PREVIEW: IRON AGE COINS, ANCIENT COINS & ANTIQUITIES 18 JULY

Ancient coins are not simply historical documents, they are also time capsules that bring to life the stories of long lost – and often largely forgotten – leaders of the past.

Among the highlights of this sale, one such coin is the Aureus from the short-lived reign of Herennius Etruscus 250-1 AD.

 

While Roman historians may be well acquainted with this soldier and campaigner, the wider public are unlikely to have heard of him, yet his fortunes reflected the fractional days of the later empire.

Fully titled Quintus Herennius Etruscus Messius Decius, Etruscus ruled jointly with his father Decius after the latter was proclaimed Emperor by his troops in September 249. The Senate also acclaimed Decius Emperor after he defeated the incumbent Philip the Arab shortly after.

With his position apparently secure, Decius raised Herennius Etruscus to Caesar in 250 and then Augustus in May 251. He was not to enjoy his position for long.

This was around the beginning of the Late Roman Period when the northern empire came under attack from the Goths.

Herennius Etruscus was despatched to lead the counter-attack against the Goths when they invaded the Danubian provinces, with his father Decius following at the head of the main army.

Their success in routing the Goths was brief and they themselves were defeated by the Goths at the Battle of Beroe in what is now Bulgaria.

A year later Herennius Etruscus and Decius died in the Battle of Abritus (also in modern Bulgaria). Another son of Decius, Hostilianus, briefly succeeded his father as Emperor before dying of plague, only to be replaced by Gaius Vibius Trebonianus Gallus, the regional commander, consolidating his position by promising tribute to the Goths.

The declining status of the empire at this time can be noted by the short reigns of its emperors and their usurpers. Barely a year went by without a change in leadership.

The aureus in this sale shows a bareheaded and draped bust of Herennius Etruscus, the reverse showing the Emperor holding a standard and inverted spear. The well-struck portrait is very rare, and the coin carries an estimate of £7,000-9,000.