Art Institute of Chicago

Coin Portraying Empress Salonina

Roman, minted in Alexandria, Egypt

Date

266-267

Medium

Billon

Culture

Roman Empire

Department

Arts of Greece, Rome, and Byzantium

Institution

Art Institute of Chicago

The front (obverse) of this coin portrays the empress Salonina, facing right and crowned with a diadem. On the back (reverse) Elpis, the goddess of hope, walks left holding a flower and raising the hem of her robe. A palm branch and a partial inscription are seen in the field behind her. Salonina was married to the Roman emperor Gallienus, who reigned jointly with his father, Valerian, from 253-260, then as sole emperor to 268. The date this coin was struck is indicated in the reverse inscription "LIΔ ", which means the fourteenth year of Gallienus's reign, or 266-267 CE.

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