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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Marsyas Mike, post: 8190243, member: 85693&quot;]A really spectacular denarius of Marcus Aurelius, [USER=114683]@IMP Shogun[/USER]&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>At the moment I am re-reading a biography of Marcus Aurelius by Frank McLynn that really impresses me.&nbsp; Some of the reviews on Goodreads complain about McLynn&#039;s negativity, but I think he&#039;s <i>reasonably</i> cynical, if opinionated.&nbsp; He gives one of the few plausible explanations for why Aurelius allowed his awful son Commodus to succeed him - he had no choice.&nbsp; If Commodus had been bypassed in the succession, he most surely would have been murdered.&nbsp; One would have to be quite the Stoic to allow your own son to get snuffed out this way.&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/40718609#other_reviews" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/40718609#other_reviews" rel="nofollow">https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/40718609#other_reviews</a></p><p><br /></p><p>Anyway, my latest Marcus Aurelius is a posthumous sestertius, issued by Commodus, showing Marcus ascending to heaven on the back of an eagle (sort of; mine is quite worn):</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1433812[/ATTACH] </p><p><b>Marcus Aurelius&nbsp;&nbsp; Æ Sestertius</b></p><p><b>Posthumous for Commodus</b></p><p><b>(180 A.D.)</b></p><p><b>Rome Mint</b></p><p>DIVVS·M·ANTONINVS PIVS, bare head right / [CONSECRATIO] SC in ex., eagle flying right, grasping thunderbolt, Marcus Aurelius riding on back holding sceptre</p><p>(26.44 grams / 30 x 29 mm)</p><p>eBay Jan. 2022 Ck&nbsp; &nbsp; </p><p><b>Attribution Notes:&nbsp; </b>Obverse legend has M flanked by dots; seems to be common.&nbsp; Reverse SC is in the exergue; Wildwinds notes var., but most online auction descriptions do not note this, or say &quot;across fields&quot; even when in exergue.</p><p>RIC III Commodus 660 var.</p><p>Cohen 94 (Marcus Aurelius);</p><p>BMCRE 395 (Commodus);</p><p>Banti 50 var. (position of S C).</p><p><br /></p><p>Also this month came this as from his Caesar days:</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1433815[/ATTACH]</p><p><b>Marcus Aurelius&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; Æ As</b></p><p><b>(145 A.D.)</b></p><p><b>Rome Mint</b></p><p>AVRELIVS CAESAR AVG PII [F COS] II, bare head right / [HI]L[ARITAS], S C, Hilaritas standing left, holding long palm and cornucopiae.</p><p>RIC III Antoninus Pius 1260 (as)</p><p>BMCRE 1794 (Pius).</p><p>(8.44 grams / 24 mm)</p><p>eBay Jan. 2022 Ck </p><p><b>Attribution Notes: </b></p><p>[COS] II (barely) visible obverse, thus RIC 1260, but note:</p><p>RIC 1236: AVG PII F COS</p><p>RIC 1260: AVG PII F COS II</p><p><br /></p><p>This one&#039;s a bit nicer, another as from his beardless Caesar days, issued by Antoninus Pius:</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1433816[/ATTACH] </p><p><b>Marcus Aurelius&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; Æ As</b></p><p><b>(140-144 A.D.)</b></p><p><b>Rome Mint</b></p><p>AVRELIVS CAESAR AVG PII F COS, bare head right / PIETAS AVG, S C in exergue, sacrificial implements: knife, sprinkler, jug, lituus &amp; simpulum.</p><p>RIC III Antoninus Pius 1240a (as)</p><p>Cohen 455.</p><p>(9.81 grams / 25 mm)</p><p>eBay Dec. 2021[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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