Catalog
See full images - free registration
Continue with Google - no registration!
or register with email
Why register? Just to keep bots out of our catalog. Your email stays private - we will never share it or send you anything uninvited. We guarantee you that!
Aureus - Uranius Antoninus CONSERVATOR AVG
| Issuer | Syria, Usurpations of |
|---|---|
| Year | 253-254 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Denarius, Reform of Augustus (27 BC – AD 215) |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Weight | Log in to see details |
| Diameter | Log in to see details |
| Thickness | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Log in to see details |
| Technique | Log in to see details |
| Orientation | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | Log in to see details |
| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Log in to see details |
| Reverse script | Latin |
| Reverse lettering | CONSERVATOR AVG (Translation: Protector of the emperor) |
| Edge | Log in to see details |
| Mint | Log in to see details |
| Mintage | Log in to see details |
| Additional information |
Uranius Antoninus was a local Syrian usurper — possibly a priest of the sun god at Emesa — who seized power around 253 AD as Shapur I's Sasanian forces pushed deep into Roman Syria. His coinage is extraordinarily rare, struck in a region under direct military threat, and the gold issues in particular survive in numbers that can be counted without running out of fingers. Whether his mint was operating at Emesa or somewhere nearby remains debated.
RIC IV.3 #2a is one of the foundational references for this type, though the total known specimen count at the time of publication was minimal. Shapur's campaign that prompted this usurpation is the same one that would, within a year or two, capture the emperor Valerian himself.