1922.4896

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.