Portraits of important people appear on local currency all around the world. The same was true in ancient Rome, which began producing its first coinage in the late 4th century BC. Early coins depicted the heads of gods and goddesses on the front side, often in profile, while the back depicted animals, natural resources, symbols, and references to historical events. It was not until 44 BC that the portrait of a living person\u2014Julius Caesar\u2014appeared on coins. Thereafter, profile portraits of rulers or other members of the imperial family became the standard subject on coins throughout the Roman Empire.<\/p>\n
Inscriptions on coins help identify the ruler. While the front side depicted the sovereign\u2019s portrait, the back was often used to communicate the ruler\u2019s accomplishments or aspirations. Until Late Antiquity, portraits usually appeared in profile. The tiny images were carved by engravers into bronze dies, with one for the front and another for the back. The coins were then struck, one by one, in a process similar to how coins are created today.<\/p>\n
Early imperial coin portraits included individualized features that identified each ruler. The first Roman emperor, Augustus (reigned 27 BC\u2013AD 14), dictated that he retain his youthful appearance in his portraits throughout his lifetime). Depictions of subsequent emperors, like Caligula (reigned 37\u201341), and Nero (reigned 54\u201368), seen here, were less idealized. The gold aureus gradually replaced the silver denarius as the most common coin for imperial portraits.<\/p>\n","short_description":null,"dimensions":"Diam.: 1.8 cm (3\/4 in.)","dimensions_detail":[{"depth":null,"width":null,"height":null,"diameter":1,"clarification":null}],"medium_display":"Gold","inscriptions":"Obverse: IMP NERO CEASAR AVGVSTVS\nReverse: SALVS","credit_line":"Gift of William F. Dunham","catalogue_display":null,"publication_history":"Art Institute of Chicago, \"New Coins in the Classical Collection,\" Bulletin of the Art Institute of Chicago vol. 16, no. 4 (September 1922) pp. 50-51.\n\nTheresa Gross-Diaz, \u201cCats. 40-41 Two Coins Portraying Emperor Nero: Curatorial Entry,\u201d in Roman Art at the Art Institute of Chicago (Art Institute of Chicago, 2016).\nhttps:\/\/publications.artic.edu\/roman\/reader\/romanart\/section\/527","exhibition_history":"Art Institute of Chicago, Ruling Families: Gold, Silver and Bronze Coins of the Roman Empire, November 1, 1997-2001.\n\nArt Institute of Chicago, Of Gods and Glamour: The Mary and Michael Jaharis Galleries of Greek, Roman, and Byzantine Art, Gallery 152, July 2013 - present.","provenance_text":"William F. Dunham (1857-1936), Chicago; given to the Art Institute of Chicago, 1922.","edition":null,"publishing_verification_level":"Web Cataloged","internal_department_id":941,"fiscal_year":1922,"fiscal_year_deaccession":null,"is_public_domain":true,"is_zoomable":true,"max_zoom_window_size":-1,"copyright_notice":null,"has_multimedia_resources":true,"has_educational_resources":false,"has_advanced_imaging":false,"colorfulness":55.1812,"color":{"h":43,"l":48,"s":63,"percentage":0.08288469142561669,"population":327},"latitude":null,"longitude":null,"latlon":null,"is_on_view":false,"on_loan_display":null,"gallery_title":null,"gallery_id":null,"nomisma_id":"http:\/\/numismatics.org\/ocre\/id\/ric.1(2).ner.66","artwork_type_title":"Coin","artwork_type_id":26,"department_title":"Arts of Greece, Rome, and Byzantium","department_id":"PC-4","artist_id":51349,"artist_title":"Ancient Roman","alt_artist_ids":[],"artist_ids":[51349],"artist_titles":["Ancient Roman"],"category_ids":["PC-4"],"category_titles":["Arts of Greece, Rome, and Byzantium"],"term_titles":["coin","gold","striking (metalworking)","imperial (roman)","portrait","nonferrous metal","metal","inorganic material","ancient art","ancient","rulers (people)","man"],"style_id":"TM-4441","style_title":"imperial (roman)","alt_style_ids":["TM-8542"],"style_ids":["TM-4441","TM-8542"],"style_titles":["imperial (roman)","ancient"],"classification_id":"TM-260","classification_title":"coin","alt_classification_ids":["TM-1392"],"classification_ids":["TM-260","TM-1392"],"classification_titles":["coin","ancient art"],"subject_id":"TM-14105","alt_subject_ids":["TM-12865","TM-14974"],"subject_ids":["TM-14105","TM-12865","TM-14974"],"subject_titles":["portrait","rulers (people)","man"],"material_id":"TM-2452","alt_material_ids":["TM-2683","TM-2568","TM-2600"],"material_ids":["TM-2452","TM-2683","TM-2568","TM-2600"],"material_titles":["gold","nonferrous metal","metal","inorganic material"],"technique_id":"TM-3882","alt_technique_ids":[],"technique_ids":["TM-3882"],"technique_titles":["striking (metalworking)"],"theme_titles":[],"image_id":"1128a1f4-85c3-e056-75e0-69564806b3ce","alt_image_ids":[],"document_ids":[],"sound_ids":[],"video_ids":[],"text_ids":[],"section_ids":[508055],"section_titles":["Cats. 40\u201341 \u00a0Two Coins Portraying Emperor Nero"],"site_ids":[],"suggest_autocomplete_all":[{"input":["1922.4254"],"contexts":{"groupings":["accession"]}},{"input":["Aureus (Coin) Portraying Emperor Nero"],"weight":1334,"contexts":{"groupings":["title"]}}],"source_updated_at":"2025-11-18T16:36:25-06:00","updated_at":"2026-10-05T23:26:26-05:00","timestamp":"2026-10-08T22:01:34-05:00"},"info":{"license_text":"The `description` field in this response is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 Generic License (CC-By) and the Terms and Conditions of artic.edu. All other data in this response is licensed under a Creative Commons Zero (CC0) 1.0 designation and the Terms and Conditions of artic.edu.","license_links":["https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/publicdomain\/zero\/1.0\/","https:\/\/www.artic.edu\/terms"],"version":"1.16"},"config":{"iiif_url":"https:\/\/www.artic.edu\/iiif\/2","website_url":"http:\/\/www.artic.edu"}}