Lucius Verus, A.D. 162

Lucius Aurelius Verus was born in A.D. 130 as Lucius Ceionius Commodus. His father, Lucius Aelius, had been adopted by Hadrian in A.D. 136, but died in 138 before ever becoming emperor, leaving Antoninus Pius to take his place. Hadrian, being concerned about succession insisted that Antoninus Pius immediately adopt both Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus as his heirs.

Lucius Verus was only eight at the time and was portrayed in portraits (fig. 11) as a boy with an oval face, narrow, deep-set eyes, straight eyebrows, and a full head of curly hair.2 Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus became the first two co-emperors of Rome when Antoninus Pius died in A.D. 161. Concordia in their “family” was further strengthened when Verus married Lucilla, the daughter of Marcus, in the same year. The adult portraiture of Lucius Verus did not change dramatically from his childhood depictions; he was still shown with an oval face, narrow eyes, and straight brows (fig. 23). He was also depicted with a long hooked nose and rounded lips, traits that can be seen in this aureus. Although Lucius Verus and Marcus Aurelius were not related, they did share some characteristic features (fig. 34). Both had intense expressions, rather long beards and a full head of curly, tousled locks. Lucius, who was ten years younger than Marcus, was distinguished through his curly hair lying low and straight across his forehead.5 Lucius Verus died in A.D. 169 while returning to Rome from a military campaign on the Danube with Marcus Aurelius.

Figure 1: Young Lucius Verus.

Figure 2: Adult Lucius Verus.

Figure 3: Adult Marcus Aurelius.

The aureus of Lucius Verus in the University of Virginia Art Museum shows a detailed portrait of Lucius Verus facing right, with a bare head and a bare shoulder on the obverse.6 A large hooked nose, round lips, and a distinctive hairstyle are features that can be compared to those found on his sculptural portraits. He is almost completely surrounded by an inscription of his name and title: Emperor Caesar Lucius Aurelius Verus Augustus.

On the reverse are two bearded, draped figures facing each other and shaking right hands. The two individuals can be interpreted as the co-emporors Lucius Verus and Marcus Aurelius. The identification is strengthened by the legend, which emphasizes that there are two emperors celebrating their Concordia together. Fortunately, the coin can be dated to A.D. 162 thanks to the inscription in the exergue indicating that Lucius Verus was the consul for the second time in that year. The figure on the left, shown in profile, faces to the right and appears to either be raising his left hand or holding something in it. The figure on the right faces to the left and is shown with a profile head and frontal body. He is clearly holding a scroll in his left hand. The mark between the heads of the two men can be ignored, as it is due to damage and not meant to represent anything. Comparing this scene to that of several bronze coins of Lucius Verus in the Hunter Coin Cabinet (figs. 47 and 58) reveals that the figure on the left was also holding a scroll in his left hand. The coins of Marcus Aurelius sometimes depicted the same scene on the reverse, as can be seen on bronze coins from the Hunter Coin Cabinet (fig. 69).

Figure 4: Bronze Coin of Lucius Verus and detail of reverse.

Figure 5: Bronze Coin of Lucius Verus and detail of reverse.

Figure 6: Bronze Coin of Marcus Aurelius.

Marcus Aurelius was older and had held higher offices than Lucius Verus. For example, Marcus was Pontifex Maximus, while Lucius was simply pontifex. The taller figure on the right side of the coin, therefore, can likely be identified as Marcus Aurelius, and the shorter figure as Lucius Verus. Another bronze coin in the Hunter Coin Cabinet (fig. 710) depicting a cuirassed Lucius Verus on the obverse and the same Concordia scene on the reverse, proves this assignment to be correct. Being larger and more carefully carved, the actual features of the two men can be carefully picked out, including the straighter line of hair across the forehead of Lucius Verus and his hooked nose.

Figure 7: Bronze Coin of Lucius Verus and detail of reverse.

In conclusion, the aureus from the University of Virginia is a valuable example of Antonine numismatic portraiture and traditions. It demonstrates the typical traits of Lucius Verus, including busy hair that ends in a straight line across his forehead, piercing eyes, and a crooked nose. The aureus also illustrates the important scene of the joining of two emperors to rule together.

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Notes

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Bibliography

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The University of Virginia’s numismatic collection contains, at this writing (2008), ten splendid gold coins ranging in date from the Hellenistic dekadrachm of the Sicilian tyrant Hiketas (287-278 B.C.E.) to the two late Roman solidi of Valentinian I (C.E. 364-375) and Valentinian II (C.E. 388), dating to the period after Constantine had moved the capitol from Rome to his “new Rome” at Constantinople. Between those extremes are the remaining seven Roman imperial aurei that span the arc of empire from the Julio-Claudians (aurei of Claudius and Nero), through the Flavians (aureus of Domitian), to the second-century emperors (aurei of Trajan, Hadrian, Lucius Verus), and finally to the Tetrarchy (aureus of Maximian).

The Roman coins from Claudius to Valentinian II cover a period of well over 300 years and evoke the aspirations of several dynasties and document various approaches to the organization of the empire. As works of sculpture they present fine portraits of many of the key players in the extended drama of the Roman empire. Using these nine coins as touchstones, one could narrate the whole history of the Roman empire from its beginnings to the point at which it evolved into Byzantine empire.

In this collection of Roman coins the dekadrachm of Hiketas is an outlier. It was purchased because it had a good provenance, was available, affordable, and above all, beautiful. As a Hellenistic coin it anchors the collection of gold coins in the Greek period and documents the influential Greek presence in Italy (Roman coinage owed a great deal to the coinage of the Greek cities in Italy). Although Hellenistic in date, the head of Persephone on the obverse is Classical in style. It is a fine example of Greek sculpture and forms an important point of reference for other coins in the collection.

As works of portraiture the nine Roman coins present many of the changing sculptural styles that appeared between the inception of the empire under Augustus and the late empire of the time of Valentinian I and Valentinian II. While aurei of the first three emperors are not present in the collection, Trajan’s “restored” aureus of Tiberius (Rome’s second emperor from C.E. 14 to 37) presents the idealized portrait style of the early empire. By the time that the aurei of Claudius and Nero were struck the pendulum had swung in the direction of more accurate renditions of the emperor’s appearance. Domitian belonged to the next, i.e., the Flavian, dynasty begun by Vespasian. Our aureus was struck late in his reign (he was assassinated in C.E. 96), but it masks any signs of aging and emphatically denies that the emperor was balding. Changing hairstyles are always part of the imperial portrait, and the aureus of Hadrian presents the new fashion for longer hair and a beard. The beard continued to be worn by the emperor until Constantine, in the early fourth century, broke with tradition, shaved his beard, and created a portrait that served as a precedent for the portraits of Valentinian I and Valentinian II.

Hadrian not only grew a beard, but also wore his curly hair longer than the emperors who immediately preceded him. That style set a trend, and the aureus of Lucius Verus depicts one of Hadrian’s successors with a very full head of curly hair and an ample beard. The “soldier emperors” of the third century wore close-cropped, military-style hair and beards and presented vivid countenances that displayed psychological depths rarely found in imperial portraiture. No gold coins of the soldier emperors are in our collection, but the sestertius of Maximinus Thrax ( C.E. 235-238) illustrates the style.

In the late third century Diocletian and his co-emperor, Maximian, brought to an end the chaotic period of the soldier emperors. Each emperor took a junior colleague who was to succeed him, the result being that the empire was controlled by a tetrarchy, or a rule by four individuals. The new tetrarchic form of government required a new portrait style that emphasized the harmony and cooperation among the tetrarchs. Consequently, most of the individual characteristics that are seen in the earlier portraits are erased from the portrait of Maximian who appears strong and powerful, but devoid of individual features that distinguish the emperors on the other coins (View Essay). Within our collection we cannot compare Maximian to his co-emperor, Diocletian, but such a comparison would show that the two appear to be nearly identical to support the idea of the harmony that existed between them. The portraits of Valentinian I and Valentinian II stand at the threshold of the Byzantine world. They look backward to the portraits of Constantine and forward to the icons, mosaics, and frescoes of the Byzantine period of the sixth century and later.

The essays on the gold coins are the product of a graduate seminar on Roman Numismatics that I offered in the fall of 2007. Each of the nine seminar members wrote an essay on one of the ten gold coins. Seminar members were Jared Benton, Katherine Boller, Robert Coleman, Nicholas Genau, Renee Gondek, Ethan Gruber, Stephanie Layton, Ismini Miliaresis, and Carrie Sulosky. In addition, seminar member Ethan Gruber designed the present website with the help of a grant from the University of Virginia Library.

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