Lot 3602

Description

Antoninus Pius, (A.D. 138-161), large medallion, issued January - February 139, AE 40, (46.55 grams), obv. Laureate head to left, around IMP T AEL CAES HADR ANTONINVS AVG PIVS, rev. in exergue P M TR POT/ COS II in two lines, Ariadne, naked and with flowing hair, and Bacchus, naked but for chlamys, standing beside each other to right, his right arm about her shoulder, her right hand touching his side. The pair ride in a light chariot decorated with vine tendrils and guided right by Bacchus, his left hand holding a thyrsus which he extends over harnessed team of pregnant female panthers, in background a satyr with goatish horns and legs, (Gnecchi 37 and Pl.46, 9, [BN these dies], C.646). Old knock on cheek and vertical spade-cut on reverse, but with a good greenish earth patina over a brown-black tone, well struck on large flan, very fine and very rare.

Ex. Italo Vecchi Ltd., auction sale 5 December 1996 (lot 214) and Numismatic Ars Classica Sale No.6, 11 March 1993 (lot 435). The myth of Bacchus and Ariadne had its origins in Minoan society. It is one of the most potent and beautiful metaphors celebrating the beginnings of married love. It is here employed to announce the engagement of Marcus Aurelius and Faustina Junior, whose wedding in 145 was to be celebrated on a medallion showing an elaborate triumph of the Bacchic pair. Gnecchi (plate 65.8 and 9), correctly interpreted by Strack and cited in Toynbee (RM p.96). Gnecchi notes two other examples one in Paris the other in Vienna.