Featured ANTONINVS before he was PIVS

The virtue of Pietas, religious or filial devotion, was one of great importance to the ancient Romans, and Pius was a cognomen reserved for those who could demonstrate that they had it by the bucketloads. Antoninus Pius was one of those guys, and he so burnished the idea that a good ruler should also embody this virtue that even sociopathic and fruitcake emperors like Caracalla and Elagabalus would, decades later, take his name in wholesale fashion for their own, patently false advertising be damned.

But, Antoninus wasn't always called Pius. We know this because the earliest coins struck in his name as emperor made no mention of his PIVS-ness at all. On these rare issues, struck in the weeks following Hadrian's death on 10 July 138, he is either simply IMP ANTONINVS AVGVSTVS, IMP T AEL CAES ANTONINVS AVG, or IMP CAES AEL ANTONINVS AVG.

The story goes that Antoninus, not even six months into his job as Caesar, was with Hadrian when the latter died at his villa in the seaside town of Baiae, over a hundred miles south of Rome. In the city, talk was that the Senate was gleefully planning to not only refuse the hated Hadrian the traditional deification, but were also intending to annul his acts as emperor. However, our man Antoninus, principled and pius to a fault, was not having any of it. Upon his return to Rome, he insisted that the senators reconsider their position, stating that if they were to annul Hadrian's enactments, they would then also be obliged to annul his own adoption and succession as emperor. The Senate pragmatically decided to back down, and with that, Antoninus secured for Hadrian his divinity, and earned for himself the name Pius. On the very next issue of his coins, and forever more thereafter, he would be... The PIVS One.

A-Pi's AD 138 coins as Augustus from the early two issues without PIVS are all relatively rare. This one has a reverse type that was not recorded in RIC, and the Reka Devnia hoard contained no examples. I've always been quite intrigued by Pius's early coins, and didn't have one of these, so I was pretty pleased when this one unexpectedly turned up in a small group lot I bought earlier this month. As always, if you have 'em (and I know there are a couple of members here who specialize in A-Pi's coinage), please show 'em!


ANTONINUS PIUS
AR Denarius. 3.02g, 18.1mm. Rome mint, July AD 138. RIC III -; BMCRE pg 2, *; RSC 659a. O: IMP CAES AEL ANTONINVS AVG, bare head right. R: PONT MAX TR POT COS, Felicitas standing left, holding caduceus and cornucopiae.
Ex Phil Peck Collection
Notes: Rare. Not in RIC; none found in the Reka Devnia hoard.

 

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Thanks for the writeup, Z! You have a knack for packaging information into engaging and fully digestible mouthfuls .

Sharp coin, fantastic portrait, great photos .

There are some Alexandrian coins of his which do not specify Pius but the lack of that title doesn't have the same significance as it does for his imperials.

 

Very interesting coin and essay, @zumbly ! Superb portrait—Antoninus Pius was a handsome man. Anyway, here’s my provincial.

 

Great coin Z. I like A-Pi coins and yours is a special one for all the reasons you highlight in your great write up.

 

The part I find interesting is the progression of titles during that first year. I assume that these first AVG on obverse coins were issued without the consent of Pius. After the rare coin Z showed, Pius issued coins lacking the title AVG

followed by a series with it on the reverse (but not obverse) at the same time adding PIVS. This last coin dates to the end of the year with COS DES II indicating his intent to assume a second Consulship on New Year's.


Great coin, zumbly.

 

very interesting Z ..

 

Interesting & informative write-up. I have two denarii and a sestertius from the pre-PIVS era. I can't find photos of the silver, but here's the sestertius - as lousy as it is, I was pleased to get such an early one, as they do indeed seem to be a bit scarce:



Antoninus Pius Æ Sestertius
(138 A.D.)
Rome Mint
[IMP CAES] AELIVS ANTONINVS AVG, bare head right / [PONT MAX TR POT COS] S [C], Pax standing left, holding branch & cornucopiae.
RIC 519a; Cohen 660.
(23.22 grams / 30 mm)

 

Great find, Z, I would love to have one of those!

I always thought this coin was simply an issue as Caesar under Hadrian, but @dougsmit above suggests his similar coin was actually issued when he was Augustus? I'm confused...

 

I think Curtis Clay sums it up nicely below (quoted from an old Forvm thread):

"Antoninus was with Hadrian when he died at Baiae on 10 July 138. The Senate intended to condemn Hadrian, and it was this anti-Hadrianic feeling which dictated the total elimination of all of Hadrian's names from Antoninus' first legend as Augustus, IMP ANTONINVS AVGVSTVS.
Antoninus, however, intended to have Hadrian consecrated. Either upon reconsideration, or as a result of communication from the emperor, Hadrian's gentile name Aelius was reintroduced into Antoninus' second and third obv. legends.
When Antoninus, escorting Hadrian's body, reached Rome one or two weeks after Hadrian's death, he will have obliged the Senate to stop equivocating and consecrate Hadrian, thereby earning the title Pius. So his fourth obv. legend included this new title, and also HADRI."

So, as I understand it, the suggestion is that the very first issue was issued without Pius's input, and possibly even the next ones which introduced AEL to the legends.

If you follow the progression of obverse legends for A-Pi's silver coins provided by Mattingly in BMCRE, yours and Doug's were issued when he was Caesar. This is the sequence of AD 138 obverse legends, together with the reverse ones, where yours falls into Issue 1 as Caesar -

AS CAESAR (25 Feb - 10 Jul 138) :

Issue 1
IMP T AEL CAES ANTONINVS / P M TR POT COS
IMP T AEL CAES HADR ANTONINVS / P M TR POT COS
IMP T AEL CAES HADR ANTONINVS / TRIB POT COS

Issue 2
IMP T AEL CAES ANTONINVS / TRIB POT COS DES II


AS AUGUSTUS (from 10 July 138) :

Issue 1
IMP ANTONINVS AVGVSTVS / TRIB POT COS DES II

Issue 2
IMP ANTONINVS AVGVSTVS / TRIB POT COS

Issue 3
IMP T AEL CAES ANTONINVS AVG / PONT MAX TR POT COS
IMP CAES AEL ANTONINVS AVG / PONT MAX TR POT COS

Issue 4
IMP CAES AEL ANTONINVS AVG PIVS / PONT MAX TR POT COS

Issue 5
IMP CAES T AEL HADRI ANTONINVS AVG PIVS / PONT MAX TR POT COS

Issue 6
IMP T AEL CAES HADR(I) ANTONINVS / AVG PIVS P M TR P COS DES II

Here's mine :


ANTONINUS PIUS, as Caesar
AR Denarius. 2.91g, 20.8mm. Rome mint, AD 138. RIC 447a (Hadrian). O: IMP T AEL CAES ANTONINVS, bare head right. R: TRIB POT COS, Diana standing right, holding bow and arrow.
Ex Archer M. Huntington Collection, previously held by the American Numismatic Society (1001.57.4904)

Here's another AD 138 issue, Issue 6 as Augustus, like Doug's second coin, with AVG PIVS on the reverse :


ANTONINUS PIUS
AR Denarius. 3.2g, 19.5mm. Rome mint, AD 138. RIC 9 var. (rev legend). O: IMP T AEL CAES HADRI ANTONINVS, bare head right. R: AVG PIVS P M TR P COS DE (sic!) II, Minerva standing left, holding Victory in her right hand and shield with her left; spear leaning on her left arm.

 

Nice one, Mike (the head is laureate, btw). I'd love to see your denarii, when you manage to get your pictures of them.

 

Very informative thread, @zumbly , and very deserving of a feature. Lovely coins, too, I might add!

 

Excellent thread Zumbly, and although I have no early issues of Antoninus Pius before he became Pius, I have developed a great fondness for his coins and hope to add some of the early issues next year.

 

Help.

I am not sure how mine falls into the progression of titles.

I do not see AVG (maybe on the reverse) nor PIVS. I do see CAES...


RI Antoninus Pius 138-161 BCE AR Denarius
Diana standing right, holding bow and arrow.
IMP T AEL CAES HADR ANTONINVS / AVG PIVS P M TR P COS DES II

 

Brian, yours is from Issue 6 as Augustus. The legends are:

IMP T AEL CAES HADR ANTONINVS / AVG PIVS P M TR P COS DES II

 

Thank you, thank you!

I was deceived by the obverse CAES and missed the ‘P’ in PIVS on the reverse. I appreciate it! (The Denarius is locked up, and do not have it in hand...)

 

First of all, zumbly, thanks so much for the correction to my attribution - laureate it is! I looked over my notes - I cut-n-paste for my attributions and it appears Wildwinds has an oops on this one. RIC 519b is bare-headed. 519a is laureate.

As for my pre-PIVS Antoninus Pius denarii, it turns out, I was wrong about these - they both have PIVS, but on the reverse! My apologies about over-selling my collection! They are both fairly early, with the AEL/HAD legends.



Antoninus Pius Denarius
(138-139 A.D.)
Rome Mint
IMP T AEL CAES HADRI ANTONINVS, bare head right / AVG PIVS P M T R P COS
DES II, Aequitas standing left holding scales & cornucopiae.
RIC 10; RSC 78; Sear 4053.
(3.31 grams / 18 mm)

Somebody didn't like this one and carved it up:



Antoninus Pius Denarius
(139 A.D.)
Rome Mint
IMP T AEL CAES HADR ANTONINVS, bare head right / [AVG PIVS P M TRP COS II (PP?)], Victory advancing right, holding wreath and palm.
RIC 25 (no PP) or RIC 36 (PP)
(2.55 grams / 18 mm)

 

Zumbly, Your coin cannot be found in RIC (nr 4) as RIC is wrong in the description! They took over what Cohen wrote and that was incorrect (btw there are many mistakes in RIC). Your coin is still lacking in my collection, but I do have a variant of it with IMP T AEL CAES.

 

The RIC 9 variant with celator's error DE instead of DES can also be found in my collection; there must be at least two now! Same reverse die, as was to be expected!

 

Nice! I've personally always liked the bare head portraits better. A-Pi on the second one looks pretty upset about those vicious scratches!

Ah, so RIC 4 is wrong on the obverse legend and bust type. Thanks for pointing that out, and thanks for sharing those excellent examples.

 

I am reviving this thread because it is a good thread and because I just got a sestertius of Antoninus Pius as Caesar (pre "PIVS" era).

Lately I've noticed European eBay auctions often don't bother attributing low grade ancients, and sometimes scarce material come up, ugly but cheap. This auction was titled "Monnaie Romaine Sesterce à identifier" and came from France (shipping time, July 4 to July 25 to Midwest USA - not bad!).

Despite the wear, I am quite fond of this one - nice smooth mellow brass surfaces and a top-notch bare-headed portrait. Portraits of Antoninus Pius did not really evolve much, compared to other emperors - this looks pretty much like he does throughout his reign.



Antoninus Pius Æ Sestertius
(138 A.D.) as Caesar
Rome Mint
IMP T AELIVS CAE[SAR ANTONINVS], bare head right / TR[IB POT COS], S-C, PIETAS in exergue, Pietas standing right raising hand and holding incense
box over altar.
RIC II.3 2747 (RIC 1082).
(22.57 grams / 29 x 27 mm)

The one I posted above is early, but not Caesar - it still had the AELIVS and CAES but no PIVS and an AVG. Here is what might be a slightly better photo:



Antoninus Pius Æ Sestertius
(138 A.D.)
Rome Mint
[IMP CAES] AELIVS ANTONINVS AVG, laureate head right / [PONT MAX TR POT COS] S [C], Pax standing left holding branch and cornucopiae.
RIC 519a; Cohen 660.
(23.22 grams / 30 mm)

Please share your early APs. I like looking at 'em.