AR Denarius

Struck: A.D. 179
Mint: Rome
Size: 19mm
Weight: 3.46g
Die Axis: 0°
Grade: VF
Ref: RIC III 402

Obv: M AVREL ANTONINVS AVG. Laureate head right.
Rev: TR P XXXIII IMP X COS III P P. Fortuna seated left, holding rudder and cornucopia, wheel under chair.
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Marcus Aurelius Antoninus was Roman Emperor from 161 to 180. After Hadrian's death, Antoninus Pius approached Marcus and requested that his marriage arrangements to Ceionia Fabia be annulled, and that he be betrothed to Faustina, Antoninus' daughter. In April 145, Marcus married Faustina, and since he was, by adoption, Pius' son, under Roman law he was marrying his sister. Pius would have had to formally release one or the other from his paternal authority for the ceremony to take place. Little is specifically known of the ceremony, but it is said to have been "noteworthy".

After the death of Antoninus Pius, Marcus effectively became sole ruler of the Empire and was to be confirmed as such by the senate. However, Marcus refused to take office unless his son-in-law Lucius Verus received equal powers. He ruled with Lucius Verus as co-emperor until Verus' death in 169. During his reign, the empire defeated a revitalized Parthian Empire; Aurelius' general Avidius Cassius sacked the capital Ctesiphon in 164. Aurelius fought the Marcomanni, Quadi, and Sarmatians with success during the Marcomannic Wars, but the threat of the Germanic tribes began to represent a troubling reality for the empire. A revolt in the east led by Avidius Cassius failed to gain momentum and was suppressed immediately.

He was the last of the so called "Five Good Emperors", and is also considered one of the most important Stoic philosophers. His work Meditations, written in Greek while on campaign between 170 and 180, is still revered as a literary monument to a philosophy of service and duty, describing how to find and preserve equanimity in the midst of conflict by following nature as a source of guidance and inspiration. The meditations serve as an example of how Aurelius symbolized much of what was best about Roman civilization. Marcus Aurelius died on 17 March 180, in Vindobona (modern Vienna). He was immediately deified and his ashes were returned to Rome, and placed in Hadrian's mausoleum.