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Antoniniani of Antioch in Gallienus' sole reign
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<p>[QUOTE="Roman Collector, post: 4299727, member: 75937"]The period leading up to the reigns of Valerian I and Gallienus is often referred to as the "<a href="http://sonic.net/~marius1/mysite/index.htm" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://sonic.net/~marius1/mysite/index.htm" rel="nofollow">four bad years</a>," in which Rome was fraught with problems, both internal and external, characterized by a succession of short-lived soldier-emperors and usurpers. In the summer of AD 253, following the death of Trebonianus Gallus and the accession of Aemilian, whose reign lasted a mere three months, Valerian was raised to the rank of emperor by his troops. At 53 years of age and realizing he needed to formalize a successor, Valerian raised his grown son Gallienus to co-emperor shortly thereafter.</p><p><br /></p><p>The joint reign of Valerian and Gallienus was characterized by conflict with the Sasanian Persians, and Valerian commissioned the mints of the east to strike coinage to pay his troops doing battle there. Antioch was one of the largest cities in the Roman empire and the most productive mint in the east during this time. We know from hoard data that the mint at Antioch produced five large issues during the period of AD 253-257,[1] but was closed down at least twice[2, 3] during the joint reign, with a hiatus of production in the east until late in AD 263, three years after Valerian was taken captive by the Persians and two years after the downfall of Macrianus and Quietus in the west, when it was resumed and continued uninterrupted into the reign of Claudius II.[3]</p><p><br /></p><p>This article focuses on these later issues, during the sole reign of Gallienus. Under his sole reign, antoniniani were minted for himself bearing the inscription GALLIENVS AVG and for his wife Salonina reading SALONINA AVG. The coins are of low weight and extremely debased, being coated with a thin layer of silvering, which, when intact, masked the debasement. The portraits and devices on the coins of this mint are finely but shallowly engraved, and are often small compared to those issued by the other mints in operation elsewhere in the empire. The portraits of Salonina are rendered in a very distinctive style and the crescent on which her bust rests is large but extremely thin.</p><p><br /></p><p>Sometimes the legends are misspelled, such as the example below with the SAECVLARHS inscription, probably the result of a Greek-speaking engraver who replaced the Roman letter E with the Greek eta. Among other misspellings recorded in the literature are MINEREA for MINERVA and IVBENTVS AVG for IVVENTVS AVG, the beta in Greek being used to indicate the bilabial voiced fricative indicated by consonantal V in late Latin.[2]</p><p><br /></p><p>Unusual for coins of the period, many from this mint bear marks in the exergue or fields and represent dates or control marks. These include VIIC (7th consulate?), PXV (probably TR P XV = AD 267, though Roger Bland and others have suggested otherwise), CVIPP (possibly AD 265), as well as a variety of dots, stars, crescents and branches. These marks may reflect specific events or circumstances about which we can only speculate. Some of these marks are illustrated by coins in my collection, below.</p><p><br /></p><p>Post any coins you may have of Gallienus or Salonina from Antioch or anything you feel is relevant.</p><p><br /></p><p>Here are 10 coins from my collection (the limit that can be posted), arranged chronologically by Göbl number.</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1094354[/ATTACH]</p><p>Salonina, AD 253-268.</p><p>Roman billon antoninianus, 3.87 g, 21.1 mm, 7 h.</p><p>Antioch, AD 264.</p><p>Obv: SALONINA AVG, diademed and draped bust, right, on crescent.</p><p>Rev: IVNO REGINA, Juno standing left, holding patera and scepter, peacock at feet left; star in left field.</p><p>Refs: Göbl 1619f; RIC 92; Cohen 67; RCV 10641; cf. Hunter pp. lxxiii-lxxiv.</p><p><br /></p><p><img src="https://www.cointalk.com/attachments/gallienus-saecvlarhs-avg-antoninianus-jpg.703260/" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /></p><p>Gallienus, AD 253-268.</p><p>Roman billon Antoninianus, 3.34 g, 20.4 mm, 10 h.</p><p>Antioch, AD 265.</p><p>Obv: GALLIENVS AVG, radiate, draped and cuirassed bust, right.</p><p>Rev: SAECVLARHS AVG, stag standing right, branch in exergue.</p><p>Refs: Göbl 1626c; RIC 656; Cohen 924; RCV 10345; Hunter 195.</p><p><br /></p><p><img src="https://www.cointalk.com/attachments/gallienus-aeternitas-avg-wolf-and-twins-antoninianus-jpg.824540/" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /></p><p>Gallienus, AD 253-268.</p><p>Roman Billon Antoninianus, 2.84 g, 21.2 mm, 11 h.</p><p>Antioch, AD 265-266.</p><p>Obv: GALLIENVS AVG, radiate, draped and cuirassed bust, right.</p><p>Rev: AETERNITAS AVG, <i>Lupa Romana</i> (she-wolf suckling Romulus and Remus), right; branch in exergue.</p><p>Refs: Göbl 1628e; RIC 628; Cohen 46; RCV 10171 var.</p><p><br /></p><p><img src="https://www.cointalk.com/attachments/salonina-antioch-cereri-avg-antoninianus-jpg.791163/" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /></p><p>Cornelia Salonina, AD 253-268.</p><p>Roman silvered billon antoninianus, 3.15 g, 22.7 mm, 5 h.</p><p>Antioch, AD 265.</p><p>Obv: SALONINA AVG, diademed and draped bust right on crescent.</p><p>Rev: CERERI AVG, Ceres, veiled and wearing polos, seated left, holding grain head with right hand and long torch in left. Branch in exergue.</p><p>Refs: Göbl 1637e; RIC 90; Cohen 22; RCV 10627.</p><p><br /></p><p><img src="https://www.cointalk.com/attachments/gallienus-conservator-avg-antoninianus-jpg.793632/" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /></p><p>Gallienus, AD 253-268.</p><p>Roman billon Antoninianus, 2.24 g, 20.5 mm, 11 h.</p><p>Antioch, AD 265-266.</p><p>Obv: GALLIENVS AVG, radiate and cuirassed bust, right.</p><p>Rev: CONSERVATOR AVG, Aesculapius standing left, leaning on staff with serpent.</p><p>Refs: Göbl 1649g; RIC 632; Cohen 140; Sear 10193; Hunter 208.</p><p><br /></p><p><img src="https://www.cointalk.com/attachments/salonina-salvs-antioch-antoninianus-jpg.785935/" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /></p><p>Salonina, AD 253-268.</p><p>Roman billon Antoninianus, 4.24 g, 19.7 mm, 6 h.</p><p>Antioch, AD 265.</p><p>Obv: SALONINA AVG, diademed and draped bust right on crescent.</p><p>Rev: SALVS AVG, Salus standing right, feeding from patera serpent held in arms.</p><p>Refs: Göbl 1656h; RIC 88 var.; Cohen 105; RCV 10652; cf. Hunter p. lxxiv.</p><p>Notes: RIC 88 has VIIC in the exergue.</p><p><br /></p><p><img src="https://www.cointalk.com/attachments/gallienus-aeternitas-avg-saturn-antoninianus-antioch-jpg.1028482/" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /></p><p>Gallienus, AD 253-268.</p><p>Roman billon antoninianus, 4.26 g, 18.8 mm, 12 h.</p><p>Antioch, 15th emission, AD 266-268.</p><p>Obv: GALLIENVS AVG, radiate, draped and cuirassed bust, right.</p><p>Rev: AETERNITAS AVG, Saturn standing right, holding harpa in left hand; PXV in exergue.</p><p>Refs: RIC 606; Göbl 1662i; Cohen 44; RCV 10170.</p><p><br /></p><p><img src="https://www.cointalk.com/attachments/gallienus-fides-avg-mercury-jpg.815910/" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /></p><p>Gallienus, AD 253-268.</p><p>Roman silvered billon antoninianus, 4.25 g, 21.3 mm, 11 h.</p><p>Antioch, AD 267.</p><p>Obv: GALLIENVS AVG, radiate and cuirassed bust, right.</p><p>Rev: FIDES AVG, Mercury standing right, holding marsupium (purse) and caduceus; PXV in exergue.</p><p>Refs: Göbl 1667k; RIC 607F; Cohen 219; RCV 10212; Hunter p. lxx.</p><p><br /></p><p><img src="https://www.cointalk.com/attachments/gallienus-salvs-avg-antoninianus-jpg.839423/" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /></p><p>Gallienus, AD 253-268.</p><p>Roman billon antoninianus, 3.73 g, 20.5 mm, 12 h.</p><p>Antioch, AD 267.</p><p>Obv: GALLIENVS AVG, radiate and cuirassed bust, right.</p><p>Rev: SALVS AVG, Apollo standing facing, head left, holding branch left, leaning on tripod right; PXV in exergue.</p><p>Refs: Göbl 1670k; RIC 610F; Cohen 927; RCV 10346; Hunter, p. lxx.</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1094361[/ATTACH]</p><p>Salonina, AD 253-268.</p><p>Roman billon Antoninianus, 3.58 g, 22.4 mm, 5 h.</p><p>Antioch, AD 267.</p><p>Obv: SALONINA AVG, diademed and draped bust right on crescent.</p><p>Rev: VENVS AVG, Venus standing left, holding helmet and spear; beside her, shield; PXV in exergue.</p><p>Refs: Göbl 1671l; RIC 86; Cohen 113; RCV 10654.</p><p><br /></p><p>~~~</p><p><br /></p><p>1. Bland, Roger, et al. <i>The Cunetio and Normanby Hoards: Roger Bland, Edward Besly and Andrew Burnett, with Notes to Aid Identification by Sam Moorhead</i>. Spink & Son Ltd, 2018, p. 40.</p><p><br /></p><p>2. Franklin-Werz, Claire. "Gallienus and the East." <i>Coins Weekly</i>, 3 Dec. 2019, coinsweekly.com/gallienus-and-the-east/.</p><p><br /></p><p>3. Bland, op. cit., p. 41.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>
[QUOTE="Roman Collector, post: 4299727, member: 75937"]The period leading up to the reigns of Valerian I and Gallienus is often referred to as the "[URL='http://sonic.net/~marius1/mysite/index.htm']four bad years[/URL]," in which Rome was fraught with problems, both internal and external, characterized by a succession of short-lived soldier-emperors and usurpers. In the summer of AD 253, following the death of Trebonianus Gallus and the accession of Aemilian, whose reign lasted a mere three months, Valerian was raised to the rank of emperor by his troops. At 53 years of age and realizing he needed to formalize a successor, Valerian raised his grown son Gallienus to co-emperor shortly thereafter. The joint reign of Valerian and Gallienus was characterized by conflict with the Sasanian Persians, and Valerian commissioned the mints of the east to strike coinage to pay his troops doing battle there. Antioch was one of the largest cities in the Roman empire and the most productive mint in the east during this time. We know from hoard data that the mint at Antioch produced five large issues during the period of AD 253-257,[1] but was closed down at least twice[2, 3] during the joint reign, with a hiatus of production in the east until late in AD 263, three years after Valerian was taken captive by the Persians and two years after the downfall of Macrianus and Quietus in the west, when it was resumed and continued uninterrupted into the reign of Claudius II.[3] This article focuses on these later issues, during the sole reign of Gallienus. Under his sole reign, antoniniani were minted for himself bearing the inscription GALLIENVS AVG and for his wife Salonina reading SALONINA AVG. The coins are of low weight and extremely debased, being coated with a thin layer of silvering, which, when intact, masked the debasement. The portraits and devices on the coins of this mint are finely but shallowly engraved, and are often small compared to those issued by the other mints in operation elsewhere in the empire. The portraits of Salonina are rendered in a very distinctive style and the crescent on which her bust rests is large but extremely thin. Sometimes the legends are misspelled, such as the example below with the SAECVLARHS inscription, probably the result of a Greek-speaking engraver who replaced the Roman letter E with the Greek eta. Among other misspellings recorded in the literature are MINEREA for MINERVA and IVBENTVS AVG for IVVENTVS AVG, the beta in Greek being used to indicate the bilabial voiced fricative indicated by consonantal V in late Latin.[2] Unusual for coins of the period, many from this mint bear marks in the exergue or fields and represent dates or control marks. These include VIIC (7th consulate?), PXV (probably TR P XV = AD 267, though Roger Bland and others have suggested otherwise), CVIPP (possibly AD 265), as well as a variety of dots, stars, crescents and branches. These marks may reflect specific events or circumstances about which we can only speculate. Some of these marks are illustrated by coins in my collection, below. Post any coins you may have of Gallienus or Salonina from Antioch or anything you feel is relevant. Here are 10 coins from my collection (the limit that can be posted), arranged chronologically by Göbl number. [ATTACH=full]1094354[/ATTACH] Salonina, AD 253-268. Roman billon antoninianus, 3.87 g, 21.1 mm, 7 h. Antioch, AD 264. Obv: SALONINA AVG, diademed and draped bust, right, on crescent. Rev: IVNO REGINA, Juno standing left, holding patera and scepter, peacock at feet left; star in left field. Refs: Göbl 1619f; RIC 92; Cohen 67; RCV 10641; cf. Hunter pp. lxxiii-lxxiv. [IMG]https://www.cointalk.com/attachments/gallienus-saecvlarhs-avg-antoninianus-jpg.703260/[/IMG] Gallienus, AD 253-268. Roman billon Antoninianus, 3.34 g, 20.4 mm, 10 h. Antioch, AD 265. Obv: GALLIENVS AVG, radiate, draped and cuirassed bust, right. Rev: SAECVLARHS AVG, stag standing right, branch in exergue. Refs: Göbl 1626c; RIC 656; Cohen 924; RCV 10345; Hunter 195. [IMG]https://www.cointalk.com/attachments/gallienus-aeternitas-avg-wolf-and-twins-antoninianus-jpg.824540/[/IMG] Gallienus, AD 253-268. Roman Billon Antoninianus, 2.84 g, 21.2 mm, 11 h. Antioch, AD 265-266. Obv: GALLIENVS AVG, radiate, draped and cuirassed bust, right. Rev: AETERNITAS AVG, [I]Lupa Romana[/I] (she-wolf suckling Romulus and Remus), right; branch in exergue. Refs: Göbl 1628e; RIC 628; Cohen 46; RCV 10171 var. [IMG]https://www.cointalk.com/attachments/salonina-antioch-cereri-avg-antoninianus-jpg.791163/[/IMG] Cornelia Salonina, AD 253-268. Roman silvered billon antoninianus, 3.15 g, 22.7 mm, 5 h. Antioch, AD 265. Obv: SALONINA AVG, diademed and draped bust right on crescent. Rev: CERERI AVG, Ceres, veiled and wearing polos, seated left, holding grain head with right hand and long torch in left. Branch in exergue. Refs: Göbl 1637e; RIC 90; Cohen 22; RCV 10627. [IMG]https://www.cointalk.com/attachments/gallienus-conservator-avg-antoninianus-jpg.793632/[/IMG] Gallienus, AD 253-268. Roman billon Antoninianus, 2.24 g, 20.5 mm, 11 h. Antioch, AD 265-266. Obv: GALLIENVS AVG, radiate and cuirassed bust, right. Rev: CONSERVATOR AVG, Aesculapius standing left, leaning on staff with serpent. Refs: Göbl 1649g; RIC 632; Cohen 140; Sear 10193; Hunter 208. [IMG]https://www.cointalk.com/attachments/salonina-salvs-antioch-antoninianus-jpg.785935/[/IMG] Salonina, AD 253-268. Roman billon Antoninianus, 4.24 g, 19.7 mm, 6 h. Antioch, AD 265. Obv: SALONINA AVG, diademed and draped bust right on crescent. Rev: SALVS AVG, Salus standing right, feeding from patera serpent held in arms. Refs: Göbl 1656h; RIC 88 var.; Cohen 105; RCV 10652; cf. Hunter p. lxxiv. Notes: RIC 88 has VIIC in the exergue. [IMG]https://www.cointalk.com/attachments/gallienus-aeternitas-avg-saturn-antoninianus-antioch-jpg.1028482/[/IMG] Gallienus, AD 253-268. Roman billon antoninianus, 4.26 g, 18.8 mm, 12 h. Antioch, 15th emission, AD 266-268. Obv: GALLIENVS AVG, radiate, draped and cuirassed bust, right. Rev: AETERNITAS AVG, Saturn standing right, holding harpa in left hand; PXV in exergue. Refs: RIC 606; Göbl 1662i; Cohen 44; RCV 10170. [IMG]https://www.cointalk.com/attachments/gallienus-fides-avg-mercury-jpg.815910/[/IMG] Gallienus, AD 253-268. Roman silvered billon antoninianus, 4.25 g, 21.3 mm, 11 h. Antioch, AD 267. Obv: GALLIENVS AVG, radiate and cuirassed bust, right. Rev: FIDES AVG, Mercury standing right, holding marsupium (purse) and caduceus; PXV in exergue. Refs: Göbl 1667k; RIC 607F; Cohen 219; RCV 10212; Hunter p. lxx. [IMG]https://www.cointalk.com/attachments/gallienus-salvs-avg-antoninianus-jpg.839423/[/IMG] Gallienus, AD 253-268. Roman billon antoninianus, 3.73 g, 20.5 mm, 12 h. Antioch, AD 267. Obv: GALLIENVS AVG, radiate and cuirassed bust, right. Rev: SALVS AVG, Apollo standing facing, head left, holding branch left, leaning on tripod right; PXV in exergue. Refs: Göbl 1670k; RIC 610F; Cohen 927; RCV 10346; Hunter, p. lxx. [ATTACH=full]1094361[/ATTACH] Salonina, AD 253-268. Roman billon Antoninianus, 3.58 g, 22.4 mm, 5 h. Antioch, AD 267. Obv: SALONINA AVG, diademed and draped bust right on crescent. Rev: VENVS AVG, Venus standing left, holding helmet and spear; beside her, shield; PXV in exergue. Refs: Göbl 1671l; RIC 86; Cohen 113; RCV 10654. ~~~ 1. Bland, Roger, et al. [I]The Cunetio and Normanby Hoards: Roger Bland, Edward Besly and Andrew Burnett, with Notes to Aid Identification by Sam Moorhead[/I]. Spink & Son Ltd, 2018, p. 40. 2. Franklin-Werz, Claire. "Gallienus and the East." [I]Coins Weekly[/I], 3 Dec. 2019, coinsweekly.com/gallienus-and-the-east/. 3. Bland, op. cit., p. 41.[/QUOTE]
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