The good old Goths are vastly underrepresented in the discussions on this forum. Hence, I thought I discuss a couple of interesting Gothic coins minted under the great Gothic king Baduila-Totila. Never heard of Baduila-Totila? To us coin collectors its just Baduila or Baduela, to everybody else and especially to the historians out there its Totila. The historical sources (mostly Procopius) call him Totila, while on his coins he is called Baduila. Both forms are east Germanic nicknames (like Attila = little father from Gothic Atta= father). My personal theory is that his real name was Theudebad. The Totila nickname was based on the "Theude-" component and the Baduila nickname was based on "Bad". Btw. Theude- (Theod-, Thiut-) means the people and -bad means to fight (cf. battle). Choosing the battle-component of his name for the coins, may have been a propaganda statement or a call to arms. Anyway, Baduila-Totila was a highly significant figure. After the failures of Theodehat, Witigis (not to speak of Eraric and Hildebad), Baduila-Totila managed, for the last time to turn the table on the Romans, inflicted a series of defeats on theem and recapturing Rome twice. Unfortunately, his forces were increasingly depleted during his 10-year reign. At his last battle at Busta Gallorum in 552, he put on a great martial display for the Romans and had his Gothic riders charge "using only the lance" hoping they could ride down Narses' archers for a last time. Alas it was not to be. The Gothic charge got stuck in a hailstorm of arrows and Baduila-Totila lost the battle and his life. His successor Theia or Tejas (wink) managed to gather the last Gothic forces for a final battle at the Mons Lactarius, which put an end to his life and the Gothic kingdom. Here are three 10-Nummi pieces of the great warrior king minted during the second capture of Rome in 549/550. Note, all coins of Baduila-Totila are very rare. Or as the old saying among us Gothic coin collectors goes "What a Roman coin collector calls a rare coin, is usually a common coin to a Gothic coin collector" DN BADV - (ILA REX) // DNB ADV ELA REX This coin has the so called "fine style". It is in my view BOT Here is another one, showing the so called "coarse style" DNBADV ELAREX // DNB ADV ELA REX Again, the coin is of exceptional condition for these issues and probably BOT Finally, the final issue of Baduila Dekas: DNBA DVILAREX // FLVRIA (S SEMPER) (FLOREAS SEMPER) If there are any Baduila-Totila fans out there I sure like to see your coins.
here's mine Totila/ Baduila A.D. 541-552 Decanummium (16mm 5.1g). Rome D N BADVILA REX; Helmeted and cuirassed bust facing. FLOREAS SEMPER; Emperor standing right with shield and spear; X to right. Metlich 98b; MEC 162.
Very nice and attractive! I love the well-centered reverse. However, the figure on the reverse is almost certainly not meant to be the Emperor. Baduila eradicated all mentioning of Justinian on his coins. He rather had his name on both the reverse and obverse of his bronze coins than reference the much hated Justinian*. He almost certainly didn't intend to depict him in full figure. Hence, Metlich describes the reverse as "King standing frontal, holding spear and shield" The X is of course the mark of value. On the earlier issues with the name the X was integrated in the wreath. *From a position of strength Baduila had offered peace to Justinian at several occasions, but the fanatical Justinian would rather have all of Italy laid to waste than negotiate a peaceful solution. At least this is how Procopius told the story, who, despite serving the Roman Emperor disliked Justinian and admired Baduila.
I used the term emperor in a generic sense, to mean ruler...nothing to do with Justinian...force of LRB habit.
Beautiful Baduela pieces all, and tough to find in that nice of condition. I'll just add this little 11mm ae4 type in the name of Anastasius with the monogram of Baduela on the reverse.
A nice 2 (2.5)-Nummi piece minted at Ticinium. These coins are typically very poorly executed, perhaps owing to the fact that Ticinium was a newly founded mint after Baduila had lost assess to both Rome and Ravenna. They all seem to date to the time after Baduila had ordered the removal of Justinian's name from the coins, i.e. after his second peace offer to Justinian. Hence, they were minted in the name of the long dead Anastasius (even if this name is seldom legible on the coins). Here is my example of the monogram-type. The monogram contains all letters of the name BADVELA and a cross above. The monogram-type was succeeded by the with the legend DN REX - B B may stand for both Baduila and the value of 2. Here is my example:
