Roma Numismatics Ltd
E-Sale 108 13 Apr 2023
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Trajan Decius AV Aureus. Rome, AD 249-251. IMP C M Q TRAIANVS DECIVS AVG, laureate, draped and cuirassed bust to right / ABVNDANTIA AVG, Abundantia standing to right, emptying cornucopiae held in both hands. RIC IV 10a (R2); Biaggi 1391 var. (bust type); Calicó 3282 (R1). 4.17g, 21mm, 7h.
Extremely Fine; minor scratches and slightly wavy flan, lustrous metal. Very Rare with this bust type; fewer than ten other examples sold in the past two decades.
Trajan Decius was acclaimed emperor by his troops while campaigning in Moesia and Pannonia on behalf of Philip I 'the Arab'. He had been sent to quell the revolt of the usurper Pacatian, who had been proclaimed Emperor himself by his troops but was, ultimately, also killed by them before the intervention of Decius. According to Zosimus, Decius was apparently reluctant and unwilling to take power. However, having taken the purple, Philip advanced against Decius and the two met in battle near Verona, though he was routed and killed. Subsequently, Decius' accession was recognised by the Senate, who conferred on him the name Traianus in reference to his predecessor Trajan, the optimus princeps ('best ruler') of the Roman Empire.
Taking the name of Trajan was more than simple vainglory - in the first Dacian War of AD 101-102 Trajan had reduced the Danube region to the status of a client kingdom, later absorbing it into the Empire after the second Dacian War in 105-106. The new Emperor, who hailed from the very same region, was seen to have already quelled a revolt in the troubled frontier area, and it was hoped he would restore the strength of the State.
This however was not to be. Barbarian incursions into the empire were becoming more frequent and more daring, while internally the Empire was weakened and unable to secure its frontiers. In 250-251 a major Gothic incursion crossed the Danube and raided parts of Moesia and Thrace. Decius surprised the Goths as they were laying siege to Nicopolis, and while they at first made to retreat, they doubled back and in turn caught Decius unprepared, dispersing the Roman army and sacking their camp.
Once the Roman army had reformed, Decius again marched to confront the Gothic invaders along with his son Herennius Etruscus and the general Trebonianus Gallus. At the Battle of Abritus in the second week of June 251 on a swampy patch of ground the Roman army initially routed the Goths' front line, but made the mistake of pursuing their opponents into the swamp where they were ambushed and destroyed under a barrage of missiles. Both Herennius Etruscus and Decius were slain, their bodies never recovered. Decius' pay chests amounting to several tons of gold, along with many weapons, were despoiled by the Goths and have since been discovered hoarded in many locations throughout the historic Gothic territories (The Battle of Abritus, the Imperial Treasury and Aurei in Barbaricum, Numismatic Chronicle 173, 2013, p. 151).
Trajan Decius thus earned for himself the dubious distinction of becoming the first reigning Augustus to be killed in battle by a foreign enemy. Trebonianus Gallus became emperor on Decius' death, and adopted his predecessor's younger son, Hostilianus, as joint emperor despite the latter's young age, preventing him from ruling in his own right.
Extremely Fine; minor scratches and slightly wavy flan, lustrous metal. Very Rare with this bust type; fewer than ten other examples sold in the past two decades.
Trajan Decius was acclaimed emperor by his troops while campaigning in Moesia and Pannonia on behalf of Philip I 'the Arab'. He had been sent to quell the revolt of the usurper Pacatian, who had been proclaimed Emperor himself by his troops but was, ultimately, also killed by them before the intervention of Decius. According to Zosimus, Decius was apparently reluctant and unwilling to take power. However, having taken the purple, Philip advanced against Decius and the two met in battle near Verona, though he was routed and killed. Subsequently, Decius' accession was recognised by the Senate, who conferred on him the name Traianus in reference to his predecessor Trajan, the optimus princeps ('best ruler') of the Roman Empire.
Taking the name of Trajan was more than simple vainglory - in the first Dacian War of AD 101-102 Trajan had reduced the Danube region to the status of a client kingdom, later absorbing it into the Empire after the second Dacian War in 105-106. The new Emperor, who hailed from the very same region, was seen to have already quelled a revolt in the troubled frontier area, and it was hoped he would restore the strength of the State.
This however was not to be. Barbarian incursions into the empire were becoming more frequent and more daring, while internally the Empire was weakened and unable to secure its frontiers. In 250-251 a major Gothic incursion crossed the Danube and raided parts of Moesia and Thrace. Decius surprised the Goths as they were laying siege to Nicopolis, and while they at first made to retreat, they doubled back and in turn caught Decius unprepared, dispersing the Roman army and sacking their camp.
Once the Roman army had reformed, Decius again marched to confront the Gothic invaders along with his son Herennius Etruscus and the general Trebonianus Gallus. At the Battle of Abritus in the second week of June 251 on a swampy patch of ground the Roman army initially routed the Goths' front line, but made the mistake of pursuing their opponents into the swamp where they were ambushed and destroyed under a barrage of missiles. Both Herennius Etruscus and Decius were slain, their bodies never recovered. Decius' pay chests amounting to several tons of gold, along with many weapons, were despoiled by the Goths and have since been discovered hoarded in many locations throughout the historic Gothic territories (The Battle of Abritus, the Imperial Treasury and Aurei in Barbaricum, Numismatic Chronicle 173, 2013, p. 151).
Trajan Decius thus earned for himself the dubious distinction of becoming the first reigning Augustus to be killed in battle by a foreign enemy. Trebonianus Gallus became emperor on Decius' death, and adopted his predecessor's younger son, Hostilianus, as joint emperor despite the latter's young age, preventing him from ruling in his own right.