Sirmium was one of the most strategically vital mints in the late Roman west, sitting at the crossroads of the Danubian frontier and the Balkans — a region under near-constant military pressure in this period. The years bracketing this issue include the catastrophe at Adrianople in August 378, where the Visigoths killed Gratian's co-emperor Valens and destroyed a Roman field army. Gratian's subsequent elevation of Theodosius to manage the eastern crisis effectively redrew the administrative geography of the empire.
Sirmium's output during Gratian's reign was modest. RIC IX 9 is not a common type by any measure.
Sirmium was one of the most strategically vital mints in the late Roman west, sitting at the crossroads of the Danubian frontier and the Balkans — a region under near-constant military pressure in this period. The years bracketing this issue include the catastrophe at Adrianople in August 378, where the Visigoths killed Gratian's co-emperor Valens and destroyed a Roman field army. Gratian's subsequent elevation of Theodosius to manage the eastern crisis effectively redrew the administrative geography of the empire.
Sirmium's output during Gratian's reign was modest. RIC IX 9 is not a common type by any measure.