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143 NGC VF Antoninus Pius Roman Empire AE As Sow Rome Foundation Myth (26062303C)

Regular price $350.00

  • Very Fine Roman Empire AE As coin.
  • Struck for Emperor Antoninus Pius at the Rome Mint 143 CE.
  • Rare Rome Foundation Myth reverse type.
  • RIC 733, approx. 26mm. 
  • Certified by NGC to VF with no problems.
  • Obverse:  ANTONINVS AVG PIVS P P TR P COS III, laureate head right.
  • Reverse: IMPERATOR IIsow right, under oak tree, four suckling piglets below, two more before; SC in exergue.
  • This unusual type refers to one of the founding myths of Rome, the Lares Grundules. In the Aeneid, Vergil describes how Aeneas sailed up the Tiber until he came across a great white sow nursing thirty piglets, which the hero regarded as a good omen. He consequently founded the town of Lavinium on the site, which later became the city of Rome.