Pertinax is an ephemeral emperor who ruled for only 87 days from January 1st to March 28th 193 AD, but he left an important numismatic heritage, both in the imperial and provincial coinage. This new book of 537 pages is largely illustrated in the body of the text, which makes it fluid and pleasant to read , embellished with 96 plates, in a collection that has become essential today. Its catalog contains an inventory of 254 aurei, 1444 denarii, 288 sestertii, 79 dupondii and 96 asses minted using 296 obverse die for the Rome mint, without forgetting the provincial coins of the workshops of Alexandria of Egypt, of Tomis in Lower Moesia and of Prusa ad Olympum (Bithynia). The work is divided into five chapters and seven appendices: The first chapter is devoted to the historical context (p, 20-36) with an overview of the life of Pertinax, and summarize the knowledge that we can have of him. The second chapter, the most important of the work, is devoted to the Rome mint (p. 37-247). It begins with the very imposing catalog (p. 37-154) which contains two issues for the workshop. The third chapter is devoted to the Alexandria workshop (pp. 249-310). The Egyptian mint since the conquest of Augustus in 30 BC almost exclusively struck a Greek-language coinage, except for a few periods of crisis, for example under Vespasian with the appearance of a coinage modeled on the monetary system Roman. This is the case for the very short reign of Pertinax. The last two chapters (IV and V) of the book are much shorter and concern the other two provincial workshops that have minted for Pertinax. The seven appendices contain, among other things, an in-depth analysis of a certain type listed by the RIC and considered by the author as non-existent or invalid. Anyway, a very good reading (sorry only in French) for a modest price of 50 €.
At 50 euros this book is an absolute bargain! Appendix 7 is valuable and interesting: a die catalogue and discussion of the coins of Divus Pertinax struck under Septimius Severus.
