AR Denarius, A.D. 139, Rome, 18.6mm, 3.00g, 180°, RIC III 23.
Obv: IMP T AEL CAES HADR ANTONINVS. Bare head right.
Rev: AVG PIVS PM TR P COS II. Pax standing left, olive branch in right, cornucopia in left.
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Titus Aelius Hadrianus Antoninus Augustus Pius was Roman Emperor from 138 to 161. He was a member of the Nerva-Antonine dynasty and the Aurelii. He served in the offices of quaestor and praetor, and obtained the consulship in 120. He acquired much favor with the Emperor Hadrian, who adopted him as his son and successor on 25 February 138, after the death of his first adopted son Lucius Aelius. Antoninus did not possess the sobriquet "Pius" until after his accession. Earned either because he compelled the Senate to deify his adoptive father Hadrian or as the Historia Augusta suggests, by saving senators sentenced to death by Hadrian.

No records exist of any military actions in which Antoninus directly participated. In fact, he ruled over the most peaceful period of the entire Principate. There were some disturbances in the empire but they were minor and handled by the legionary generals. Antoninus was virtually unique among emperors in that he dealt with these crises without leaving Italy once during his reign, but instead dealt with provincial matters of war and peace through their governors. This style of government was highly praised by his contemporaries and by later generations.

Antoninus took a great interest in the revision and practice of law during his reign. Enacting several major reforms including measures to facilitate the enfranchisement of slaves and the important and familiar principle that the accused are not to be treated as guilty before a trial.

After the longest reign since Augustus, Antoninus died of fever at Lorium in Etruria, about twelve miles from Rome, on 7 March 161, He gave the keynote to his life in the last word that he uttered when the tribune of the night-watch came to ask the password—"aequanimitas" (equanimity). His body was placed in Hadrian's mausoleum, a column was dedicated to him on the Campus Martius, and the temple he had built in the Forum to his deified wife Faustina was rededicated to the both Faustina and the deified Antoninus.