Gallienus Antoninianus, RIC V Gallienus 193a: Subtype 2

Monetary Context and Debasement

The coinage struck under Gallienus between AD 260 and 268 represents a watershed period in third-century Roman imperial monetary history. Prior to AD 260, Gallienus shared power with his father, Valerian, during which the antoninianus retained a notable silver content of roughly twenty to thirty percent. The capture of Valerian by Sasanian forces in AD 260 precipitated the fracturing of the empire into rival polities, including the Gallic Empire in the west and later the Palmyrene realm in the east. Cut off from western provincial revenues and critical silver sources, Gallienus was forced to pay swollen armies and mercenary forces with an increasingly debased currency. Under these severe financial pressures, the silver content of the antoninianus collapsed precipitously. By the middle of his sole reign, billon antoniniani were manufactured from base copper alloy blanks containing often less than five percent silver. To maintain the optical fiction of a precious metal currency, mints applied a thin silver enrichment layer or surface wash before distributing the coins into military and civilian channels. Struck in immense volumes, issues like RIC V Gallienus 193a: Subtype 2 reflect the transformation of the antoninianus into an emergency token currency with an artificially maintained nominal value.

Production and the Rome Mint

RIC V Gallienus 193a: Subtype 2 was produced at the primary imperial mint in Rome. Throughout the sole reign of Gallienus, the Rome mint was reorganized into multiple officinae (workshops), typically numbered by Greek letters or Roman numerals in later phases, though many early sole-reign emissions omit mintmarks and workshop signs altogether. Production at Rome reached unprecedented industrial scales to sustain imperial expenditures across central Italy and the Balkan defense sectors. Coins of this period were struck rapidly on irregularly prepared flans. Blanks were frequently cast in open molds or cut from crudely flattened sheets, resulting in uneven thicknesses, jagged perimeters, and wide variations in strike quality. Flans typically weighed between 2.0 and 3.5 grams, with diameters fluctuating between 18 and 22 millimeters. The chemical composition remained predominantly copper and lead-tin bronzes with minimal intrinsic silver, finished with superficial argentiferous coatings that were vulnerable to quick mechanical abrasion once introduced into daily transactions.

Obverse Iconography and Variations

The obverse of RIC V Gallienus 193a: Subtype 2 features the radiate bust of Gallienus facing right, presented with drapery. The radiate crown was the definitive iconographic attribute of the antoninianus or double denarius since its introduction by Caracalla in AD 215, distinguishing the denomination instantly from the laureate denarius. In standard numismatic typology, bust drapery is the diagnostic criterion dividing the subtypes of RIC 193a. Subtype 1 typically presents the emperor's bust with cuirass or bare neck, whereas Subtype 2 specifies a draped bust (or radiate, draped and cuirassed viewed from back or front, depending on workshop engraving style). Gallienus is rendered in the characteristic style of the Rome mint: mature facial features, closely cropped hair, and a short, trim beard that reflects contemporary third-century military fashions while subtly echoing classical portrait models favored in urban Roman workshops.

Reverse Iconography of Fortuna Redux

The reverse of this subtype depicts Fortuna Redux standing draped and facing left. In her right hand she rests a ship rudder on the ground, while holding a cornucopiae laden with fruit in her left arm. Both attributes are standard iconographic symbols of Fortuna in Roman religion and art. The rudder alludes to her role in steering human destiny and safely guiding vessels over dangerous journeys, while the cornucopiae signifies abundance, fertility, and prosperity provided by imperial favor. The epithet Fortuna Redux, meaning 'Fortuna who brings safe return', held deep religious and political resonance throughout the Principate and late third century. Consecrated originally under Augustus to mark his safe homecoming from the East in 19 BC, the cult of Fortuna Redux was invoked during times of imperial departure and active campaigning. During the sole reign of Gallienus, who campaigned continuously against Germanic incursions in northern Italy and the Danube while confronting regional usurpers, the type offered both a religious appeal for the sovereign's safe survival and public reassurance regarding the preservation of the imperial order.

Epigraphy and Legends

The coin bears concise epigraphic formulas typical of Gallienus's mid-reign output at the Rome mint. The obverse legend reads GALLIENVS AVG, short for 'Gallienus Augustus'. This shortened nomenclature abandoned earlier genealogical citations such as 'Pius Felix' or references to Valerian, focusing imperial legitimacy solely upon the ruling emperor's personal title. The reverse inscription reads FORTVNA REDVX, identifying the divine entity invoked to protect the emperor's safe travels. The lettering is rendered in standard Roman capitals, though engraving execution varies from sharp, elegant letterforms to cruder, crowded script depending on workshop workload. Unlike later issues of Gallienus that systematically featured officina letters in the fields or exergue, this variant regularly carries no mint mark or workshop abbreviation, reflecting the less systematically marked production phases of the Rome mint in the early 260s AD.

Typology and Chronological Classification

Within the framework of Percy H. Webb's cataloguing in Roman Imperial Coinage (Volume V, Part I), RIC 193a encompasses radiate antoniniani of Gallienus with the obverse legend GALLIENVS AVG and the reverse FORTVNA REDVX showing Fortuna standing left with rudder and cornucopiae. The designation 'Subtype 2' in modern digital corpora such as Online Coins of the Roman Empire (OCRE) serves to explicitly distinguish the draped bust variety from other bust treatments listed under number 193a. In Robert Göbl's comprehensive die and emission study (Die Münzprägung des Kaisers Gallienus, MIR 36), types pairing Gallienus's sole-reign portrait with Fortuna Redux are assigned to emissions occurring between AD 260 and 264 at Rome. These emissions bridge the period immediately following Valerian's capture and the subsequent animal-series series struck in the final years of Gallienus's reign around AD 267 and 268. While modern catalogues catalog this subtype under a broad envelope of AD 260 to 268, numismatic hoard and stylistic analyses suggest peak production clustered in the earlier half of the sole reign.

Hoard Evidence and Circulation

Antoniniani of Gallienus struck at Rome circulated widely across the entire Mediterranean basin, the Danubian provinces, and even northwestern Europe, despite the political separation of the Gallic Empire. Major third-century hoards, including the Cunetio hoard and the Normanby hoard from Roman Britain, demonstrate that Rome-mint antoniniani crossed political boundaries and circulated alongside local radiates and Gallic imitation issues. Due to the rapid inflation and frequent subsequent debasements under Claudius II Gothicus and Quintillus, coins of this type remained in circulation until the monetary reform of Aurelian in AD 274. In archaeological contexts, specimens often show significant wear, loss of the fragile silver wash revealing the copper-rich core, and occasionally clipped or chipped edges. The widespread survival of RIC 193a variants in hoards attests to both immense initial production volumes and the desperate retention of metallic currency by individuals weathering the political instabilities of the Crisis of the Third Century.

References

1. The Cunetio Treasure: Roman Coinage of the Third Century AD. British Museum Publications, 1983
2. Die Münzprägung des Kaisers Gallienus (Moneta Imperii Romani 36). Vienna, 2000
3. Online Coins of the Roman Empire: RIC V Gallienus (2) 193a.2. ric.5.gall(2).193a.2
4. The Roman Imperial Coinage, Volume V, Part I. p. 146, no. 193a