Portimao to exhibit second-century Roman coin
It took almost half-a-century, but Portimao is finally exhibiting a Roman coin from the second century, better late than never.
The coin was discovered 43 years ago in the local Arade River and has finally become a permanent part of the Portimao museum’s collections.
The museum’s director said that he hopes the coin will be in the possession of the museum and on display by May, in time for the museum’s fifth anniversary celebrations.
The golden Roman coin is classified as an ‘Aureus de Faustina’ from the second century, and was unearthed in 1970 when the Arade River was being dredged.
As the work for digging out the river were under way, two boats were found, containing a plethora of metal items, ceramic fragments and remnants of what are believed to be Roman era items.
The coin gets its name from the fact that it was minted between 152 and 156 in the honor of Fuastina Junior, the wife of then-emperor Marco Aurelio; when it was found the Roman coin was given to the Caixa Geral de Depositos bank to be looked after.
The coin finally makes it back to Portimao to be put on definitive display when the State Secretary for Culture announced the move in the Government Gazette this week on Monday.
Jose Gameiro – the Portimao museum director – said that they have been waiting for a long time for this decision to be made so that the coin could return to where it was found, and he further stressed that the museum has all the necessary conditions to keep the object of such high historic value.
The Roman coin not only enriches the archeological assets of the city, the museum’s director went on, but it is also a sign of how important the river was during the Roman period.
Thousands of other coins were found during the dredging of the river.
