Это одна из немно­гих дей­ст­ви­тель­но исто­ри­че­ских рим­ских монет. В 162 г. пар­фяне вторг­лись на рим­ский Восток, заво­е­ва­ли Арме­нию, где поса­ди­ли на пре­стол сына одно­го из сво­их пол­ко­вод­цев, а затем про­ник­ли в Сирию. Про­тив них посла­ли Вера и его, вопре­ки всем ожи­да­ни­ям, сопро­вож­дал успех. Пар­фяне были выби­ты из Сирии, Арме­ния попа­ла под рим­ский про­тек­то­рат, а рим­ляне поста­ви­ли над ней царем сво­его став­лен­ни­ка (его коро­на­ция изо­бра­же­на на моне­те), после чего рим­ская армия дви­ну­лась в Пар­фию и в 165 г. раз­ру­ши­ла её вели­кую сто­ли­цу Кте­си­фон. Этот тип монет все­гда был попу­ля­рен и фак­ти­че­ски в каж­дом боль­шом монет­ном собра­нии есть такой экзем­пляр, обыч­но в пре­вос­ход­ном состо­я­нии. Одна из при­чин тому — обна­ру­же­ние в нача­ле 1890-х годов в Риме «Авен­тин­ско­го кла­да», кото­рый почти сра­зу же разо­шёл­ся по раз­ным кол­лек­ци­ям; по-види­мо­му, там было мно­го таких монет. Это заме­ча­тель­ный при­мер того, какой эффект может иметь один-един­ст­вен­ный клад: до того, как его нашли, эти моне­ты Вера встре­ча­лись доволь­но ред­ко.

This issue of Lucius Verus is of great historical interest because it commemorates the reestablishment of Gaius Julius Sohaemus as king of Armenia. Sohaemus was a member of the royal family of Emesa, as well as being a Roman Senator, and had been made king of Armenia in 144. He was deposed by the Parthians in 161, but was then restored to the throne as a result of the successful Roman counter offensive. The fact that aurei of this type are known in superb condition is because of the Aventine Hoard of 1893: found in Rome during construction work, this hoard contained several hundred aurei of Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus, many fresh and as struck. While a considerable number were retained by the Vatican museum, all of the remainder, including many examples struck from the same pair of dies, were sold. As a result, virtually all of the coins known of this type derive from that find.

Gaius Julius Sohaemus was a nobleman from Emesa who claimed an illustrious lineage back to the Median Princess Iotapa, the betrothed of Alexander Helios, who was the eldest son of Mark Antony and Cleopatra VII. However, Sohaemus was also a Roman senator, and at some point even a consul, although the exact dates and succession of the events of his career are somewhat in dispute. Antoninus Pius probably appointed Sohaemus to King of Armenia in 144, but he was expelled in 161 from his throne by an offensive by the Parthian King Vologaeses IV (circa 147-191), who hoped to take advantage of the regime change in Rome following the decease of Antoninus. However, it soon became obvious that Rome would not let this aggression go unpunished. After an initial defeat of the Roman governor of Cappadocia, Marcus Sedatius Severianus, Marcus Aurelius ordered his co-ruler Lucius Verus to lead a counter-offensive against the Parthians. The junior Augustus set up his command center in Antiochia, from where his general Marcus Statius Priscus invaded Armenia in 163 and restored Sohaemus to the Armenian throne, an event which was celebrated by the emission of this wonderful aureus. The Roman advance did not stop there, as the brilliant general Avidius Cassius moved into Mesopotamia in 165, where he captured the Parthian capital Ktesiphon, before even pushing into Media in 166. When the Romans eventually withdrew, they brought with them what would later be called the Antonine Plague, a dreadful disease which would greatly harm the empire over the next fifteen years. The fate of Sohaemus, on the other hand, is again somewhat in dispute, as there are reports of him being expelled from Armenia once again, perhaps in the course of the Roman retreat of 166. However, the next King of Armenia whose name we know was Vologaeses II, who assumed the throne in 186. This large gap has led to speculations that Sohaemus, though undoubtedly by now quite old, may still have been in power up onto this point.