Collecting all the roman emperors

Thank you for pointing this out.

 

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I used the Zander Kawalas (sp) list of emperors and worked from there. One needs to have goals and some limits. I know that my way collecting does not please the purists, but I seldom have. I love history and variety. That does not please some. So be it.

 

I’m trying to get a denarius from each of the “Five Good Emperors” referenced by Edward Gibbon.

Trajan, Hadrian, Nerva, Marcus Aurelius & Antoninus Pius.

Hopefully I can expand from there as there are SO many emperors. Sometimes four in a year!

 

Amazing collection! Very impressive!

I wonder what a full collection of denarii for every emperor would look like?

I read that due to constant debasement they went from nearly pure silver to less than 5% silver.

It would be interesting to see the slow debasement in a collection of denarii.

But sestercii are cool too! They are bigger and can have larger portraits and more details.

Great job!

 

That is an interesting list of “good emperors” although it leaves off a few names. You might consider Caesar Augustus, Vespasian, Diocletian and Constantine I to name a few. Julius Caesar, despite the fact that he ended the Roman Republic, would be another. None of these guys were saints. To hold power, you had to be ready to liquidate you opponents. “Nice guys finish last,” was a good phrase to describe most of Roman history.

It is also interesting to note that there were six emperors in the year 238. Two of the six, Maximianus Thrax and Gordian III, are fairly easy to get. Two others, Balbinus and Pupienus, are tough. Gordian I and Gordian II are very expense and pretty much beyond the reach of most collectors. I have written article about this topic, and have had it approved for publication this summer.

 

Amazing attempts at getting them all @wittwolf (and welcome to the boards) and @Julius Germanicus

Q

 

That's a good goal, to be sure, but I've advocated Mary Beard's "Fourteen Emperors." This is a set that is easier to acquire than Suetonius' Twelve Caesars but more challenging than Gibbon's Five Good Emperors. Moreover, instead of including emperors whose reign was too short to have made any meaningful affect on the course of history (yeah, I'm talking about you, Otho), her list of emperors is limited to the movers and shakers of the first and second centuries. My only beef with her list is that it doesn't go past Commodus. But if you're going to let a history book define your collecting focus, I think Mary Beard's list is a good one.

Here are denarii of the five goodies:


Nerva, AD 96-98.
Roman AR denarius, 3.37 g, 16.6 mm, 7 h.
Rome, AD 97.
Obv: IMP NERVA CAES AVG P M TR POT, laureate head, right.
Rev: COS III PATER PATRIAE, Priestly implements (simpulum, aspergillum, jug, lituus).
Refs: RIC 24, BMCRE 33-35; Cohen 48; RCV 3023; CBN 24.


Trajan, AD 98-117.
Roman AR denarius, 2.92 gm, 20.1 mm, 7 h.
Rome, AD 114-117.
Obv: IMP CAES NER TRAIANO OPTIMO AVG GER DAC, laureate and draped bust, right.
Rev: P M TR P COS VI P P S P Q R, Mars walking right with spear and trophy.
Refs: RIC 337; BMCRE 536; Cohen 270; RCV --; Woytek 520v; Strack 230; BN 819.


Hadrian, AD 117-138.
Roman AR denarius, 3.44 g, 17.5 mm, 7:00.
Rome, AD 121.
Obv: IMP CAESAR TRAIAN HADRIANVS AVG, laureate bust right, slight drapery on far shoulder.
Rev: P M TR P COS III, Fortuna standing left, holding rudder and cornucopiae and resting on column.
Refs: RIC 86b; BMCRE 170; RSC 1155; UCR 206; RCV 3521.


Antoninus Pius, AD 138-161.
Roman AR denarius, 3.15 g, 18.1 mm, 11 h.
Rome, December, AD 160- March, AD 161.
Obv: ANTONINVS AVG PIVS P P TR P XXIIII, laureate head, right.
Rev: PIETATI AVG COS IIII, Faustina II (as Pietas) standing left, holding a child on each arm; at each side of her, a child standing looking towards her and raising hand.
Refs: RIC 313c; BMCRE 1013-14; Cohen 631; Strack 384; RCV 4098.


Marcus Aurelius, AD 161-180.
Roman AR denarius, 3.53 g, 17.4 mm, 1 h.
Rome, AD 169.
Obv: M ANTONINVS AVG TR P XXIII, laureate head right.
Rev: LIBERAL AVG V COS III, Liberalitas standing left, holding abacus and cornucopiae.
Refs: RIC 206; BMCRE 492; Cohen 412; RCV 4914; MIR 181.