Gold Aureus of Lucius Verus, 7.45 g.
Title
Gold Aureus of Lucius Verus, 7.45 g.
Creator
Lucius Verus
Date
165 CE
Description
Obverse: Laureate head of Lucius Verus facing right; L(VCIVS) VERVS AVG(VSTVS) ARM(ENIACVS) PARTH(ICVS) MAX(IMVS): Lucius Verus Augustus, restorer of Armenia, great conqueror of the Parthians.
Reverse: Emperor on horseback facing right, thrusting spear at fallen enemy; TR(IBVNICIA) P(OTESTATE) V IMP(ERATOR) III CO(N)S(VL) II: with tribunician power for the fifth time, imperator for the third time, consul for the second time.
Style/Period: Roman Empire
Lucius Verus was co-regent with Marcus Aurelius from 161 CE until 169 CE. He was in charge of military campaigns in the East during the years 163-166 CE. This coin celebrates the Armenian and Parthian victories during that period. For this military activity he, along with Marcus Aurelius, bears the titles Armeniacus and Parthicus (see 91.177).
The obverse portrait is related to a sculpted portrait type of Verus. The type resembles that of his adoptive father, Antoninus, and brother, Marcus Aurelius, in its curly hair and beard, but Verus has a hooked nose, a considerably lower brow, and he lacks the upward gaze and inspired look of Aurelius.
The reverse illustration of the emperor on horseback over a fallen enemy (here either Parthian or Armenian) is a common type. This is the numismatic equivalent of the imperatorial equestrian statue, of which the only extant example is the famous equestrian statue of Marcus Aurelius (see 91.179). Today the statue lacks the trampled barbarian (the equivalent of the fallen warrior on this coin) that would originally have been under the horse's right front leg.
-- Malcolm Pettingell Hyman, LU '93
Bibliography: H. Mattingly and E.A. Sydenham, The Roman Imperial Coinage III: Antoninus Pius to Commodus (London 1930) 545.
The obverse portrait is related to a sculpted portrait type of Verus. The type resembles that of his adoptive father, Antoninus, and brother, Marcus Aurelius, in its curly hair and beard, but Verus has a hooked nose, a considerably lower brow, and he lacks the upward gaze and inspired look of Aurelius.
The reverse illustration of the emperor on horseback over a fallen enemy (here either Parthian or Armenian) is a common type. This is the numismatic equivalent of the imperatorial equestrian statue, of which the only extant example is the famous equestrian statue of Marcus Aurelius (see 91.179). Today the statue lacks the trampled barbarian (the equivalent of the fallen warrior on this coin) that would originally have been under the horse's right front leg.
-- Malcolm Pettingell Hyman, LU '93
Bibliography: H. Mattingly and E.A. Sydenham, The Roman Imperial Coinage III: Antoninus Pius to Commodus (London 1930) 545.
Source
Former collection of Ottilia Buerger. Purchased from Coin Galleries, December 12, 1959.
Identifier
91.184
Rights
Wriston Art Center Galleries, Lawrence University, Appleton, WI,wriston-gallery@lawrence.edu,920-832-6890
Subject
Roman, Empire, Lucius Verus, horse, spear, enemy, battle
Files
Citation
Lucius Verus, “Gold Aureus of Lucius Verus, 7.45 g.,” Lawrence University Classics Department & Ottilia Buerger Coin Collections, accessed November 5, 2026, https://thor.lawrence.edu/omeka/buerger/items/show/292.