LUCIUS VERUS
AD 161-169
AR Denarius. 3.40g, 19.1mm
MINTED: Rome mint, AD 166-167
REF: RIC III 574; Cohen 295
OBVERSE: L VERVS AVG ARM - PARTH MAX, laureate head right.
REVERSE: TR P VII – IMP IIII COS, Victory, draped, advancing left, holding up wreath in right hand and palm, sloped at left shoulder, in left.
 
Provenance:
Ex A.K. Collection
The A.K. Collection was assembled over several decades by a connoisseur of Roman coins.  An important and extensive collection covering both Imperial and Provincial coinage, many of its coins were acquired from other major European collections or dealers.

Notes:
Struck on an oval flan, with dramatic surface flow lines.  Excellent portrait. 
 
Historical Notes:
Lucius Verus has earned a reputation as something of a playboy prince in the history books. He is said to have been preoccupied with sports, gambling and women, and when he became co-ruler of the Roman Empire alongside his adoptive brother, Marcus Aurelius, he was content to let the serious, dutiful Aurelius take charge of imperial affairs. 
 
In AD 162, Verus was sent east to oversee the ongoing war against the Parthian Empire, and while the Romans were eventually victorious, Verus was said to have left much of the campaigning to his generals, while he lived in luxurious quarters at Antioch, gambling and keeping himself entertained with a Greek mistress. 
 
In AD 168, Lucius and Aurelius left for the Danubian territories to campaign against the Marcomannic tribes. There, their soldiers contracted a disease that became a devastating plague when they returned to Rome. Verus himself fell victim to it and died in AD 169.