The Numismatic

Chronicle 175
Offprint

A New Antoninianus in the Name of

Saloninus as Augustus
by

ALBERTO GHIRALDO

LONDON
T H E R O YA L N U M I S M AT I C S O C I E T Y
2015
 A NEW ANTONINIANUS IN THE NAME OF SALONINUS AS AUGUSTUS 155

A New Antoninianus in the Name of

Saloninus as Augustus
ALBERTO GHIRALDO1

I. The historical context

TOWARDS the middle of AD 260 the army of Postumus, governor of Germania Inferior,
halted an invasion of Franks, who had plundered some Roman cities, and recovered
the goods they had looted during their raids. The event constituted an opportunity
to rebel against the imperial authority2 represented in the territory by the Caesar
Saloninus (younger son of the emperor Gallienus), and by his guardian Silvanus, the
Praetorian Prefect who held the actual power in the land. When ordered by Saloninus
and Silvanus to return the recaptured goods to the capital of Germani Inferior, Colonia
Claudia Ara Agrippinensium (Cologne), the army of Postumus replied by elevating
their commander to the imperial purple and marching on Cologne. The turmoil led
Silvanus to suggest that Saloninus assume the title of Augustus in order to have equal
dignity with his father, the emperor. Saloninus thus hoped to bolster his leadership
over the army headquartered at Cologne. However, after a short siege, the city was
conquered by Postumus, possibly aided by the betrayal of the imperial troops who
opened the city gates, and Saloninus and Silvanus were killed. This event marked the
beginning of the Gallic Empire which, with mixed success, lasted up to AD 274 when
Tetricus I and his son surrendered to Aurelian at the Battle of Châlons-sur-Marne.

II. A new PIETAS AVG antoninianus of Saloninus Augustus: analysis and

chronology of the coinages
In NC 2013 Dominique Hollard published a new emission of Saloninus with the title
Augustus, an antoninianus of type PIETAS AVG to accompany the already-known
SPES PVBLICA and FELICITAS AVG types,3 with description as follows:
O\ SALON VALERIANVS AVG; radiate, draped and cuirassed bust right.
R\ PIETAS AVG; sacrificial instruments: lituus, knife, jug, simpulum and sprinkler.
Weight 2.84g, die axis 7h. Fig. 1.

Fig. 1. Specimen published in 2013

1
Translation from the Italian by Andrea Fragiacomo.
2
The main written sources for these events are Zosimus (I, 38, 2-5) and Zonaras (XII, 24, 10-12).
3
Elmer 1941, Shiel 1979, Gilljam 1982 et seq., Göbl 2000, Sondermann 2009, and Kropff 2013.
156 ALBERTO GHIRALDO

Then in July 2014 a second example of the same reverse, but a different obverse
legend appeared on the electronic numismatic market, with description as follows:
O\ IMP SALON VALERIANVS AVG; radiate, draped and cuirassed bust right.
R\ PIETAS AVG; sacrificial instruments: lituus, knife, jug, simpulum and sprinkler.
Weight 3.40g, diameter 24mm. Fig. 2.

Fig. 2. 2014 specimen.

The obverse portrait and the reverse type of the new coin are consistent with the
previous coinage of Saloninus as Caesar struck by the Gallic mint with the obverse
legend SALON VALERIANVS CAES. The new coin introduces an ‘update’ of
the obverse legend by the addition of the prefix IMP (Imperator) and suffix AVG
(Augustus) which reflects the new political situation in the Gallic territory of the
Roman Empire threatened by the advance of the insurgent Postumus.
Although the comparison can only be made from photographs and not directly from
the coins themselves, it seems that 2014 specimen was struck from the same dies as
the antoninianus published in 2013. On the obverse of both specimens, the letters of
the legend which they have in common occupy the same positions and have the same
shape, and, despite the wear on the 2014 specimen, the portrait busts seem identical.
On the reverse the location and shape of the letters PI and VG and the disposition and
shape of the sacrificial tools also seem identical. See the enlargements in fig. 3.

Fig. 3. Enlarged (1.5x) images of the PIETAS AVG specimen published in 2013
and that discovered in 2014.
 A NEW ANTONINIANUS IN THE NAME OF SALONINUS AS AUGUSTUS 157

The new specimen allows us to add a further step in the history of the dies used in
the atelier controlled by Saloninus, as established by Hollard. The hasty appointment
of Saloninus as Augustus must have created something of an emergency at the mint,
which needed to strike at short notice a large amount of coinage bearing the new
imperial title. The simplest solution was to recut the obverse die(s) currently in
use. Thus, the original legend SALON VALERIANVS CAES was first modified
by recutting CAES into AVG, as exemplified by the PIETAS AVG antoninianus
published by Hollard in 2013. The existence of an antoninianus of Saloninus
Augustus bearing SPES PVBLICA on the reverse, and the final version of the legend
IMP SALON VALERIANVS AVG on the obverse (Hollard 2013, plate 30, fig. 2 and
enlargement), allows us to reconstruct the following chronological sequence of the
dies used in the mint:
before the appointment to Augustus: SALON VALERIANVS CAES for
PIETAS AVG type.
after his appointment as Augustus: changed to SALON VALERIANVS
AVG and used with PIETAS AVG type (specimen published in 2013)
this was subsequently expanded to IMP SALON VALERIANVS AVG
and used for both PIETAS AVG (specimen found in 2014) and SPES
PVBLICA types.

III. Hypotheses for the order of emissions of Saloninus as Augustus.

Thus, after Saloninus’ assumption of the rank of Augustus, the mint updated the
titulature on the obverse dies. An initial recutting of dies led to the production of
the PIETAS AVG specimens with the two new variants of the obverse legend. The
specimen published in 2013 probably represents the earliest emission of Saloninus as
Augustus as the prefix IMP is absent. The antoniniani with reverse SPES PVBLICA,
also resulting from the re-use of a type of reverse employed in the Gallic mint,
were probably issued concurrently or soon thereafter. Later, the mint issued the type
FELICITAS AVGG, which was also used for the gold coinage; the double GG refers
to the title Saloninus now shared with his father Gallienus.
The hypothetical aureus with reverse SPES PVBLICA and CAES obverse legend
(Elmer 113) and the hybrid antoninianus FELICITAS AVGG type with CAES
obverse legend (Cunetio 743) deserve separate discussion. No actual specimen of
the aureus is known; its existence was hypothesised by Elmer in order to render the
emissions of the emperor as Caesar consistent with his later emissions as Augustus.
Hollard 2013 acccepted this and included the coin in the corpus of the emperor’s
coinage. However, in the absence of a specimen, and given the confusion and urgency
present in the atelier, the opposite hypothesis (non-existence of the aureus) is equally
plausible. In similar vein, one could argue that an Augustus version of the aureus
with the reverse type PIETAS AVGG should exist in order to maintain consistency,
for an aureus with the same reverse type and CAES legend on the obverse is known
(Elmer 112, although apparently lost). Elmer does not mention this hypothetical
emission (since of course he did not know of the similar antoninianus), nor does
158 ALBERTO GHIRALDO

Hollard. Without documentary evidence, it would be prudent to exclude these two

gold issues from the corpus of Saloninus.
The hybrid antoninianus FELICITAS AVGG (Cunetio 743) can be considered an
official product, a result of the pairing (by mistake) of old and new dies, and it should
thus be included in the catalogue of the emperor, as Hollard saw. In addition, it
helps to shed light on the location of the Gallic mint used by Saloninus. This reverse
was created to reflect Saloninus’s assumption of imperial rank, and was obviously
prepared at the same mint and the same workshop in which Saloninus’s Caesar
coins were previously coined. Moreover, the hybrid Valerianus II4 with the typical
Saloninus PIETAS AVG reverse also testifies that the mint used by Saloninus was
the one that was previously operating in the Gallic area. The confusion generated by
Saloninus’s assumption of the title Augustus is witnessed by the earliest issues with
legends on the obverse, which were first modified and then updated and completed.
This, as well as the consistency of workmanship, suggest that all issues should be
attributed to the only mint that was active, that of Treveri (Trier).
The murder of Saloninus and Silvanus after the capture of Cologne is not a valid
argument for the notion that these issues belong to the besieged capital: Saloninus’
move to Cologne most probably occurred in the final stages of the advance of
Postumus, who had started out from Mogontiacum (Mainz) on his way to Cologne
to conquer and take control of Gaul. Consequently, as long as he had control over it,
Saloninus continued to use the existing mint of Treveri, which was in turn served by
a single workshop.
In conclusion, I believe that the order of the coinage of Saloninus as Augustus
should be updated as follows:

SALON VALERIANVS AVG

1) PIETAS AVG, antoninianus (RIC –; Elmer -; Hollard 1), 1 coin known.
IMP SALON VALERIANVS AVG
2) PIETAS AVG, antoninianus (RIC -; Elmer -; Hollard -), 1 coin known.
3) SPES PVBLICA, antoninianus (RIC 14; Elmer 108; Hollard 5), 48 coins known.

IMP SALON VALERIANVS AVG

4) FELICITAS AVGG, aureus (RIC 1; Elmer 114; Hollard 4), 1 coin known.
5) FELICITAS AVGG, antoninianus (RIC -; Elmer 109; Hollard 6), 13 coins known.

SALON VALERIANVS CAES

6) FELICITAS AVGG, hybrid antoninianus (RIC 8; Elmer -; Cunetio 743; Hollard 2),
4 coins known.

4
Bland 1988, pp. 45, 66 and 73 (no. 522); plate 4, no. 522/1.
 A NEW ANTONINIANUS IN THE NAME OF SALONINUS AS AUGUSTUS 159

Bibliography
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(London 1983).
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and other Roman Coin Hoards (London 1988), pp. 43-73, pl. 2-6. Cunetio: see Besly
and Bland 1983.
G. Elmer, ‘Die Münzprägung der gallischen Kaiser in Köln, Trier und Mailand’, Bonner
Jahrbücher 146 (1941), pp. 1-106.
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(1982), p. 6.
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