I've always wanted a coin that marked this momentous occasion and now I have it! I've seen cheaper coins being sold but I decided to splurge on a higher quality example that looks very nice in hand! I'm impressed by these early antoniniani that still maintain at least the appearance of good quality silver before the severe hyperinflation that would take place under the joint reign of Valerian and Gallienus. Without this event to celebrate, there wouldn't be much that stands out about Philip's reign, just another soldier-emperor in a long assembly line of them hacking at their predecessors. But considering his reign happened to fall under the cycle of Rome's centennial celebrations, with Claudius celebrating the 800th and Antoninus Pius celebrating the 900th before him, he might as well take advantage of a whole millennium and give people something positive to associate his reign with. The Ludi Saeculares, or Secular Games, on this occasion were said to be pretty spectacular and historian Gaius Asinius Quadratus wrote a series of books in Greek called Chilieteris or "millennium" in reference to the anniversary. Apparently it was supposed to cover all of Roman history from the city's founding up until Philip's reign but Quadratus died before he could complete it, stopping at the reign of Alexander Severus. For one last moment it seemed like the Rome of old was alive and well before the Crisis of the Third Century would plunge to its deepest, darkest depths shortly after this coin was minted. By the time the next cycle of games would have been celebrated in the fourth century Rome had completely changed, far more impoverished after decades of hyperinflation and was culturally transformed by the rapid spread of Christianity, making the religious rationale that once upheld them obsolete. Do any of you have coins that celebrate a thousand years of Rome? PHILIP I the Arab AR Antoninianus. EF. Cippus - Saeculares. Obverse: IMP PHILIPPVS AVG. Bust radiate, draped, cuirassed right. Reverse: SAECVLARES AVGG. Cippus inscribed COS III. RIC 24c. Rome mint, AD 248. 4,1 g - 23,5 mm
Congrats on your new addition. I don't own any that celebrate the occasion. Just something I never had on my radar.
Exceptional Quality for a coin that is 1,776 years old! Thank you for the excellent narrative on late roman history as it is a complicated mind-blowing subject. Well Done!
Thank you! I've always been fascinated by Late Roman history since it's never talked about as much as Post-Julius Caesar, Pre-Commodus Roman history and the coins from this era are cheaper to get because of that (while still just as intriguing). I think the oldest Roman coin in my collection is from Marcus Aurelius, but I would like to expand to earlier coins as well. And wow, 1,776 years old this year! Another symbolic number to be sure (especially as an American)!
Codera has a lovely example, worthy of any collection. Well-done! Here's my somewhat decrepit example, although it looks much less terrible in person. The lion is one of the tougher ones to find. Philip I. 244-249 AD. AR Antoninianus (3.14 gm, 23mm). Rome mint. Struck 248 AD. Commemorating the 1000th Anniversary of the founding of Rome. Obv.: IMP PHILIPPVS AVG, radiate, draped and cuirassed bust right. Rev.: SAECVLARES AVGG, lion walking right; I in exergue. RIC 12; RSC 173. A bit porous,
