Watch List notes:

Jotapian. Usurper, circa AD 248-249. Antoninianus (20mm, 3.80 g, 6h). Nicopolis in Seleucia mint(?). IM C M F R IOTAPIANVS AVG, radiate and cuirassed bust right / [VICT O]R I A [AV] G, Victory advancing left, holding wreath with right hand and palm frond over her shoulder with left. RIC IV 2a var. (obv. legend); Bland 8a var. (dies –/v [unlisted obv. die]); RSC 1a var. (same). Dark iridescent tone, some light roughness. Good VF. Extremely rare.


Jotapian led a short-lived revolt in Syria in the autumn of AD 249 while Philip I was still emperor. Little is known of Jotapian's background. It was said that he boasted of a relationship to Severus Alexander, and his unusual name, although otherwise unknown for a man, is attested in its feminine form "Jotape" in the royal houses of Commagene and Emesa. The extreme rarity of his coins indicates that the revolt was brief, and the crude style proves that the revolt was geographically confined, for Jotapian plainly did not control a major Roman mint. His head was brought to Rome and shown to Trajan Decius "as was customary, although Decius had not asked for it" (Aur. Vict., Caes. 29.4). In his corpus of Jotapian's coins, Bland cites 18 antoniniani in total.