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Antoninianus - Postumus Hercules, 9th Labour
| Issuer | Gallic Empire (Roman splinter states) |
|---|---|
| Year | 286-293 |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Weight | 2.28 g |
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| Obverse description | Radiate and cuirassed bust of Emperor Postumus to right, superimposed upon the bust of Hercules wearing the Nemean lion skin, the whole forming a distinctive double-bust effigy unique to this Herculean series. The emperor's radiate crown with multiple spikes projects prominently, while the lion-skin drape of Hercules is visible beneath, conveying the symbolic identification of the ruler with the demigod. The encircling Latin legend reads POSTVMVS PIVS FELIX AVG, distributed around the beaded border of the flan. |
|---|---|
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| Obverse lettering | POSTVMVS PIVS FELIX AVG (Translation: Postumus, Pious and Blessed Augustus) |
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| Additional information |
Postumus never ruled this coin. The attribution to 286–293 places it under Allectus or one of the later Gallic succession, not the founder who was murdered by his own troops in 269. The Herculean labours series was a deliberate propagandistic project, tying the emperor's image to divine virtue at a moment when the breakaway empire needed every scrap of ideological legitimacy it could manufacture against a reunifying central Roman authority.
Billon content in these late Gallic issues had degraded sharply from Postumus's earlier silvered radiates, and contemporary coin users would have known it.