Personified Tiber

490005.

Sold For $3500

Antoninus Pius. AD 138-161. Æ Sestertius (34mm, 27.34 g, 12h). Rome mint. Struck circa AD 141-143. ANTONINVS AVG PI VS P P TR P COS III, laureate head right / TIBERIS, Tiber reclining left on overturned urn from which water flows, right hand resting on boat, cradling reed in left arm; S C in exergue. RIC III 642a; Banti 414. Near EF, attractive brown-green patina.

Ex Gorny & Mosch 129 (8 March 2004), lot 323 (realized € 3500).

Paralleling the celebration of the Ludi Saeculares under Claudius in AD 48, many issues of Antoninus Pius honor the upcoming 900th anniversary of Rome’s founding in AD 148. Motifs such as the personified River Tiber (seen here), the she-wolf suckling the twins, Romulus and Remus, and the affair of Mars with Rhea Silvia are rich in Roman mythology, serving to honor Rome’s fabled past.