177 AD., Marcus Aurelius, Rome mint, Æ Sestertius, RIC 1184.

Marcus Aurelius, Rome mint, 177 AD.,
Æ Sestertius (31-32 mm / 24.84 g),
Obv.: M ANTONINVS AVG - GERM SARM TR P XXXI , laureate head of Marcus Aurelius right.
Rev.: [I]MP VIII COS [III P P] / [D]E GERMAN[IS] (in exergue) / S - C (low across fields), large pile of German arms.
RIC III 1184 ; C. 163 ; BMC 1596 ; MIR 370-6/30 .

Marcus Aurelius had scored victories over some German tribes, which he and his son celebrated on coinage struck mainly in 176-177.
This sestertius celebrates Roman victories in a series of wars on the empire’s northern frontier known as the Bellum Germanicum et Sarmaticum. These annual confrontations demanded the presence of the emperor Marcus Aurelius while his young son, the Caesar Commodus, remained in Rome largely unaffected.
The reverse of this sestertius speaks of these campaigns with the inscription DE GERMANIS and a pile of arms. The weapons would have come from the barbarian nations that occupied lands across the Rhine and Danube, for in recent years the Romans had won wars against Germans, the Quadi, the Jazyges and the Sarmatians.
Many other types celebrated Roman victories and they became the centrepiece of coin propaganda of the era. Considering these wars were not only a source of great financial strain, but they annually cost the lives of many young men, it was essential for Marcus Aurelius to demonstrate success in the form of attractive coin types showing bound barbarians, trophies, and piles of captured shields, weapons and trumpets.