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<p>[QUOTE="Limes, post: 3831299, member: 101013"]Emperor Marcus Aurelius was part of the so called ‘five good emperors’ (Nerva, Trajan, Hadrian, Antoninus Pius, and Marcus Aurelius), or ‘adoptive emperors’ (idem) or ‘the antonines’ (Antoninus Pius, Marcus Aurelius, Lucius Verus and Commodus). The era ended when Marcus Aurelius appointed his son, Commodus, as his heir.</p><p><br /></p><p>Marcus Aurelius was, together with Lucius Verus, the successor of Antoninus Pius. Under the reign of Antoninus Pius, the Roman Empire experienced its most peaceful and prosporus period in history. By the time Marcus Aurelius was to ascend the throne, he was 40 years old. Marcus Aurelius was to be known as a philosofical and gentle emperor. Despite his charactaristics, it would become his destiny to be consumed with frontier warfare and other devestating occurences such as the outbreak of the plague which was brought back to Roman territory by the army that fought the Parthians.</p><p><br /></p><p>The denarius shown below is one of the many, many coins struck under Marcus Aurelius commemorating the various frontier wars in the East against the Parthians and the North - the Marcomannic Wars. This specific type celebrates the victory over the Parthian empire. There are several interesting - and desirable ! - coins struck in these ‘warfare’ series, bronze, silver and gold issues of both Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus. The coins with ‘vic par’ reverse, written on a shield held by Victory, is a well known type of course. Other types display bound captives, such as mine, or display the (re)-installation of Sohaemus as king of Armenia (struck under Antoninus Pius, and Lucius Verus (aureus, sestertius) for example).</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1018443[/ATTACH] </p><p><br /></p><p>About the war itself, it started just after the death of Antoninus Pius with the invasion of Armenia by Vologases IV of Parthia, in 161 AD. In response to the invasion of Armenia and following raids into Syria by the Parthian army, Lucius Verus headed east while Marcus Aurelius stayed in Rome. Either a dandy and charmer, or hardened wartime soldier-emperor (or somewhere in between), Lucius Verus (well, his generals of course), defeated the Partians in Armenia, reinstalled the Roman puppet Armenian king Sohaemus, and furthermore sacked the capital of the Parthian empire in 165 AD. For their efforts, Lucius Verus and Marcus Aurelius were given the honorary title ‘ARMENIACVS’, conqueror of Armenia, and hailed imperator.</p><p><br /></p><p>The - somewhat scarce - dupondius below refers to the wars on the northern frontier. The coin has been in my possession for quite some time now, and it finally has a wartime buddy in the form of the denarius shown above. This coin mentions (well, almost unreadable, but they are there!) the honorary titles ‘GERM’ and ‘SARM’: Germanicus and Sarmaticus. Again, Marcus Aurelius, was confronted with various wars with different northern tribes such as the Germanic Marcomanni, Quadi and the Sarmatian lazyges. The different struggles lasted from 166 AD - 180 AD and resulted in different Roman defeats and victories, peace treaties and agreements (which are, of course, meant to be broken), and the settlement of different Germanic peoples on Roman, or near Roman territory. Marcus Aurelius did not live long enough to see the end of the last of the campaings (against the Quadi), in 180 AD. Commodus negiotated a peace treaty with the Quadi and celebrated a triumph in October 180 AD. </p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1018444[/ATTACH] </p><p><br /></p><p>Please post your Marcus Aurelius warfare coin(s)![/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>
[QUOTE="Limes, post: 3831299, member: 101013"]Emperor Marcus Aurelius was part of the so called ‘five good emperors’ (Nerva, Trajan, Hadrian, Antoninus Pius, and Marcus Aurelius), or ‘adoptive emperors’ (idem) or ‘the antonines’ (Antoninus Pius, Marcus Aurelius, Lucius Verus and Commodus). The era ended when Marcus Aurelius appointed his son, Commodus, as his heir. Marcus Aurelius was, together with Lucius Verus, the successor of Antoninus Pius. Under the reign of Antoninus Pius, the Roman Empire experienced its most peaceful and prosporus period in history. By the time Marcus Aurelius was to ascend the throne, he was 40 years old. Marcus Aurelius was to be known as a philosofical and gentle emperor. Despite his charactaristics, it would become his destiny to be consumed with frontier warfare and other devestating occurences such as the outbreak of the plague which was brought back to Roman territory by the army that fought the Parthians. The denarius shown below is one of the many, many coins struck under Marcus Aurelius commemorating the various frontier wars in the East against the Parthians and the North - the Marcomannic Wars. This specific type celebrates the victory over the Parthian empire. There are several interesting - and desirable ! - coins struck in these ‘warfare’ series, bronze, silver and gold issues of both Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus. The coins with ‘vic par’ reverse, written on a shield held by Victory, is a well known type of course. Other types display bound captives, such as mine, or display the (re)-installation of Sohaemus as king of Armenia (struck under Antoninus Pius, and Lucius Verus (aureus, sestertius) for example). [ATTACH=full]1018443[/ATTACH] About the war itself, it started just after the death of Antoninus Pius with the invasion of Armenia by Vologases IV of Parthia, in 161 AD. In response to the invasion of Armenia and following raids into Syria by the Parthian army, Lucius Verus headed east while Marcus Aurelius stayed in Rome. Either a dandy and charmer, or hardened wartime soldier-emperor (or somewhere in between), Lucius Verus (well, his generals of course), defeated the Partians in Armenia, reinstalled the Roman puppet Armenian king Sohaemus, and furthermore sacked the capital of the Parthian empire in 165 AD. For their efforts, Lucius Verus and Marcus Aurelius were given the honorary title ‘ARMENIACVS’, conqueror of Armenia, and hailed imperator. The - somewhat scarce - dupondius below refers to the wars on the northern frontier. The coin has been in my possession for quite some time now, and it finally has a wartime buddy in the form of the denarius shown above. This coin mentions (well, almost unreadable, but they are there!) the honorary titles ‘GERM’ and ‘SARM’: Germanicus and Sarmaticus. Again, Marcus Aurelius, was confronted with various wars with different northern tribes such as the Germanic Marcomanni, Quadi and the Sarmatian lazyges. The different struggles lasted from 166 AD - 180 AD and resulted in different Roman defeats and victories, peace treaties and agreements (which are, of course, meant to be broken), and the settlement of different Germanic peoples on Roman, or near Roman territory. Marcus Aurelius did not live long enough to see the end of the last of the campaings (against the Quadi), in 180 AD. Commodus negiotated a peace treaty with the Quadi and celebrated a triumph in October 180 AD. [ATTACH=full]1018444[/ATTACH] Please post your Marcus Aurelius warfare coin(s)![/QUOTE]
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Marcus Aurelius, the conqueror and destroyer of peoples... but not by choice
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