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.
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.