Patras held the status of a Roman colony — Colonia Aroe Augusta Patrensis — granted by Augustus following his victory at Actium in 31 BC, and the city never let Rome forget it. Provincial bronzes struck here under the Antonines consistently invoke that colonial privilege in their legends, distinguishing Patras from the majority of Greek civic mints still issuing under their own civic authority. This piece falls in the co-regency period of Marcus Aurelius and Commodus, after 177 AD when Commodus was elevated to co-emperor, narrowing attribution to the final three years of Marcus's reign.
Patras held the status of a Roman colony — Colonia Aroe Augusta Patrensis — granted by Augustus following his victory at Actium in 31 BC, and the city never let Rome forget it. Provincial bronzes struck here under the Antonines consistently invoke that colonial privilege in their legends, distinguishing Patras from the majority of Greek civic mints still issuing under their own civic authority. This piece falls in the co-regency period of Marcus Aurelius and Commodus, after 177 AD when Commodus was elevated to co-emperor, narrowing attribution to the final three years of Marcus's reign.