Antoninus Pius Marcus Aurelius Father Ancient Roman Coin Nude Mars Ares i28093

Item: i28093

Authentic Ancient

Coin of:

Antoninus Pius – Roman Emperor: 138-161 A.D.

Bronze 19mm (3.70 grams) of Hadrianopolis in Trace circa 138-161 A.D.
Bare head right.
Mars/Ares standing left, nude, wearing helmet and holding spear.

You are bidding on the exact

Guarantee of Authenticity.

Mars was the

Roman

god of war

, the son of

Juno

and

Jupiter

, husband of

Bellona

, and the lover of

Venus

. He was the most prominent of the

military

gods that were

worshipped

by the

Roman legions

. The martial Romans considered him second in importance only

to Jupiter (their main god). His

festivals

were held in

March
(named for

him) and October. As the word Mars has no

Indo-European

derivation, it is most likely the

Latinised

form of the agricultural

Etruscan

god Maris

. Initially Mars was a Roman god of

fertility

and vegetation

and a protector of cattle, fields and boundaries and farmers. In

the second century BC, the conservative

Cato the Elder

advised “For your cattle, for them to be healthy, make this

sacrifice to Mars Silvanus you must make this sacrifice each year”.

Mars later became associated with battle as the growing

Roman

Empire
began to expand, and he came to be identified with the

Greek

god Ares
.

Unlike his Greek counterpart, Mars was generally revered and rivaled Jupiter as

the most honoured god. He was also the

tutelary

god of the city of Rome. As he was regarded as the legendary father

of Rome’s founder,

Romulus

, it was believed that all Romans were descendants of Mars.

Ares  is the
Greek god

of war
. He is one of the
Twelve Olympians
, and the son of

Zeus and Hera
. In
a title=”Ancient Greek literature” href=”https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Greek_literature”>
Greek literature, he often represents the
physical or violent aspect of war, in contrast to the armored
Athena
, whose functions as a
goddess of intelligence
include
military strategy
and
generalship
.

The Greeks were
ambivalent
toward Ares: although he embodied
the physical valor necessary for success in war, he was a dangerous force,
“overwhelming, insatiable in battle, destructive, and man-slaughtering.” Fear
(Phobos)
and Terror (Deimos)
were yoked to his battle
chariot
. In the
Iliad
his father Zeus tells him that he is
the god most hateful to him. An association with Ares endows places and objects
with a savage, dangerous, or militarized quality. His value as a war god is even
placed in doubt: during the
Trojan War
, Ares was on the losing side, while
Athena, often depicted in
Greek art
as holding
Nike (Victory)
in her hand, favored the
triumphant Greeks.

Ares plays a relatively limited role in
Greek mythology
as represented in literary
narratives, though his numerous love affairs and abundant offspring are often
alluded
to. When Ares does appear in myths, he
typically faces humiliation. He is well known as the lover of
Aphrodite
, the goddess of love who was married
to Hephaestus
, god of craftsmanship,^[10]
but the most famous story involving the couple shows them exposed to ridicule
through the wronged husband’s clever device.

The counterpart of Ares among the
Roman gods
is
Mars
, who as a father of the Roman people held
a more important and dignified place in
ancient Roman religion
for his agricultural and
tutelary
functions. During the
Hellenization
of
Latin literature
, the myths of Ares were
reinterpreted
by Roman writers under the name
of Mars. Greek writers under
Roman rule
also recorded
cult practices
and beliefs pertaining to Mars
under the name of Ares. Thus in the
classical tradition
of later
Western art and literature
, the mythology of
the two figures becomes virtually indistinguishable.

Names and epithets

The etymology of the name Ares is traditionally connected with the
Greek
word ἀρή (arē), the
Ionic
form of the
Doric
ἀρά (ara), “bane, ruin,
curse, imprecation”.^[12]
There may also be a connection with the Roman god of war
Mars
, via hypothetical
Proto-Indo-European
*M̥rēs;^{[citation
needed]} compare Ancient Greek μάρναμαι (marnamai),
“to fight, to battle”, or Punjabi maarna (to kill, to hit).^[13]
The earliest attested form of the name is the
Mycenaean Greek
a-re, written in
Linear B
syllabic script.^[14]
Walter Burkert
notes that “Ares is apparently
an ancient abstract noun meaning throng of battle, war.”^[15]

The adjectival

epithet
Areios was frequently appended
to the names of other gods when they take on a warrior aspect or become involved
in warfare: Zeus Areios, Athena Areia, even Aphrodite Areia.
In the Iliad, the word ares is used as a
common noun
synonymous with “battle.”

Inscriptions as early as
Mycenaean
times, and continuing into the
Classical period
, attest to
Enyalios
, another name for the god of war.

Character and origins

Ares was one of the Twelve Olympians in the archaic tradition represented by
the Iliad
and
Odyssey
, but Zeus expresses a recurring
Greek revulsion toward the god when Ares returns wounded and complaining from
the battlefield at Troy
:

Then looking at him darkly Zeus who gathers the clouds spoke to him:
‘Do not sit beside me and whine, you double-faced liar.
To me you are the most hateful of all gods who hold Olympos.
Forever quarrelling is dear to your heart, wars and battles.
…
And yet I will not long endure to see you in pain, since
you are my child, and it was to me that your mother bore you.
But were you born of some other god and proved so ruinous
long since you would have been dropped beneath the gods of the bright sky.”^[16]

This ambivalence is expressed also in the god’s association with the
Thracians
, who were regarded by the Greeks as a
barbarous and warlike people.^[17]
Thrace
was Ares’ birthplace, true home, and
refuge after the affair with Aphrodite was exposed to the general mockery of the
other gods.^[18]

A late 6th-century BC funerary inscription from
Attica
emphasizes the consequences of coming
under Ares’ sway:

Stay and mourn at the tomb of dead Kroisos
Whom raging Ares destroyed one day, fighting in the foremost ranks.^[19]

In
Macedonia
, however, he was viewed as a bearded
war veteran with superb military skills and physical strength. The
ancient Macedonians
looked up to Ares as a
divine leader as well as a god.^{[citation
needed]} In
Sparta
Ares was viewed as a
masculine
soldier in which his resilience,
physical strength and military intelligence was unrivaled.^{[citation
needed]}

Attributes

The
Ares Borghese

The birds of Ares (Ornithes Areioi) were a flock of
feather-dart-dropping birds that guarded the
Amazons
‘ shrine of the god on a
coastal

island
in the
Black Sea
.^[20]
Vultures and dogs, both of which prey upon carrion in the battlefield, were
sacred
to him.^{[citation
needed]}

Cult and ritual

Although Ares received occasional sacrifice from armies going to war, the god
had a formal temple and cult at only a few sites.^[21]
At Sparta
, however, youths each sacrificed a puppy
to
Enyalios
before engaging in ritual fighting at
the Phoebaeum.^[22]
The chthonic
night-time sacrifice of a dog to
Enyalios became assimilated to the cult of Ares.^{[citation
needed]}

Just east of Sparta stood an archaic statue of the god in chains, to show
that the spirit of war and victory was never to leave the city.^[23]

The
temple
to Ares in the
agora
of
Athens
that
Pausanias
saw in the second century AD had only
been moved and rededicated there during the time of
Augustus
; in essence it was a
Roman temple
to the Augustan
Mars Ultor
.^[21]
The Areopagus
, the “mount of Ares” where
Paul of Tarsus
preached, is sited at some
distance from the Acropolis; from archaic times it was a site of trials. Its
connection with Ares, perhaps based on a false etymology, is purely
etiological myth
.^{[citation
needed]} A second temple has also been located at the
archaeological site of
Metropolis
in what is now Western
Turkey
.^{[citation
needed]}

Attendants

Deimos
, “Terror” or “Dread”, and
Phobos
, “Fear”, are his companions in war^[24]
and also his children, borne by
Aphrodite
, according to
Hesiod
.^[25]
The sister^{[citation
needed]} and companion of the violent Ares is
Eris
, the goddess of discord, or

Enyo, the goddess of war, bloodshed, and violence. Enyalius, rather
than another name for Ares, in at least one tradition was his son by Enyo.^[26]

Ares may also be accompanied by
Kydoimos
, the demon of the din of battle; the
Makhai
(“Battles”); thev “Hysminai” (“Acts of
manslaughter”); Polemos
, a minor spirit of war, or only an
epithet of Ares, since it has no specific dominion; and Polemos’s daughter,
Alala
, the
goddess
or
personification
of the Greek war-cry, whose
name Ares uses as his own war-cry. Ares’s sister
Hebe
, “Youth,” also draws baths for him.

According to
Pausanias
, local inhabitants of
Therapne
,
Sparta
, recognized
Thero
“feral, savage” as a nurse of Ares.

 Founding of Thebes

One of the roles of Ares that was sited in mainland Greece itself was in the
founding myth
of Thebes: Ares was the
progenitor of the water-dragon slain by
Cadmus
, for the dragon’s teeth were sown into
the ground as if a crop and sprung up as the fully armored
autochthonic

Spartoi
. To propitiate Ares, Cadmus took as a
bride
Harmonia
, daughter of Ares’ union with
Aphrodite, thus harmonizing all strife and founding the city of Thebes.^[28]

Consorts and children

The
Areopagus
as viewed from the
Acropolis
.

The union of Ares and Aphrodite created the gods

Eros, Anteros
,
Phobos
,
Deimos
,
Harmonia
, and
Adrestia
. While Eros and Anteros’ godly
stations favored their mother, Adrestia by far preferred to emulate her father,
often accompanying him to war.^{[citation
needed]}

Ares, upon one occasion, incurred the anger of
Poseidon
by slaying his son
Halirrhothius
, who had raped Alcippe, another
daughter of the war-god. For this deed, Poseidon summoned Ares to appear before
the tribunal of the Olympic gods, which was held upon a hill in Athens. Ares was
acquitted, and this event is supposed to have given rise to the name
Areopagus
(or Hill of Ares), which afterward
became famous as a court of justice.^[29]

There are accounts of a son of Ares,
Cycnus
(Κύκνος) of
Macedonia
, who was so murderous that he tried
to build a temple with the skulls and the bones of travellers.
Heracles
slaughtered this abominable
monstrosity, engendering the wrath of Ares, whom the hero wounded

Edirne (ancient Hadrianopolis) is a city in

Thrace
, the

westernmost part of Turkey

, close to the borders with

Greece
and

Bulgaria
.

Edirne served as the capital city of the

Ottoman Empire

from 1365 to 1457, when

Constantinople

(Istanbul)

became the empire’s new capital. At present, Edirne is the capital of the

Edirne Province

in

Turkish

Thrace
. The city’s estimated population in 2002 was 128,400, up from 119,298

in 2000. It has

consulates

of Bulgaria,

Germany

(Honorary), Greece,

Romania

(Honorary) and Slovakia

(Honorary). Its sister cities are

Haskovo
and

Yambol
in

Bulgaria

and Alexandroupoli

in

Greece
.

The city was founded as

, named for the Roman Emperor

Hadrian
. This

name is still used in the

Modern

Greek
(Αδριανούπολη). The

English

name Adrianople, by which the city was known until the

Turkish Postal Service Law of 1930, has fallen into disuse. The

Turkish

Edirne, the

Bulgarian

Одрин (Odrin), and the Serbian Једрене (Jedrene) are

adapted forms of the name Hadrianopolis.

Titus Aurelius Fulvus Boionius Arrius Antoninus (19 September 86 – 7

March 161), generally known in English as Antoninus Pius was

Roman emperor

from 138 to 161. He was the fourth of the

Five Good Emperors

and a member of the

Aurelii
. He

did not possess the

sobriquet

“Pius” until after

his accession to the throne. Almost certainly, he earned the name “Pius” because

he compelled the

Senate

to deify his adoptive father

Hadrian
; the

Historia Augusta

, however, suggests that he may have earned the name by

saving senators sentenced to death by Hadrian in his later years.

//

He was the son and only child of

Titus Aurelius Fulvus

,

consul
in 89

whose family came from

Nemausus

(modern Nîmes
)

and was born near

Lanuvium

and his mother was Arria Fadilla. Antoninus’ father and paternal grandfather

died when he was young and he was raised by

Gnaeus Arrius Antoninus

, his maternal grandfather, a man of integrity and

culture and a friend of

Pliny the Younger

. His mother married to Publius Julius Lupus (a man of

consular rank),

Suffect

Consul
in 98, and bore him a daughter called Julia Fadilla.

As a private citizen between 110 and 115, he married Annia Galeria

Faustina the Elder

. They had a very happy marriage. She was the daughter of

consul

Marcus Annius Verus

and

Rupilia

Faustina (a half-sister to Roman Empress

Vibia

Sabina
). Faustina was a beautiful woman, renowned for her wisdom. She spent

her whole life caring for the poor and assisting the most disadvantaged Romans.

Having filled with more than usual success the offices of

quaestor

and praetor
,

he obtained the consulship in 120; he was next appointed by the Emperor

Hadrian
as

one of the four

proconsuls

to administer

Italia

, then greatly increased his reputation by his conduct as

proconsul

of

Asia

. He acquired much favor with the Emperor Hadrian, who adopted him as

his son and successor on 25 February, 138, after the death of his first adopted

son Lucius Aelius

, on the condition that Antoninus would in turn adopt Marcus

Annius Verus, the son of his wife’s brother, and Lucius, son of Aelius Verus,

who afterwards became the emperors

Marcus Aurelius

and

Lucius

Verus
(colleague of Marcus Aurelius).

 Emperor

On his accession, Antoninus’ name became “Imperator Caesar Titus Aelius

Hadrianus Antoninus Augustus Pontifex Maximus”. One of his first acts as Emperor

was to persuade the

Senate

to grant divine honours to Hadrian, which they had at first refused; his efforts

to persuade the Senate to grant these honours is the most likely reason given

for his title of Pius (dutiful in affection; compare

). Two other reasons for this title are that he would support his

aged father-in-law with his hand at Senate meetings, and that he had saved those

men that Hadrian, during his period of ill-health, had condemned to death. He

built temples, theaters, and mausoleums, promoted the arts and sciences, and

bestowed honours and financial rewards upon the teachers of

rhetoric

and philosophy

.

In marked contrast to his predecessors

Trajan
and

Hadrian
,

Antoninus was not a military man. One modern scholar has written “It is almost

certain not only that at no time in his life did he ever see, let alone command,

a Roman army, but that, throughout the twenty-three years of his reign, he never

went within five hundred miles of a legion”.^[2]

His reign was the most peaceful in the entire history of the

Principate
;

while there were several military disturbances throughout the Empire in his

time, in Mauretania

,

Iudaea

, and amongst the

Brigantes

in Britannia

, none of them are considered serious. The unrest in Britannia is

believed to have led to the construction of the

Antonine Wall

from the

Firth of Forth

to the

Firth of Clyde

, although it was soon abandoned. He was virtually unique

among emperors in that he dealt with these crises without leaving Italy once

during his reign, but instead dealt with provincial matters of war and peace

through their governors or through imperial letters to the cities such as

Ephesus (of which some were publicly displayed). This style of government was

highly praised by his contemporaries and by later generations.

Of the public transactions of this period we have scant information, but, to

judge by what we possess, those twenty-two years were not remarkably eventful in

comparison to those before and after his; the surviving evidence is not complete

enough to determine whether we should interpret, with older scholars, that he

wisely curtailed the activities of the Roman Empire to a careful minimum, or

perhaps that he was uninterested in events away from Rome and

Italy
and his

inaction contributed to the pressing troubles that faced not only Marcus

Aurelius but also the emperors of the third century. German historian Ernst

Kornemann has had it in his Römische Geschichte [2 vols., ed. by H. Bengtson,

Stuttgart 1954] that the reign of Antoninus comprised “a succession of grossly

wasted opportunities,” given the upheavals that were to come. There is more to

this argument, given that the Parthians in the East were themselves soon to make

no small amount of mischief after Antoninus’ passing. Kornemann’s brief is that

Antoninus might have waged preventive wars to head off these outsiders.

Scholars place Antoninus Pius as the leading candidate for fulfilling the

role as a friend of Rabbi

Judah

the Prince
. According to the

Talmud
(Avodah

Zarah 10a-b), Rabbi Judah was very wealthy and greatly revered in Rome. He had a

close friendship with “Antoninus”, possibly Antoninus Pius,

who would consult Rabbi Judah on various worldly and spiritual matters.

After the longest reign since Augustus (surpassing

Tiberius
by

a couple of months), Antoninus died of fever at

Lorium
in

Etruria
,

about twelve miles (19 km) from Rome, on 7 March 161, giving the keynote to his

life in the last word that he uttered when the

tribune
of

the night-watch came to ask the password—”aequanimitas” (equanimity). His body

was placed in

Hadrian’s mausoleum

, a

column

was dedicated to him on the

Campus Martius

, and the

temple

he had built in the Forum in 141 to his deified wife Faustina was

rededicated to the deified Faustina and the deified Antoninus.

 Historiography

The only account of his life handed down to us is that of the

, an unreliable and mostly fabricated work. Antoninus is

unique among Roman emperors in that he has no other biographies. Historians have

therefore turned to public records for what details we know.

 In

later scholarship

Antoninus in many ways was the ideal of the landed gentleman praised not only

by ancient Romans, but also by later scholars of classical history, such as

Edward Gibbon

or the author of the article on Antoninus Pius in the ninth

edition of the

Encyclopedia Britannicaca:

A few months afterwards, on Hadrian’s death, he was enthusiastically

welcomed to the throne by the Roman people, who, for once, were not

disappointed in their anticipation of a happy reign. For Antoninus came

to his new office with simple tastes, kindly disposition, extensive

experience, a well-trained intelligence and the sincerest desire for the

welfare of his subjects. Instead of plundering to support his

prodigality, he emptied his private treasury to assist distressed

provinces and cities, and everywhere exercised rigid economy (hence the

nickname κυμινοπριστης “cummin-splitter”). Instead of exaggerating into

treason whatever was susceptible of unfavorable interpretation, he

spurned the very conspiracies that were formed against him into

opportunities for demonstrating his clemency. Instead of stirring up

persecution against the Christians, he extended to them the strong hand

of his protection throughout the empire. Rather than give occasion to

that oppression which he regarded as inseparable from an emperor’s

progress through his dominions, he was content to spend all the years of

his reign in Rome, or its neighborhood.