Silver AR Denarius of Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius 161 - 180 AD, NGC Ch XF

Description

Silver AR Denarius of Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius 161 - 180 AD, NGC Ch XF. T
his is a Choice Extra Fine (CH XF) graded coin by NGC.  Higher quality and more expensive than other NGC VF (very fine) and Ch VF (Choice Very Fine) Marcus Aurelius coins available and sometime confusing to higher value of CH XF.
Shipped with USPS First Class.
Marcus Aurelius
was a great general and
Roman emperor
from 161 to 180 and a
Stoic
philosopher. He was the last of the rulers known as the
Five Good Emperors
(a term coined some 13 centuries later by
Niccolò Machiavelli
), and the last emperor of the
Pax Romana
(27 BC to 180 AD), an age of relative peace and stability for the
Roman Empire
. He served as
Roman consul
in 140, 145, and 161.
Marcus was born during the reign of
Hadrian
to the emperor's nephew, the praetor
Marcus Annius Verus
, and the heiress
Domitia Calvilla
. His father died when he was three, and his mother and
grandfather
raised Marcus. After Hadrian's
adoptive
son,
Aelius Caesar
, died in 138, the emperor adopted Marcus' uncle
Antoninus Pius
as his new heir. In turn, Antoninus adopted Marcus and
Lucius
, the son of Aelius. Hadrian died that year and Antoninus became emperor. Now heir to the throne, Marcus studied Greek and Latin under tutors such as
Herodes Atticus
and
Marcus Cornelius Fronto
. Marcus married Antoninus' daughter
Faustina
in 145. After Antoninus died in 161, Marcus acceded to the throne alongside his adoptive brother, who took the name Lucius Verus.
Emperor
Marcus
Aurelius
tells Maximus that his own son,
Commodus
, is unfit to rule and that he wishes Maximus to succeed him, as regent, to help save Rome from corruption and restore the Roman Republic. Upon hearing this,
Commodus
murders his father.
Commodus
proclaims himself the new emperor and asks Maximus for his loyalty, but Maximus refuses.  Commodus then was the gladiator emperor that could not fill his fathers shoes.