Antoninus Pius, 138 - 161 AD AE Sestertius, Rome Mint, 30mm, 26.94 grams Obverse: ANTONINVS AVG PIVS P P TR P, Laureate head of Antoninus right. Reverse: COS IIII S C, Antoninus standing left in military dress wearing paludamentum and radiate nimbus, holding branch and spear. RIC 765              In order to fully understand the context of this coin it becomes necessary to briefly explain a bit of background.  Early on Antoninus Pius had a bit of a reputation problem.  After his death Hadrian’s deification was delayed due to his unpopularity with the senate who also initially refused to ratify his edicts.  Pius convinced them otherwise as one of those mandates was his adoption by Hadrian, and by not ratifying the dead emperor it would nullify or at the very least undermine Pius’s position as newly minted emperor.  Hadrian was however deified and Antoninus’ position secured.         Antoninus was born to wealth and later grew to be one of the richest men in Rome. His career took him to many titles, including Senator and Governor of Asia among others. As such his knowledge of military affairs has been called ‘limited’ by some but realistically and practically was nothing. As such there was initially some fear of military discord which did not happen and a series of Fides Militum coins were issued.              Pius however was still fighting negative impressions of him, one in particular of his being stingy or cheap in nature. He embarked on a series of public donations of cash, his first cutting Hadrians amount of 150 denarii in half and certainly solidifying the image of cheapness. To combat this impression he ultimately raised the amount to an unheard sum of 800 denarii per person which was celebrated on many Liberalitas issues in gold, silver and base coin (no doubt the very same coins which were distributed to the public).             Unlike his predecessor who spent almost his entire tenure traveling the empire, Pius never seems to have left Italy. The Historia Augusta goes so far as to say that he only traveled as far as his estates in Campania. It is interesting that Pius could have secured such peace within the empire while never traveling and with no military experience whatsoever. It is tantamount to his character, abilities and reputation to note that a simple letter to Vologases of Parthia was enough to dissuade that ruler from invading Armenia.             All of which takes us to this coin. From the time of his fourth Consulship circa 145-161 we see a very interesting mixture of coins issued. Donation scenes, depictions of Italia, his honoring Augustus and Livia, the ever fascinating DISCIPLIN AVG and more. All of this would seem to be a mass propaganda machine, issues of which were to convey a message of confidence and ability. And in retrospect it would seem that Pius either did have that ability or he was simply in the right place and time for the empire to run smoothly.              On this sestertius we see Antoninus depicted wearing a cuirass and paludamentum, a cloak or cape loosely fastened over one shoulder and worn by military commanders. He is depicted as Mars, holding in each hand a branch and spear, the symbols of war and peace. The radiate nimbus, to me, is an enigma. The rayed halo is a divine attribute native to Eastern cultures, and its origin and usage here I do not fully understand. But this is not the first depiction of Pius as Mars. Amongst the ‘Anonymous’ quadrants of the period is an issue of his cloaked bust wearing the helmet of Mars and a cuirass on the reverse (RIC 19).              Upon seeing this coin one immediately seizes upon the writings of Vegetius who said si vis pacem bara bellum”