Featured Salus Provinciarum: Postumus and the Rhine Border

His origin is uncertain, but you are probably both right. Postumus is maybe born in Gallia Belgica, one of the four provinces created by Augustus. So he has a Gallic and Batavian origin.

 

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I meant the original source

 

As far as I understand, the main source for this are indeed Postumus' coins, especially this reverse type, which was minted in great numbers:


Postumus, Gallic Roman Empire, AR antoninianus, 261 AD, Trier mint. Obv: IMP C POSTVMVS P F AVG; bust of Postumus, radiate, draped, cuirassed, r. Rev: HERC DEVSONIENSI; Hercules stg. r., with r. hand leaning on club, and holding bow in l. hand and lion’s skin over I. arm. 24 mm, 3.44g. Ref: Mairat 100; RIC V Postumus 64.

"DEVSONIENSI" appears to be a place name. A Germanic city named "Deusone" is mentioned in St. Jerome's Chronicon and probably refers to the Dutch village of Diessen in North Brabant, that is in former Batavian core territory. The "Hercules of Diessen" likely was a local Germanic deity that had been absorbed into the provincial Roman pantheon.

The fact that Postumus highlighted this local deity on his coins has led some scholars to believe that Diessen was Postumus' birthplace and/or that he belonged to the Batavian population associated with the cult of Hercules Deusoniensis. Jerome Mairat discusses these positions in detail and concludes: "It seems very possible, indeed, that Postumus was born at Diessen or, at least, was of Batavian origin. But without any other evidence, the interpretation of a single reverse type is probably inadequate to prove the location of Postumus’s birthplace, and doubts must remain." (Mairat: The Coinage of the Gallic Empire, Oxford 2014, 107).

 

Good observation. The early portrait style of Postumus differs significantly from the later style characterized by a slightly upturned nose, fuller lips and the lack of what I call the Gallienic overbite. In fact, Postumus on these earlier coins often looks like Gallienus with more beard. Apart from the Rhenus issue, the "skinny" Hercules Devsoniensis issue, some of the reverses that @hotwheelsearl fittingly calls "spaghetti Victoria" as well as some rarer gold and AE issues fall into this early portrait period. Compare, for example, the early portrait on this "skinny Hercules" antoninianus with the later portrait on the "chunky Hercules" coin that I posted above:

Postumus, Gallic Roman Empire, AR antoninianus, mid–end 260 AD, Trier mint. Obv: IMP C POSTVMVS.P.F.AVG; bust of Postumus, radiate, draped, cuirassed, r. Rev: HERC DEVSONIENSI; Hercules stg. r., with r. hand leaning on club, and holding bow in l. hand and lion’s skin over I. arm. 23 mm, 3.57g. Ref: Mairat 15; RIC V Postumus 64.

This "spaghetti Victory" also shows an early portrait. This type generally shows a lot of variety. I think it quite possible that @Tejas ' coin posted above is not unofficial but rather comes from the early issue when the emperor's portrait was not yet fully developed:


Postumus, Gallic Roman Empire, BI antoninianus, mid–end 260 AD, Trier mint. Obv: IMP C POSTVMVS P F AVG; bust of Postumus, radiate, draped, cuirassed, r. Rev: VICTORIA AVG; Victory running l., holding wreath in r. hand and palm against l. shoulder in l. hand, kicking bound and std. captive to l., with r. foot. 21mm, 3.76g. Ref: Mairat 19; RIC V Postumus 89.

The hornless reverse variety with the river god holding a reed instead of an anchor is much rarer than the horned variety. Very nice coin!

That's rather typical for the early Postumus issues. The circumstances at Postumus' mint must have been rather chaotic in the first months, and it seems that the mint workers indiscriminately melted down old billon and silver to produce flans, leading to a broad spectrum of silver purity in their early issues.

 

Some sources claim Postumus was born in the southern part of the Netherlands:

 

SALVS PROVINCIARVM is certainly the most interesting of the commonly available Postumus types. He has some super rare ones including some aurii that are spectacular (and too rich for my blood). Several example have been shown of the HERC DEVSONIENSI and Orielensis covered the theories well so all I can add is the type also comes in a double sestertius.

 

A very interesting post!

I do not collect late bronzes, but did add this one of Postumus to the collection many years ago because I fell in love with the intense green patina:

Postumus sestertius, Fides Militvm.

 

Nicely done! I have always wondered how a usurper who didn't survive that long could have struck what appears to be such a massive number of coins - or was it that the coins were quickly buried when Postumus was overthrown and therefore survived in greater numbers? Where did all that silver come from? A very interesting usurper - wish there was more information on him in ancient sources!

 

You can find the answer to that under the Reference listings in the Wikipedia article.