Coin Depicting Mystery Roman Emperor Found

[Mighty_Emperor]

In more Emperor news:

Rare coin find stuns historians

A man with a metal detector has unearthed a Roman bronze coin so rare it bears the face of a mystery emperor who "ruled" Britain for a matter of days.

Brian Malin, from Oxfordshire, found it in a field in the county.

It bears the face of Emperor Domitianus and is only the second coin ever found which bears the image of the self-proclaimed ruler of Britain and France in 271AD.

A similar coin was found in France 100 years ago but until now its uniqueness had meant both Emperor Domitianus and the coin were dismissed as a hoax.

Historians say the British discovery confirms the French find is genuine and Domitianus existed.

They believe he was an upstart from the Roman legion who was ousted for treason for daring to declare himself emperor and have the coins made.

Mr Malin found the coin in a field 10 miles south-east of Oxford.

The coin was among a pot of 5,000 all bearing the heads of emperors and stuck together, providing the perfect "timeline" for archaeologists.

He handed his find to the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford which passed it to experts at the British Museum who began separating the coins.

The coins dating from 250AD to the mid 270sAD spanned five emperors during a time of great upheaval for the Roman empire.

The Domitianus coin is going on display at the British Museum.

Story filed: 18:13 Tuesday 24th February 2004

http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_871209.html

Emps

 

[Jerry_B]

Looking forward to seeing that on display at the BM!

 

[Mighty_Emperor]

Another report:

Emperor strikes back

Coin depicts obscure Roman ruler

Maev Kennedy, arts and heritage correspondent

Wednesday February 25, 2004
The Guardian



A scruffy bronze coin, unveiled yesterday at the British Museum proves that the Roman emperor Domitianus was not a Victorian forgery but a real ruler - and a tough cookie if the image is a good likeness.
Domitianus is so obscure that the only evidence that he became emperor is two small coins: one found over a century ago in France, the other, revealed yesterday, found near Oxford.

Curator Richard Abdy described the coin as "sensational", a find which meant history would have to be rewritten. "Only the archaeological evidence of this coin shows that he was indeed emperor and provides us with a face to go with history's forgotten ruler."

He urged coin collectors to look at third century Roman coins of bearded military types, in the hope that more Domitianus coins are out there, wrongly identified.

Domitianus is now believed to have been a rebel emperor from the Gaul region, who may have seized power in 271 AD in the short lived "Gallic empire", and ruled for less than a year before he was toppled.

The only other Domitianus coin was found in the Loire in around 1900. Since nothing like it was known, and the context of the find was uncertain, it was dismissed as a fake. It was only recently rediscovered, in a local museum.

The context of the new find is so solid that it has taken experts at the British Museum almost a year to prise the coin free.

It was found, on farmland 10 miles from Oxford, by an amateur using a metal detector, in a hoard of other coins which were corroded together.

Mr Abdy said there were only two brief references to Domitianus in historical sources. Both refer to him as a high ranking army officer, and to his being punished for treason by the emperor Aurelian - but neither records that he became emperor.

The coin is on display in the Buried Treasure exhibition at the British Museum until March 14.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,3604,1155365,00.html

 

[Anonymous]

Alternate history time;

Domitianus gains the respect of the province of Britannia and invades Gaul, with the help of thousands of Caledonian mercenaries; he defeats Aurelian in 276 and becomes the undisputed Emperor. by 279 the Palmyran Hordes are at the Gates of Rome, but are beaten back by famine and disease; in a remarkable campaign Domitianus defeats the Palmyrans but Rome is a damaged city.

Domitianus decides to move his capital to Byzantium, and renames it Domitianople; he decrees that the Mithraic religion is the only true religion, and the Eastern Empire becomes a magnet for philosophers and engineers.

Following his death the Eastern Empire improved irrigation in the breadbasket lands of North Africa, and once again became an economic success; the Germanic tribes sent many soldiers to assist in the subjugation of the Guptan Empire, and colonies were established in Iceland and Vinland by the year 700.

The Dark Ages, and the rise of Christianity, never happened.

 

[Jerry_B]

'The coin is on display in the Buried Treasure exhibition at the British Museum until March 14.'

Oh bugger - I've already been to that. Bit annoying that they've snuck this new coin into that exhibition at this late a date.

 

[EnolaGaia]

Here's a BBC summary of the coin and the accompanying picture of it.

​

Roman coin of Domitianus II

Domitianus was probably a Roman soldier of the mid-third century AD who was acclaimed Emperor, probably in northern Gaul, in late 270 or early 271 AD and struck coins to advertise his elevation.

Domitianus' reign lasted only a few weeks, and with no literary references to his being emperor, the only evidence for his existence and rule derives from two coins. The first was discovered in France in 1900, the second, now in the Ashmolean Museum, was found in a pot with 5,000 other coins of the period 250-275, thus providing firm provenance, in the village of Chalgrove in Oxfordshire, in 2003.

The design of both coins is typical of those associated with the 'Gallic Empire'. They are of the "radiate" type and depict Domitianus as a bearded figure wearing a spiky or radiate crown representing the rays of the sun, and bearing the legend, IMP C DOMITIANUS P F AUG, an abbreviation for 'Imperator Caesar Domitianus Pius Flavius Augustus'.

The reverse of this coin shows 'Concord', the Roman goddess of agreement, understanding, and marital harmony.

SOURCE: http://www.bbc.co.uk/ahistoryoftheworld/objects/04_a5CdfSfSer1EnSzbGDw

 

[Ermintruder]

Fascinating: for the first time in my life I now understand what the ridged/milled edge of a modern coin must represent....the original rough unrefined circumference of ancient cold-stamped classical coinage

 

[Fluttermoth]

Fascinating: for the first time in my life I now understand what the ridged/milled edge of a modern coin must represent....the original rough unrefined circumference of ancient cold-stamped classical coinage

I think that's coincidental; milled edges were introduced to stop people clipping little bits of the edges of coins, when they were made out of actual precious metals.

 

[Ermintruder]

I think that's coincidental;

Ah. Thanks.

 

[IbisNibs]

I believe Fluttermoth's explanation of the ridged edge on coins is correct, but I prefer Ermintruder's theory of it being an homage to the ancients.