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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Radagaisus, post: 10008412, member: 143094&quot;]As mentioned above, the methodology is impressive. However, the main argument is quite curious. The authors admit that the forgers knew how to achieve a realistic wear pattern and that there is no way to say how long the coins were buried, but paragraphs later they claim that the wear and burial described above prove that they products of antiquity and dismiss the previous consensus. It seems a bit of a jump. </p><p>All the more, since this Sponsianus is not attested by any other source, the coins are not securely dated (the previous consensus was AD 248/249, the authors change it to 260s). The reverse imitates a 135 BC Republican denarius, so the observe could imitate as well an older model (but see below), and the coins could be dated later. From this point of view, the argument for an authentic 3rd century coin is circular. </p><p><br /></p><p>The paper admits the coins are unusual in some regards, but does not explore what does it mean to the question of their authenticity. There are some details which were not noticed:</p><p>- The Dacian mint at Apulum issued bronze coins between ca. AD 246 and 257. Why did the hypothetical usurper not use it (the coins of Pacatianus were struck in Viminacium, of Regalianus in Carnuntum etc.)? Why and how did a Dacian mint use a Republican reverse with a depiction of Columna Minucia and a legend of Caius Minucius Augurinus? </p><p>- Why the radiate head on an aureus? See, for example, coins of other usurpers:</p><p><a href="https://coinweek.com/ancient-coins/imperial-wannabes-the-ancient-coinage-of-roman-usurpers/" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://coinweek.com/ancient-coins/imperial-wannabes-the-ancient-coinage-of-roman-usurpers/" rel="nofollow">https://coinweek.com/ancient-coins/imperial-wannabes-the-ancient-coinage-of-roman-usurpers/</a></p><p>- Why the so-called emperor had a servile name? The paper claims that &quot;Only one other instance of it is known, from a first century funerary inscription in Rome which names an obscure individual called Nicodemus Sponsian&quot;. That&#039;s not quite true. The name is recorded on three funerary inscriptions from Rome, all of them slaves or freedmen. In any case, the hypothetical forger needed not to know the inscriptions, because he could have easily derived the name from Latin words such as spons &quot;(free) will&quot;, sponsio &quot;promise&quot;, just as the masters of these slaves did. Obviously, if this were the case, he did not know that his made-up name would eventually turn up in inscriptions.</p><p>In my opinion, such details allow for the hypothesis of a forger, someone not very knowledgeable in Roman history and numismatics, using a fabricated name and combining elements from different coins he knew (probably misreading C AVG for Caesar Augustus). </p><p><br /></p><p>The article concludes &quot;We suggest that Sponsian may have been the commanding officer (dux) of these legions and the combined forces of Dacia, and that he led a secessionist regime within a time window extending from 260 to the mid-270s at a time when most of the rest of the empire was wracked by civil war and collapsed frontiers, and secure communication with Rome was impossible. &quot; That seems problematic. Some vexillationes from these legions were certainly relocated during the reign of Gallienus: some inscriptions at Poetovio in Pannonia were set up by the commander of the two legions, a certain Flavius Aper, who was probably accompanied by soldiers. More soldiers from the Dacian legions are attested in north western Italy in this period, some of them being mentioned as killed in action. The soldiers must also be paid: the number of coins/year in Dacia drops under Gallienus, and they tend to concentrate in the south, on the Danube. Many scholars use such evidence to argue that Gallienus used the Dacian units in his campaigns against barbarians raids and usurpers and the Danube became the new frontier. After his death and the short reign of Claudius II, Aurelian created Dacia Aureliana south of the Danube.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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