Different coins with this reverse exist. Trebonianus Gallus, Volusian, Aemilian and Valerian I used it. I read that this reverse type was an appeal to Apollo for deliverance from the plague that was striking the empire at this time. Don't forget that this god was suppose to be a healer.
This one is from Trebonianus Gallus: As for Apollo as a healer, this is from Wikipedia: Healer and god-protector from evil The function of Apollo as a "healer" is connected with Paean (Παιών-Παιήων), the physician of the Gods in the Iliad, who seems to come from a more primitive religion.[53] Paeοn is probably connected with the Mycenaean pa-ja-wo-ne (Linear B: ),[54][55][56] but this is not certain. He did not have a separate cult, but he was the personification of the holy magic-song sung by the magicians that was supposed to cure disease. Later the Greeks knew the original meaning of the relevant song "paean" (παιάν). The magicians were also called "seer-doctors" (ἰατρομάντεις), and they used an ecstatic prophetic art which was used exactly by the god Apollo at the oracles.[57] In the Iliad, Apollo is the healer under the gods, but he is also the bringer of disease and death with his arrows, similar to the function of the Vedic god of disease Rudra.[58] He sends a plague (λοιμός) to the Achaeans. The god who sends a disease can also prevent it; therefore, when it stops, they make a purifying ceremony and offer him a hecatomb to ward off evil. When the oath of his priest appeases, they pray and with a song they call their own god, the Paean.[59] Some common epithets of Apollo as a healer are "paion" (παιών literally "healer" or "helper")[60] "epikourios" (ἐπικούριος, "succouring"), "oulios" (οὔλιος, "healer, baleful")[61] and "loimios" (λοίμιος, "of the plague"). In classical times, his strong function in popular religion was to keep away evil, and was therefore called "apotropaios" (ἀποτρόπαιος, "averting evil") and "alexikakos" (ἀλεξίκακος "keeping off ill"; from v. ἀλέξω + n. κακόν).[62] In later writers, the word, usually spelled "Paean", becomes a mere epithet of Apollo in his capacity as a god of healing.[63] Homer illustrated Paeon the god, and the song both of apotropaic thanksgiving or triumph.[64] Such songs were originally addressed to Apollo, and afterwards to other gods: to Dionysus, to Apollo Helios, to Apollo's son Asclepius the healer. About the 4th century BCE, the paean became merely a formula of adulation; its object was either to implore protection against disease and misfortune, or to offer thanks after such protection had been rendered. It was in this way that Apollo had become recognised as the god of music. Apollo's role as the slayer of the Python led to his association with battle and victory; hence it became the Roman custom for a paean to be sung by an army on the march and before entering into battle, when a fleet left the harbour, and also after a victory had been won.
Where I am, right now we could certainly do with a little help from Apollo the Health-Bringer. Here's a Valerian with the same reverse. It's rated common in RIC, but I've yet to see another example. VALERIAN Billon Antoninianus. 2.82g, 20.5mm. Rome mint, AD 256-257. RIC 76; Cohen 28; Cunetio -. O: IMP C P LIC VALERIANVS P F AVG, radiate, draped and cuirassed bust right. R: APOLL SALVTARI, Apollo standing left holding laurel branch in right hand and lyre resting on rock in left.
Here’s hoping Apollo and all good forces head for the far east, zumbly. I don’t recall having seen that reverse on a Valerian either. If I did, I would probably have bought it. I also have the same reverse on a very beaten up Treb Gal bronze as. I’m not sure if these coins can be proven to have brought me good health, but there’s always placebo.
Good point... I'm a believer. As a matter of fact, I may just start carrying that Valerian around when I'm out and about.
Your coin of Trebonianus Gallus (AD 251-253) was struck in autumn, AD 251, and likely alludes to a serious crisis that befell the Roman empire that year -- the so-called Cyprian plague. The Cyprian plague erupted in Ethiopia around Easter of AD 250. It reached Rome in the following year, eventually spreading to Greece and further east to Syria. The plague lasted nearly 20 years and, at its height, reportedly killed as many as 5,000 people per day in Rome. The outbreak claimed the lives of two emperors: Hostilian in AD 251 and Claudius II Gothicus in 270. Although the etiologic agent of the illness has not been determined by medical historians or paleopathologists, recent work by University of Oklahoma historian Kyle Harper (See here and here) sheds some light. Harper, in the absence of microbiological evidence, examined 23 contemporary textual references to the pestilence and concludes it was due to an ebola-like viral illness. Our very own @Magnus Maximus wrote an interesting article about it here at CT last year. The families of Trajan Decius and Trebonianus Gallus were intertwined. After Decius' death in battle against the Goths in June, AD 251, the troops elevated Gallus (the governor of Moesia) to the throne. Trebonianus Gallus elevated Decius' son, Hostilian to Augustus, making the boy co-emperor, while giving the lower-ranking title of Caesar to his own son, Volusian. Moreover, Volusian wed Hostilian's sister, further strengthening the ties between Gallus and the late emperor Decius. Mattingly and Sydenham (RIC 4 III, p. 154) believe this coin was struck shortly after Hostilian died of the plague in the late summer of AD 251. Its reverse inscription reads APOLL. SALVTARI (Apollini salutari) in the dative case: "to Apollo the healer." Here's an example from my collection: Trebonianus Gallus, AD 251-253. Roman AR antoninianus, 3.60 g, 19.2 mm, 6 h. Rome, 2nd emission, late AD 251. Obv: IMP CAE C VIB TREB GALLVS AVG, radiate, draped and cuirassed bust, right. Rev: APOLL SALVTARI, Apollo standing left, holding branch with right hand and resting left hand on lyre set on rock. Refs: RIC 32; Cohen/RSC 20; RCV 9627; Hunter 21. This SALVS AVGG sestertius likely refers to the same public health emergency: Trebonianus Gallus, AD 251-253. Roman orichalcum sestertius, 19.25 g, 27.4 mm, 1 h. Rome mint, 3rd officina, 1st emission, AD 251. Obv: IMP CAES C VIBIVS TREBONIANVS GALLVS AVG, Laureate, draped, and cuirassed bust right. Rev: SALVS AVGG S C, Salus standing right, feeding serpent which she holds in both arms. Refs: RIC 121a; Cohen 115; RCV 9678; Banti 31; Hunter p. cvi.
