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Æ40 - Antoninus Pius Μ ΑΥΡΗΛΙΟΝ ΚΑΙϹΑΡΑ ΝΕΙΚΑΙΕΙϹ
| Issuer | Nicaea (Bithynia and Pontus) |
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| Year | 138-161 |
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| Shape | Round (irregular) |
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| Obverse description | Bare head of Antoninus Pius facing right, with traces of an aegis visible at the truncation, rendered in the realist portrait style typical of Antonine provincial coinage. The effigy displays the emperor's characteristic mature features with a short beard. The encircling Greek legend runs along the periphery of the flan. The coin exhibits a deep olive-green patina consistent with Bithynian bronze issues of the mid-second century AD. |
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| Obverse lettering | ΑΥΤ ΚΑΙ ΑΔΡΙΑΝΟϹ ΑΝΤΩΝΕΙΝΟϹ (Translation: Emperor Caesar Hadrianus Antoninus) |
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Nicaea was one of the most politically ambitious cities in Bithynia, locked in a centuries-long rivalry with Nicomedia over which held the right to call itself the province's leading city — a dispute that generated an outsized volume of civic coinage as each city competed for imperial favor through bronze issues honoring the reigning house. This piece, honoring Marcus Aurelius during his tenure as Caesar under Antoninus Pius, dates to a period before his accession, when such honorific issues served concrete diplomatic purposes with the imperial court.
At nearly 50 grams, this falls among the heaviest provincial bronzes of the Antonine period from this region.