Roma Numismatics Ltd
Auction XX 29-30 Oct 2020
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Saloninus, as Caesar, AV Aureus. Samosata, AD 258-259. SALON VALERIANVS NOB CAES, bare-headed and draped bust to right / SPES PVBLICA, emperor standing to right, holding spear, facing Spes standing to left, holding flower. RIC -; C -; MIR 1696c; Vagi 2357; Calicó 3693a (Rome) corr. (date mis-recorded). 3.07g, 21mm, 12h.
Near Mint State. Exceedingly Rare; the second known example.
"Nobly born, royally reared, and then killed, not on his own account but on his father's", according to the Historia Augusta (19.1), this son of Gallienus receives vague and inconsistent treatment in the textual evidence but is more richly represented by numismatic sources like this exceptional example.
Saloninus was raised to the rank of Caesar by his father Gallienus in 258 following the death of his older brother Valerian II, who had died under suspicious circumstances while under the guardianship of Ingenuus, who seems to have held an extraordinary command as governor of the Illyrian procinces (Upper and Lower Pannonia and Lower Moesia).
J. Bray (Gallienus: A study in reformist and sexual politics) conjectures that Saloninus's appointment as Caesar, like that of his elder brother, Valerian II, in Illyria, was made at the instigation of Valerian I who was, simultaneously, the senior Emperor (Augustus) and grandfather of the two young Caesars and, as head of the Licinius clan, exercised also the patria potestas[1] over all members of the Imperial family, including his son Gallienus, his co-Emperor (and co-Augustus). Bray suggests that Valerian's motive in making these appointments was securing the succession and establishing a lasting imperial dynasty. Like Valerian II, who had been made the ward of Ingenuus, governor of the Illyrian provinces, Saloninus was put under the protection of the praetorian prefect Silvanus. As Caesar in Gaul, Saloninus had his main seat in Cologne.
Aged only fourteen at the time this aureus was minted, we know that the young Saloninus was sent to Gaul to ensure peace in the provinces under the care of his guardian Sylvanus, while his father worked to quell the revolt of Ingenuus, who had now risen as a usurper (Zosimus 1.38.2). Though inconsistencies litter the written accounts of what happened in Cologne upon the rebellion of the usurper Postumus (the Epitome de Caesaribus 32 claims that it was Valerian II killed at Cologne upon the order of Postumus, whom the army had proclaimed emperor) the numismatic evidence (which helps to date the respective deaths of these brothers) combined with the accounts of Zosimus and the Historia Augusta bear out that this murdered son was in fact Saloninus, who died in AD 260. This latter identification places the execution of Saloninus in what Alfoldi characterised as a year of "catastrophes unexampled in Roman history" (Alfoldi, A. in CAH vol. XII, ed. S.A. Cook, et al. 1965, p.182), the year when multiple usurpers rose up and when Shapur I of Persia captured the emperor Valerian.
In 260 (probably in July) Silvanus ordered Postumus to hand over some booty that Postumus's troops had seized from a German warband which had been on its way home from a successful raid into Gaul. However, Postumus's men took violent exception to this attempt to enforce the rights of the representative of a distant emperor who was manifestly failing in his duty to protect the Gallic provinces. They turned on Saloninus and Silvanus, who had to then flee to Cologne with some loyal troops. It was probably at this time that Postumus was acclaimed emperor by his army. Postumus then besieged Saloninus and Silvanus in Cologne. Betrayed by his army, Saloninus seems to have met his death at the age of just eighteen and incredibly rare gold coinage, like this aureus where only one other example is known to exist, serves to document his short time as Caesar.
Near Mint State. Exceedingly Rare; the second known example.
"Nobly born, royally reared, and then killed, not on his own account but on his father's", according to the Historia Augusta (19.1), this son of Gallienus receives vague and inconsistent treatment in the textual evidence but is more richly represented by numismatic sources like this exceptional example.
Saloninus was raised to the rank of Caesar by his father Gallienus in 258 following the death of his older brother Valerian II, who had died under suspicious circumstances while under the guardianship of Ingenuus, who seems to have held an extraordinary command as governor of the Illyrian procinces (Upper and Lower Pannonia and Lower Moesia).
J. Bray (Gallienus: A study in reformist and sexual politics) conjectures that Saloninus's appointment as Caesar, like that of his elder brother, Valerian II, in Illyria, was made at the instigation of Valerian I who was, simultaneously, the senior Emperor (Augustus) and grandfather of the two young Caesars and, as head of the Licinius clan, exercised also the patria potestas[1] over all members of the Imperial family, including his son Gallienus, his co-Emperor (and co-Augustus). Bray suggests that Valerian's motive in making these appointments was securing the succession and establishing a lasting imperial dynasty. Like Valerian II, who had been made the ward of Ingenuus, governor of the Illyrian provinces, Saloninus was put under the protection of the praetorian prefect Silvanus. As Caesar in Gaul, Saloninus had his main seat in Cologne.
Aged only fourteen at the time this aureus was minted, we know that the young Saloninus was sent to Gaul to ensure peace in the provinces under the care of his guardian Sylvanus, while his father worked to quell the revolt of Ingenuus, who had now risen as a usurper (Zosimus 1.38.2). Though inconsistencies litter the written accounts of what happened in Cologne upon the rebellion of the usurper Postumus (the Epitome de Caesaribus 32 claims that it was Valerian II killed at Cologne upon the order of Postumus, whom the army had proclaimed emperor) the numismatic evidence (which helps to date the respective deaths of these brothers) combined with the accounts of Zosimus and the Historia Augusta bear out that this murdered son was in fact Saloninus, who died in AD 260. This latter identification places the execution of Saloninus in what Alfoldi characterised as a year of "catastrophes unexampled in Roman history" (Alfoldi, A. in CAH vol. XII, ed. S.A. Cook, et al. 1965, p.182), the year when multiple usurpers rose up and when Shapur I of Persia captured the emperor Valerian.
In 260 (probably in July) Silvanus ordered Postumus to hand over some booty that Postumus's troops had seized from a German warband which had been on its way home from a successful raid into Gaul. However, Postumus's men took violent exception to this attempt to enforce the rights of the representative of a distant emperor who was manifestly failing in his duty to protect the Gallic provinces. They turned on Saloninus and Silvanus, who had to then flee to Cologne with some loyal troops. It was probably at this time that Postumus was acclaimed emperor by his army. Postumus then besieged Saloninus and Silvanus in Cologne. Betrayed by his army, Saloninus seems to have met his death at the age of just eighteen and incredibly rare gold coinage, like this aureus where only one other example is known to exist, serves to document his short time as Caesar.