Classical Numismatic Group, LLC - Auction 121 - Session 4 . 918
Roman Imperial
Category
Gordian III. AD 238-244. AV Aureus (20mm, 5.24 g, 6h). Rome mint, 1st officina. 8th-11th emission, AD 240-243. IMP GORDIANVS PIVS FEL AVG, laureate, draped, and cuirassed bust right / AETER N ITATI AVG, Sol Invictus, radiate, naked except for drapery over shoulders and left arm, raising right hand and holding globe in left hand. RIC IV 97; Calicó 3186a var. (break in rev. legend). In NGC encapsulation 6369736-001, graded MS, Strike: 5/5, Surface: 3/5, marks. Ex Heritage 3049 (8 September 2016), lot 30275.The Roman god Sol began appearing on coins in the Republican period. By the later second century AD he had acquired the epithet Invictus (Unconquered), and during the Severan dynasty his worship became hugely popular in the Roman Legions, both independently and as part of the cult of Mithras. Gordian III's use of Sol's image on this aureus probably evokes the upcoming campaign against Persia in the East, where the Mithraic cult originated.
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