Item: i64016

 Authentic Ancient Coin of:

Carausius – Roman Emperor: 286-293 A.D.
Bronze Antoninianus 22mm (3.89 grams) Londinium (London) mint, struck circa 287-293 A.D.
Reference: RIC 880
IMP CARAVSIVS P F AVG Radiate, draped and cuirassed bust of Carausius right.
PAX AVG, Pax standing left, holding branch in her right hand and long scepter with her left.

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In Roman mythology, Pax (Latin for peace) (her Greek equivalent was Eirene) was recognized as a goddess during the rule of Augustus. On the Campus Martius, she had a temple called the Ara Pacis, and another temple on the Forum Pacis. She was depicted in art with olive branches, a cornucopia and a scepter. There was a festival in her honor on January 3. Daughter of Jupiter and Iustitia. Pax was often associated with spring. This word is of very frequent occurrence on Roman coins, nor is it always possible to decide as to which particular pacification it is to be referred.

Pax, regarded by the ancients as a goddess, was worshipped not only at Rome but also at Athens.  Her alter could not be stained with blood.  The Emperor Claudius began the construction of a magnificent temple to her honor, which Vespasian finished, in the Via Sacra.  Singular to say, no representation of the superb Temple of Peace, built by Vespasian, appears on coins of that Emperor, nor of his son Titus.–See Templum Pacis. The attributes of Peace, as exhibited on medals, are the haste pura, the olive branch, the cornucopiae; and often the caduceus.  Sometimes (as on coins of Vespasian, Domitian, and M. Aurelius) she is represented setting fire to a pile of arms.

Peace was considered to be in the power of him, to whom belonged the auspices (auspicia); whence, according to Dion, the Caesars were called the Lords of Peace and War (Pacis et Belli Domini).  Accordingly we find coins of the Emperors proclaiming Pax AVGusta, or AVGusti; Pax Aeterna; Pax Perpetua; Pax Fundata; Pax Publica; Pax Ubique Parta; and these inscriptions are accompanied by various symbols such as the Temple of Peace, as on medals of Augustus, or the Temple of Janus shut, as on those of Nero; or a woman holding a cornucopiae in her left hand as in Augustus, Hadrian, &c.  The symbol of Eternal Peace, as manifested in the figure of the goddess setting fire to a heap of armor both offensive and defensive, is seen on coins of Galba, Vitellius, Vespasian, Antoninus Pius, and Aurelius, as in Pax Augusti. The head of pax is seen on denarii of Julius Caesar and of Augustus.

Londinium was a settlement established on the current site of the City of London around AD 43. Its bridge over the River Thames turned the city into a road nexus and major port, serving as a major commercial centre in Roman Britain until its abandonment during the 5th century.

Following its foundation in the mid-1st century, early Londinium occupied the relatively small area of 1.4 km² (0.5 sq mi), roughly equivalent to the size of present-day Hyde Park, with a fortified garrison on one of its hills. In the year 60 or 61, the rebellion of the Iceni under Boudica forced the garrison to abandon the settlement, which was then razed. Following the Iceni’s defeat at the Battle of Watling Street, the city was rebuilt as a planned Roman town and recovered within about a decade. During the later decades of the 1st century, Londinium expanded rapidly and quickly became Great Britain’s largest city. By the turn of the century, Londinium had grown to about 60,000 people and almost certainly replaced Camulodunum (Colchester) as the provincial capital. During the 2nd century, Londinium was at its height. At the time, its forum and basilica were the largest north of the Alps. Emperor Hadrian visited in 122. Excavations have discovered evidence of a major fire which destroyed most of the city shortly thereafter, but the city was again rebuilt. In the second half of the 2nd century, Londinium appears to have shrunk in both size and population.

Although Londinium remained important for the rest of the Roman period, it appears never to have recovered fully from this slump, as archaeologists have found that much of the city after this date was covered in dark earth, which remained undisturbed for centuries. Some time between 190 and 225, the Romans built a defensive wall around the landward side of the city. Along with Hadrian’s Wall and the road network, this wall was one of the largest construction projects carried out in Roman Britain. The London Wall survived for another 1,600 years and broadly continues to define the perimeter of the old City of London.

Marcus Aurelius Mausaeus Valerius Carausius (died 293) was a military commander of the Roman Empire in the 3rd century. He was a Menapian from Belgic Gaul, who usurped power in 286, declaring himself emperor in Britain and northern Gaul. He did this only 13 years after the Gallic Empire of the Batavian Postumus was ended in 273. He held power for seven years, before being assassinated by his finance minister Allectus (see Carausian Revolt).

 History

Carausius was a man of humble origin, a Menapian who distinguished himself during Maximian’s campaign against the Bagaudae rebels in northern Gaul in 286. This success, and his former occupation as a pilot, led to his appointment to command the Classis Britannica, a fleet based in the English Channel, with the responsibility of eliminating Frankish and Saxon pirates who had been raiding the coasts of Armorica and Belgica. However, he was suspected of keeping captured treasure for himself, and even of allowing the pirates to carry out raids and enrich themselves before taking action against them, and Maximian ordered his execution. In late 286 or early 287 Carausius learned of this sentence and responded by declaring himself Emperor in Britain and northern Gaul. His forces comprised not only his fleet, augmented by new ships he had built, and the three legions stationed in Britain, but a legion he had seized in Gaul, a number of foreign auxiliary units, a levy of Gaulish merchant ships, and barbarian mercenaries attracted by the prospect of booty.

Sheppard Frere wonders how Carausius was able to win support from the army when his command had been sea-based, and speculates that he had perhaps been involved in an unrecorded victory in Britain, connected with Diocletian’s assumption of the title Britannicus Maximus in 285, and signs of destruction in Romano-British towns at this time. However, the campaign against the Bagaudae was evidently land-based, and may be responsible for Carausius’s popularity with the army. Equally, if the accusations of larceny are true, he could perhaps afford to buy their loyalty.

Maximian prepared an invasion of Britain in 288 or 289 to oust him, but it failed. A panegyric delivered to Constantius Chlorus attributes this failure to bad weather, but notes that Carausius claimed a military victory. Eutropius says that hostilities were in vain thanks to Carausius’s military skill, and peace was agreed. Carausius began to entertain visions of legitimacy and official recognition. He minted his own coins and brought their value in to line with Roman issues as well as acknowledging and honouring Maximian and then Diocletian. Coinage is the main source of information about the rogue emperor; his issues were initially crude but soon became more elaborate and were issued from mints in Londinium, Rotomagnus and a third site, possibly Colonia Claudia Victricensis.

Carausius appears to have appealed to native British dissatisfaction with Roman rule: he issued coins with legends such as Restitutor Britanniae (Restorer of Britain) and Genius Britanniae (Spirit of Britain). However, he also used coins for far more sophisticated propaganda. He issued the first proper silver coins that had appeared in the Roman Empire for generations, knowing that good quality bullion coinage would enhance his legitimacy and make him look more successful than Diocletian and Maximian. Some of these silver coins bear the legend Expectate veni, ‘Come long-awaited one’, recognised to allude to a line in the Aeneid by the Augustan poet Virgil, written more than 300 years previously. So he was trying to suggest that not only was he, Carausius, a kind of messianic new ruler, but was also showing his association with Roman culture rather than any kind of remote provincial culture.

Some of the silver coins bear the legend RSR in the exergue (an area on a coin below the legend). This was considered to be a mystery for a long time. Two Carausian medallions, now in the British Museum have also been found. One has RSR in the exergue, the other has INPCDA. Since 1998 these letters have been recognised as representing the sixth and seventh lines of the Fourth Eclogue of Virgil, which reads Redeunt Saturnia Regna, Iam Nova Progenies Caelo Demittitur Alto, meaning ‘The Golden Ages are back, now a new generation is let down from Heaven above’. This poem was as famous in the Roman world as Shakespeare’s works are today, so any educated reader would certainly have realized what the initials stood for (it was commonplace in antiquity to reduce slogans and phrases to abbreviations).

No other Roman emperor in history ever made such an explicit reference to famous Roman literature. It is quite extraordinary that in a remote province like Britain a rebel emperor should utilise such a method to appeal to his public. He was claiming to represent a revival of traditional Roman virtues and the great traditions of the Empire as established by Augustus back in the last few decades of the first century BC, not in Rome but in Britain.

A milestone from Carlisle with his name on it suggests that the whole of Roman Britain was in Carausius’ grasp.

This situation continued until 293, when Constantius Chlorus, now the western Caesar, marched into Gaul and reclaimed it for the empire. He isolated Carausius by besieging the port of Bononia, and invading Batavia in the Rhine delta, securing his rear against Carausius’s Frankish allies. He could not yet mount an invasion of Britain until a suitable fleet could be built. Nevertheless, Carausius’s grip on power was fatally undermined. Allectus, whom he had put in charge of his treasury, assassinated him and assumed power himself. His reign would last only three years, after which he was defeated and killed by Constantius’s subordinate Julius Asclepiodotus.

In April 2010 a large hoard of coins was unearthed, near Frome, Somerset, United Kingdom, which includes the largest group of coins issued during Carausius’ reign ever found; 760 coins from his reign were found in a group of 52,500 Roman coins that also included 5 rare silver denarii. The find was equivalent to four years pay for a Roman legionary and was probably buried in hopes of a good harvest or good weather. The hoard dates from later than his reign, however, as it includes coins struck at a later date.

 Legend

In Geoffrey of Monmouth’s legendary History of the Kings of Britain (1136) Carausius is a Briton of humble birth, who by his courage persuades the Roman Senate to give him command of a fleet to defend Britain from barbarian attack. Once given the fleet, however, he sails around Britain stirring up unrest, and raises an army against Bassanius, the historical Caracalla, here a king of Britain. Carausius defeats Bassanius by persuading his Pictish allies to desert him in exchange for grants of land in Scotland, and sets himself up as king. Hearing of Carausius’s treachery, the Romans send Allectus to Britain with three legions. Allectus defeats and kills Carausius and sets himself up as king in his place.