Lucius Verus. AD 161-169. AR Denarius (19mm, 3.22 g, 6h). Rome mint. Struck AD 165. L VERVS AVG ARM PARTH MAX, laureate had right / TR P V IMP III COS II, Parthian captive seated right, with hands bound behind back; quiver, bow, and shield at feet. RIC III 540; MIR 18, 112-14/30; RSC 273. EF, lustrous. Attractive strike with clear legends on each side.
Between AD 162 and 166, Lucius Verus was in the East overseeing the campaign against Parthia, in which the Romans sought to recover their control of Armenia from them. In AD 163, the Roman general Statius Priscus attacked the Parthian forces and quickly destroyed their stronghold of Artaxata. To complete the process, Priscus installed the pro-Roman Sohaemus on the Armenian throne, thereby once again insuring a Roman buffer against the Parthian Empire. For this achievement, Verus received the cognomen Armeniacus, a title granted not because of any command in the field, but as the operation’s commander-in-chief
