Antoninus Pius. AD 138-161. Æ Sestertius (33mm, 23.99 g, 11h). British Victory issue. Rome mint. Struck AD 143-144. ANTONINVS AVG PI VS P P TR P COS III, laureate head right / IMPERA TOR II, S C across field, Victory, draped, flying right, holding transverse trophy with both hands. RIC III 717a; Strack 941δ; Banti 178 var. (break in obv. legend); BMCRE 1610. Dark green patina, smoothed. Near EF.
Unlike the restless Hadrian, Antoninus Pius never left Italy and was content to rule from Rome. Only minor flare-ups in northern Britain and north Africa disturbed the general peace. This coin was issued to mark the suppression of the British uprising circa AD 143 by his governor of Britannia, Q. Lollius Urbicus, which led to Antoninus being acclaimed Imperator (victorious general) for the second time (IMPERATOR II). It also occasioned the building of a new wall in turf 80 miles north of Hadrian’s Wall, the so-called Antonine Wall, between the Firth of Clyde and the Firth of Forth. This was the only instance of imperial expansion during the reign of Antoninus, and the new frontier was abandoned shortly after his reign ended.
