Aurelian AV Aureus. Antioch, AD 270-275. IMP AVRELIANVS AVG, laureate and cuirassed bust right / VIRTVS ILLVRICI, Mars advancing right, holding spear and carrying trophy over his shoulder; captive seated at feet to right. RIC 379; C. 281; Calicó 4058a (same obv. die); Estiot -; Göbl MIR 47, 363. 5.72g, 20mm, 6h.

Mint State; two negligible contact marks (hair and cuirass) reversed. Very Rare. 

Ex Stack's Bowers & Ponterio, August 2016 ANA Auction, 10 August 2016, lot 20170.

Aurelian's first actions as emperor were aimed at consolidating the security of Roman territory; to that end in late AD 270 he campaigned against the barbarian incursions in northern Italia, driving the Vandals, Juthungi, and Sarmatians back across the border. His authority was by no means absolute, and Aurelian was challenged by the usurpers Septimius, Urbanus, Domitianus, and by the rebellion of Felicissimus. Furthermore, in January of 271 the Alamanni invaded Italia, entering the Po plain, sacking the poorly defended villages, and occupying Placentia. Aurelian pivoted from Pannonia back to Italia, but suffered a defeat in an ambush near Placentia. Therefore when the news of the emperor's defeat arrived at Rome, the virtually defenceless city was put into a state of great alarm. Aurelian's counter-attack against the Alamanni succeeded in defeating the barbarians and driving them north, whereupon they were eventually routed at Pavia. Nonetheless the vulnerability of the capital had been brutally exposed, and with further Germanic invasions considered likely, a massive building project was undertaken to construct a new system of walls around Rome; these walls, much of which survive to this day, became known as the Aurelian Walls. The imperial coinage of this period meanwhile justly celebrates the victories of the emperor over those enemies, both external and internal, who threatened its security.

The reverse legend on this coin refers to Illyricum, celebrating in particular Aurelian's victories here against the invading Goths, of whom he killed five thousand on the further side of the Danube (Historia Augusta, Life of Aurelian part 2, 22) including the Gothic leader Cannabaudes, and for which victory he assumed the title of Gothicus Maximus.