Marcus Aurelius as Caesar — Denarius, PIETAS AVG, Rome

Struck at Rome between AD 140 and 144, while Marcus Aurelius was still Caesar. Antoninus Pius had adopted him in 138, and the bare COS of the obverse legend dates the coin to his first consulship in 140. The issuing authority is Pius, the reigning Augustus; the portrait is the heir being prepared to follow him. The bare head is sharply struck and the legend runs complete around it, with a short split in the edge below the bust.

PIETAS AVG expands to Pietas Augusti, the piety of the Augustus. In place of the usual personification the reverse sets out the instruments of Roman public religion in a row: the sacrificial knife, the sprinkler, the jug, the augur's curved staff and the ladle. They record the young Caesar's admission to the priestly colleges, the religious half of an imperial apprenticeship that also ran through the consulship and the title itself. All five implements stand clear and the reverse legend is full.

Attribution: RIC III Antoninus Pius 424aMint: RomeWeight: 3.5 gDiameter: 17.9 mmCatalogued in the NumisLens cabinet — NL-Q8Q2H-K55EX

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