Classical Numismatic Group, LLC
Electronic Auction 484 27 Jan 2021
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Gallienus. AD 253-268. Antoninianus (24mm, 3.23 g, 12h). Mediolanum (Milan) mint. Issue 2(2), AD 260-1. GALLIENVS AVG, radiate and cuirassed bust right / LEG I ITAL VI P VI F, boar standing right. MIR 36, 986n; RIC V (joint reign) 320; Cunetio 1443. Toned. Good VF.
From the Centurion Collection. Ex N. M. McQ. Holmes Collection (CNG Electronic Auction 442, 17 April 2019), lot 346; Classical Numismatic Group 41 (19 March 1997), lot 2126 (incorrectly catalogued as LEG II ADI).
Legio I Italica was first recruited by Nero in AD 66, with the intention of sending it east to bolster the frontier with Parthia. All of its men were supposed to be at least six (Roman) feet tall, and Nero reportedly called it "the Phalanx of Alexander the Great." Sent into Gaul to in AD 68 suppress the rebellion of Vindex, it arrived too late for battle, but ended up declaring its support for Vitellius, governor of Germany, the following year. I Italica helped Vitellius win the First Battle of Bedriacum in the Spring of AD 69, but lost the Second battle to the forces of Vespasian in the fall of that year. After this it was stationed at Novae in Moesia, near modern Svistov, Bulgaria, where it was fully engaged in the frontier wars of the next two centuries, earning the additional epithets Felix Victrix Pia Semper Ubique ("Fortunate, Victorious, and Dutiful Always, Everywhere"). The Notitia Dignitatum still records its presence at Novae early in the fifth century AD.
From the Centurion Collection. Ex N. M. McQ. Holmes Collection (CNG Electronic Auction 442, 17 April 2019), lot 346; Classical Numismatic Group 41 (19 March 1997), lot 2126 (incorrectly catalogued as LEG II ADI).
Legio I Italica was first recruited by Nero in AD 66, with the intention of sending it east to bolster the frontier with Parthia. All of its men were supposed to be at least six (Roman) feet tall, and Nero reportedly called it "the Phalanx of Alexander the Great." Sent into Gaul to in AD 68 suppress the rebellion of Vindex, it arrived too late for battle, but ended up declaring its support for Vitellius, governor of Germany, the following year. I Italica helped Vitellius win the First Battle of Bedriacum in the Spring of AD 69, but lost the Second battle to the forces of Vespasian in the fall of that year. After this it was stationed at Novae in Moesia, near modern Svistov, Bulgaria, where it was fully engaged in the frontier wars of the next two centuries, earning the additional epithets Felix Victrix Pia Semper Ubique ("Fortunate, Victorious, and Dutiful Always, Everywhere"). The Notitia Dignitatum still records its presence at Novae early in the fifth century AD.