Gallien (253-268)
Aureus - Cologne (258-259)
D’une qualité exceptionnelle et d’un style remarquable.
Inédit avec le buste à droite, seulement 5 exemplaires connus avec le buste à gauche.
2.56g - Cal. manque cf. 3603 - MIR manque cf. 891f
FDC - MS
AD 258-260 were anni horribiles for Gallienus (born in c. AD 218), with the capture of his father Valerian at the battle of Edessa, and the revolts of Ingenuus, Regalianus and Postumus. Except for a brief visit to Rome where he was made Consul again in AD 255 (257?), and to the Danube area and Illyricum, Gallienus spent the years AD 253-258 in the Rhine provinces (Germania Inferior and Superior, Raetia and Noricum), and his successes were narrated by Eutropius and Aurelius Victor: he had been left in charge of the Western territories, whilst Valerian was in the East (fighting Shapur I and the Persians), and this reverse type and legend evoke his defeat of Germanic tribes. In fact, “among Gallienus” coin types issued during Valerian’s and his joint reign, 82 of 174 military types propagate victory. The majority of these victory types celebrate triumph over German tribes and other northern neighbours; 45 types, all minted in Lugdunum, bear the legend VICTORIA (AVG(G) (IT)) GERMANICA” (E. Manders, Coining Images of Power, Leiden 2002, p. 277). But these coins were not struck in Lugdunum / Lyon but in Colonia Claudia Ara Agrippinensium / Cologne, and it was possibly given as part of Gallienus’ donative in Cologne at the autumn of AD 259 (see J.-M. Doyen, L’atelier de Milan (258-268): recherches sur la chronologie et la politique monétaire des empereurs Valérien et Gallien, 1989 PhD thesis, vol.
I, pp. 134 sqq.). When the emperor left Cologne, his younger son Saloninus remained there, under the care of Postumus.