Roman Imperial Portrait Practice in the Second Century AD by Niederhuber Christian;

Author:Niederhuber, Christian; [Niederhuber, Christian]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Oxford University Press USA - OSO
Published: 2022-06-11T00:00:00+00:00

Coins and medallions of ad 139–144 (COS DES and COS)—aged 18–23

The earliest imperial coins with the portrait of Marcus Aurelius on the reverse, the joint issue with Antoninus Pius that was minted in late ad 139 (COS DES) (Fig. 123) and continued in ad 140 (COS) and probably later (Fig. 124), show the prince as a youth with a rounded face and lavish large, protruding curls, deeply engraved on the dies. Frequently, short strands and stray hair, indicated by more shallow incisions, escape the contour of the hair and enliven the flamboyant hairstyle (Fig. 125). The same issues, however, already also show the prince from ad 139 onwards with a more elongated face and a more pronounced chin, best observed on the (in comparison to other denominations) more frequent denarii (Fig. 126). The hairstyle of this more mature portrait does not distinctively change but the contour of the hair appears on some dies to be slightly more uniform (Fig. 127).15

The more mature version of the portrait of the prince continues, with some exceptions, from ad 140 to 144 (COS) on the imperial coins in Marcus Aurelius’ own name with his likeness on the obverse. It has already been observed in previous studies that most of the dies of this period show him still beardless (Figs. 128–9), but some of the latest coin portraits already feature, to a variable degree, a faint beard on the cheeks, the chin, and the upper lip (Fig. 130).16 More precision can be reached here: the years from ad 140 to 144 (COS) feature three main reverse types. No facial hair appears on portraits that are connected with the reverse type ‘Pietas Aug’, which is probably the inaugurative type for the prince, as the occasionally still very youthful physiognomy also suggests (Fig. 131). A faint beard rarely occurs in connection with the reverse type ‘Iuventas’ (Fig. 132) but is frequently found on portraits connected with the reverse type ‘Honos’ (Fig. 130); the iconography of the latter reverse type is carried on into the COS DES II and COS II issues. Clearly, H. Mattingly was right when he suggested that these three reverse types are successive.17

The more mature portrait also appears on the medallions from ad 140–4 (COS), both on the joint issue(s) with Antoninus Pius (Fig. 133) and on the medallions in Marcus’ own name (Fig. 134). All of the pieces published by Gnecchi appear to be beardless.18

Marked (dotted) pupils, giving ‘life’ to the portrait, begin to emerge ad 139–40 and they are soon commonplace on the coins and medallions of Marcus Aurelius.19

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