The Imperial Coinage of the Middle Antonines:
Marcus Aurelius with Lucius Verus and Commodus

     When the third volume of Mattingly and Sydenham's Roman Imperial Coinage was published in 1930 it was still largely based upon the scholarship of Henry Cohen who had published his great work in the mid to late nineteenth century.  And although RIC made some corrections to Cohen, and a few additions from major auction sales, the ordering of the catalogue was still archaic with its concentration upon alphabetic arrangement of coins by reverse legend, and the complete separation of gold and silver issues from their base-metal contemporaries.  The newer volumes of RIC, as the result of nearly a century's additional scholarship, now group issues by mint and by the changes in titulature, with precious and base metal issues of the same period being grouped together so that they can be comprehended as a whole.

     In this catalogue of the coinage of the Middle Antonines, I have endeavoured to compile a list of all the Imperial issues of Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus as Augusti, and the coins issued for Commodus during his father’s reign, and arrange them into a, hopefully, meaningful and helpful order.  This listing can never be complete as new coins emerge all the time, and I do not have access to the more obscure items of numismatic literature, however, I hope that these listings will be a contribution to the study of Antonine coinage.

     With the joint accession of Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus we say farewell to the numismatic companionship of Paul Strack, who had been our invaluable guide to the coinage of Antoninus Pius.  Through Strack intended to continue his study into the reign of Aurelius, his early death meant the project was never completed.  The publication of Wolfgang Szaivert’s volume 18 of the Moneta Imperii Romani series, covering the reigns of Marcus Aurelius, Lucius Verus and Commodus, has gone a long way to make good this loss, and this volume is essential for clarifying the chronological issues of the overlapping reigns.
 
     Issues included in earlier catalogues but now regarded as doubtful or uncertain have been included with appropriate comment for the purposes of completeness, and I have attempted to trace the origins of all such citations.  Stack’s catalogue provided evidence for the presence of specimens in the major museum collection, but in this catalogue, where entries are not supported by an example in BMCRE, I have endeavoured to record references to one or two specimens.  But, as ever, I would welcome any comments, corrections, or additional items for inclusion.

Last updated: 24.02.2026