1/2 Siliqua Sirmium, bust facing left

The Gepids seized Sirmium — one of the most strategically valuable cities in late antique Europe, a former imperial residence and major mint site — after the collapse of Hunnic power following Attila's death in 453. Their coinage in silver is explicitly imitative of late Roman types, a deliberate legitimizing strategy adopted by a kingdom that controlled Roman infrastructure without Roman authority. Sirmium itself would fall to the Avars and Lombards in 567, the very terminus of this issue's date range.