Antoninus Pius, 138-161. Sestertius (Orichalcum, 32 mm, 24.29 g, 12 h), Rome, 140-144. ANTONINVS AVG PIVS P•P•TR P COS III Laureate head of Antoninus Pius to right. Rev. S•C Lavinian Sow seated to right under holm oak, suckling seven piglets; an eighth standing to right below her head. BMC 1298. Cohen 775. RIC 629. An attractive example with a beautiful rendering of the Lavinian Sow. Some corroded deposits on the obverse and with a flan crack, otherwise, good very fine.


According to Vergil's Aeneid, the white Lavinian Sow with its thirty piglets indicated to Aeneas and Anchises the spot on which to found the city of Lavinium. Thirty years later, Aeneas' son, Ascanius, founded the city of Alba somewhat inland, named after the white Lavinian Sow (the Latin word albus translates as 'white').