Marcus Aurelius. A.D. 161-180. AR denarius (18 mm, 3.36 g). Rome mint, struck A.D. 166. M ANTONINVS AVG ARM PARTH MAX, laureate head right / TR P XX IMP IIII COS III, Victory standing right, holding palm frond in right hand, setting shield inscribed VIC/PAR on palm tree. RIC 163; BMCRE 406; RSC 878. Extremely fine
The Roman-Parthian war raged from A.D. 161 to 166, when Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus successfully defeated the Parthian capital of Ctesiphon. This coin was struck in the final year of that war to commemorate their ultimate victory over the Parthians. Although the Parthian empire was never taken by the Romans, this battle helped to end the grandeur of this eastern empire. There were several more battles between the Romans and Parthians along this same territory, but the Parthian empire eventually succumbed to the Sasanians in A.D. 228, thus ensuing another bloody rivalry between Rome and the east.