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Banner Artemide 62E
No Acromegalic Portrait
Lot # 592
Maximinus I (235-238). AR Denarius, Rome mint, 236 AD. Obv. IMP MAXIMINVS PIVS AVG. Laureate, draped and cuirassed bust right. Rev. PROVIDENTIA AVG. Providentia standing left, holding wand over globe and cornucopiae. RIC IV 13. AR. 3.34 g. 20.50 mm. Superb example, with an inusual idealyzed portrait, sharply struck and prettily toned, with iridescent highlights. EF/About EF. This denarius utilizes an early, idealized portrait of Maximinus that resembles Severus Alexander. His later coin portraits are more true-to-life, showing his large chin and and other heavy facial features. According to the ancient author and contemporary, Herodian, Maximinus was 'of such frightening appearance and colossal size that there is no obvious comparison to be drawn with any of the best-trained Greek athletes or warrior elite of the barbarians' (Herodian vii.1.2). This has lead some modern researchers to suspect that Maximinus suffered from some form of growth disorder, such as gigantism or acromegaly. (Ira & Larry Goldberg 80,2014, 3217 note).