Aurelian Antoninianus

Lucius Domitius Aurelianus was born to humble circumstances, but attained prominence as a brilliant military tactician. The complete loyalty of his troops allowed him to displace Quintillus, brother of Claudius II Gothicus, as emperor. Aurelian led numerous successful military campaigns against barbarian hordes, rival states, and usurpers alike.

Aureliam saw to it that plebians had bread and a sense of security (the construction of a defensive wall around Rome, some of which is yet extant, bears his name). He also was defied by the imperial moneyers over his wish to reverse the debasement of Roman coinage. Rather predicably, these moneyers were quickly crushed when he turned his attention to them.

Aurelian was murdered while campaigning against Persia by officers who had been misled into believing he meant to liquidate them. But in his five years of rule, Aurelian's accomplishments in restoring Roman authority were nothing short of astonishing. He was posthumously deified by the Senate.





I got first crack at a bag of unsorted and unidentified antoniniani today, all of which appeared to date to the late 3rd century. There were just a few Aurelians, this one being by far in the best condition. I have it as RIC 260 var(2). This supposedly would've been struck at the Serdica mint. Would I be wrong in interpreting the "P" as not a mint mark per se, but simply designating this coinage as pecunia? Alternatively, I suppose it might also stand for "prima" for the first works at Serdica, if that's in fact where it was produced.

Also, I find it curious that while this is good sized at about 20 by 22 mm, it still evidently wasn't big enough to accommodate the reverse legend.