Roman Coins and Roman History pg7

Rome again required stability and got it, this time for almost a century, in the reigns of the so-called Five Good Emperors. This period, especially its latter half or so, was characterized by Gibbon as the happiest era known to man, and the coins minted by Nerva, Trajan, Hadrian, Antoninus Pius, and Marcus Aurelius witness credibly to the relative validity of that judgment. Although the legends on Nervan coins extolling Public Liberty, Prosperity, Equity, Justice, and, in particular, Harmony of the Armies surely represent wishful thinking more than they do historical reality, nonetheless those are the virtues that were destined to prevail. Nerva appeased the legions by designating a military man as his heir, and it was under Trajan (A.D. 98-117) that the empire attained its maximum geographical extent. The policy of designating the most competent man as imperial successor brought Hadrian to the throne next, and his extensive travels, penchant for Greek culture, and engineering prowess measurably enhanced both the city and the empire; his mausoleum is today the Castel San Angelo, the Pantheon is one of the architectural marvels of the ancient world, and the design of the Temple of Venus and Rome combines Greek harmony and Roman monumentality. Exactly why Antoninus was designated Pius, "Devout," by the Senate is not ours to know (see no. 96), but the peace and prosperity that characterized his reign surely merited an epithet of distinction. Ironically it was the Stoic philosopher and emperor Marcus Aurelius who effectively ended the halcyon era of the empire by appointing his incompetent and corrupt son Commodus as his successor, although military affairs did loom larger in the father's reign than they had earlier.

The regalia of peace figure prominently on nos. 89, 93, 94, 96, 97, 104, coins which encompass this relatively peaceful era chronologically. Even more conspicuous are the women on nos. 91, 95, 98-101,105, whose garments and hairstyles eloquently testify to the affluence of the age. The portraits of the emperors, each unique, testify equally as eloquently to their distinctive personalities, which in turn mirror their imperial policies. The odd mixture of idealism and realism on Nerva's coins is peculiarly characteristic of an emperor who had to maintain an ambivalent balance between the competing claims of senatorial and military factions. Trajan's conscious iconographical (hairstyle) and linguistic (optimus princeps, "the best first citizen") imitation of Augustus was impossible for even the most provincial of Roman citizens not to notice. Hadrian's beard signals a major innovation in numismatic portraiture, one that is almost uniformly followed until the fourth century. In his case the beard was surely less of an affectation than an honest acknowledgement of his genuine affection for Greek culture. Antoninus Pius' beard denotes an orderly succession as well as the beginning of a trend, and the high classicizing style connotes a charitable personality; indeed, he may have been too charitable. The Roman welfare state had been around for some time, but it increased under Antoninus' misguided (?) largesse. The congiaria, "monetary dispensations," lauded on no. 96 were but half of the story, for alimenta, "food distributions," were equally abundant; welfare checks and food stamps have ancient analogues, but so too do charitable foundations (cf. no. 99). The most memorable portrait of Marcus Aurelius is that of the monumental equestrian statue which Michelangelo placed in the exact center of the Campidoglio in Rome and which is now located inside the Capitoline Museum nearby, but it does not render the military aspect of the portrait complete, as, e.g., coin no. 106 does. And it is not an accident that Mars appears on no. 103. Wars are on the historical horizon, so too is a divided empire (Aurelius shared power with Lucius Verus for eight years; see no. 106), and the psychological depth so manifest on Aurelius' portraits almost makes the informed viewer wonder whether the philosopher-emperor was somehow aware of what the future had in store for the empire. The reign of Commodus (A.D. 180-192) marks the end of one era and ushers in the beginning of another. Its ambiguous historical niche is visibly connoted on coin no. 108: on the obverse is a portrait of Commodus' allegedly adulterous wife, and the reverse features a personification of chastity.

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