Temple of Venus and Roma

253, Lot: 332. Estimate $150. Sold for $280. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

Antoninus Pius. AD 138-161. Æ Sestertius (32mm, 23.76 g, 10h). Rome mint. Struck circa AD 141-143. Laureate head right / Decastyle temple, with statues on roof and in pediment. RIC II 622. Good Fine, glossy green patina, smoothing.

The great temple of Venus and Roma was actually composed of two temples back to back. The temple of Venus faced the Flavian ampitheatre and that of Rome overlooked the Forum - both were designed by Hadrian himself. Construction began in 121 AD and and remained unfinished on the emperor’s death in 138 AD. Work was at last completed in 141 AD under Antoninus Pius, the event commemorated on this coin. The temple would be destroyed by fire in 307 and later rebuilt by Maxentius, the remains of which can still be seen in Rome today.