New Purchase: Philip The Arab Antoninianus

I have actually had this for a while, but photobucket hates their mobile users so I wanted to wait until I could cross-post this on my topic in the main forum.

Philip I "The Arab"
244-249
AR Antoninianus
IMP M IVL PHILIPPVS AVG
ANNONA AVGG
Annona* standing left, holding cornucopia & corn-ears above modius of wheat



 

* I am still a little fuzzy on the specifics, but Annona was the personification/minor deity of "the supply of grain to Rome." This coin was either a promise to continue the supply uninterrupted, or an appeal to divine aid to restore it.

When Gordian III was on campaign against Shapur I in 243, his Praetorian Prefect, Timesitheus died suddenly, perhaps related to the usual cause of death for a soldier actively fighting in a war. A prominent member of the Guard, Gaius Julius Priscus, beseeched the young emperor to appoint his brother, Marcus Julius Phillippus, as the new Prefect. The two brothers conspired to control the 22 year old emperor, who died under mysterious circumstances less than a year later. Philip was proclaimed emperor by his troops in 244, and immediately sought negotiations with Shapur to break off the war. Peace cost him nearly half a million aureii to the Sassanid empire.

The new emperor set out immediately to Rome to secure his new position, leaving his brother in charge of keeping the stability in the East, and taking a brief detour to his home town, which he renamed Philippopolis and ordered a massive building project to make it one of the larger cities in the provinces.

He proved to be a tolerant and calculating ruler, noted especially for his tolerance toward Christians. However, between the massive tribute paid to the Persians, his pet project in Philippopolis, and elaborate spending on the 1,000th anniversary games in Rome, he was forced to scrounge up money from somewhere. Taxes were raised and money was severely restricted to the non-Philippopolis regions of the Empire. Not surprisingly, revolts were widespread (including a revolt in Egypt, which severely jeopardized the supply of grain to Rome) and usurpers started coming out of the woodworks. Philip issued a decree of #Can'tAdultToday and tried to resign the Purple and become a private citizen again, but the Senate supported him. He handed exorbitant manpower to one Gaius Messius Quintus Decius, who marched to Pannonia to quell the revolt of Pacatianus. Decius defeated the usurper, and the legions under his command immediately proclaimed him emperor in competition with Philip.

Decius marched on Rome, and Philip was pressured to give battle rather than handing over the Empire as he had wished. Decius had twice the manpower, and Philip's troops murdered him either during the battle or soon afterward to win the favor of the new emperor Decius. His eleven year old son and co-Augustus Philip II was murdered immediately afterward to clear up the issue of succession.