Wouldn't it be interesting if they found Trajan Decius like they found Richard III of England?

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We actually know where the burial sites of many Roman emperors were located. The problems are that these placed were looted in antiquity and the urns containing the ashes were broken. The Julio Claudians were buried at Augustus' mausoleum, and we still have some of the epitaph stones that survived. But the ashes are long lost to history. Flavian emperors (at least Titus) was buried in his arch (also looted). Hadrian's Mausoleum was also the burial place of several emperors (also looted). And Trajan was buried in his column, but his ashes also do not survive thanks to later looters looking for treasure.

But then again, that's the history of the ancient ruins. What little we see is what escaped medieval scavengers and treasure hunters. There's a lot of castles and churches throughout Europe partially built using recycled marble and stone from Roman buildings. Imagine how much would still be around today if it wasn't for that. Though in some cases, some things probably did survive thanks to looting and recycling. For example, the inscriptions of tomb stones of hundreds of common Roman people survived the effects of weathering away because so many were used as interior stones for medieval buildings.

 

I don't know about physically finding his body, but I do recall reading an article somewhere that reported large amounts of holed and otherwise purposefully damaged aurei of Decius and his immediate predecessors being found across the area, and sometimes quite far away. I believe some were even found at the graves of Gothic chieftains, who were buried with their jewelry and ornaments that were made from the captured remanents of the Imperial treasury. All very interesting...

 

May as well share my Trajan Decius. I don't post it enough.

 

An interesting post - I hope they find something.

A while back I posted an article about damaged gold from Decius:

https://www.cointalk.com/threads/cut-up-gold-coins-of-trajan-decius-battle-of-abritus.303345/

The article is called "The Battle of Abritus, the Imperial Treasury and Aurei in Barbaricum by ALEKSANDER BURSCHE" and was published in The Numismatic Chronicle, 2013

https://www.academia.edu/13213004/T...icum_Numismatic_Chronicle_173_2013_s._151-170

Here is the article's abstract (to whet your appetite):

"Abtract: From the region between the southern Baltic seaboard and Ukraine, territory of Gothic culture settlement, we have records of a great many aurei of Trajan Decius and his immediate predecessors. The early years of the 21st century have witnessed a considerable increase in these finds, the result of widespread amateur metal detector use. In contrast, elsewhere in Barbaricum the same issues are very seldom recorded. All the aurei are pierced above the head of the emperor and some were deliberately chopped into fragments prior to deposition. This treatment of gold coins is not noted elsewhere in Barbaricum or within the Roman Empire. The coins described here are quite certain to be the remains of plunder taken by Goths after their defeat of the Romans at Abritus in AD 251. It is very likely that the entire imperial treasury was captured by the Gothic troops. This is because the Augustus himself and his son, Herennius Etruscus, were killed in that battle. The capture of so many tonnes of gold by the barbarians may be the direct cause of the deterioration in the quality of the aureus under the successors of Trajan Decius. The chopping of the coins into fragments prior to their deposition, that is, a de facto destruction of the enemy’s portrait and annihilation of his power, shows that they must have been a part of the plunder. The destruction of booty taken from defeated enemies is a typically Germanic custom, attested also by the bog deposits of northern Europe."