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Trajan Decius
–
Roman Emperor
: 249-251 A.D. –
Bronze ‘Sestertius’ 28mm (14.29 grams) Struck 249 A.D.
Year 11 (AN XI) of the founding of Viminacium
IMP TRAIANVS DECIVS AVG, laureate, draped & cuirassed bust right.
P M S COL VIM, female figure (Provincia Moesia) standing, facing left, between
bull
to left & lion to right; in ex. AN XI.
Viminacium was a major city of the Roman province of
Moesia (today’s Serbia), and the capital of Moesia Superior. Viminacium was the
base camp of Legio VII Claudia, and hosted for some time the IIII Flavia Felix.
It was destroyed in 440 by the Huns. The bull and the lion were the symbols of
the legions stationed in Viminacium.
You are bidding on the exact
item pictured, provided with a Certificate of Authenticity and Lifetime
Guarantee of Authenticity.
Legio septima Claudia Pia Fidelis (Seventh Claudian
Legion) was a
Roman legion
. Its emblem, as well as of all
Caesar’s legions, was the bull, together with the lion.[citation
needed]
The 7th, along with the
6th
,
8th
&
9th
were all founded by Pompey in Spain in 65
BC.[1]
They[citation
needed] were ordered to
Cisalpine Gaul
around 58 BC by
Julius Caesar
, and marched with him throughout
the entire Gallic Wars.
Legio VII was one of the two legions used in
Caesar’s invasions of Britain
, and played a
crucial role in The
Battle of Pharsalus
in 48 BC, and it existed at
least until the end of the 4th century, guarding middle
Danube
.
Tiberius Claudius Maximus
the Roman soldier who
brought the head of
Decebalus
to emperor
Trajan
was serving in Legio VII Claudia.
Map of the Roman empire in AD 125, under emperor
HadrianLegio VII Claudia, stationed on
the river
Danube
at
Viminacium
(Kostolac, Serbia), in
Moesia Superior
province, from AD
58 until the 4th century
Gaius Messius Quintus Decius (ca. 201- June 251) was
the
Emperor of Rome
from 249 to 251. In the last year of his reign, he co-ruled
with his son
Herennius Etruscus
until both of them were killed in the
Battle of Abrittus
.
//
 Early
life and rise to power
Decius, who was born at
Budalia
, now
Martinci
,
Serbia
near
Sirmium
(Sremska
Mitrovica), in
Lower Pannonia
was one of the first among a long succession of future Roman
Emperors to originate from the provinces of
Illyria
in
the Danube.
Unlike some of his immediate imperial predecessors such as Philip the Arab or
Maximinus
, Decius was a distinguished senator who had served as
consul
in 232,
had been governor of
Moesia
and
Germania Inferior
soon afterwards, served as governor of
Hispania Tarraconensis
between 235-238, and was
urban prefect
of Rome during the early reign of Emperor
Philip the Arab
(Marcus Iulius Phillipus).
Around 245, Emperor Philip entrusted Decius with an important
command on the Danube
. By the end of 248 or 249, Decius was sent to quell the revolt of
Pacatianus
and his troops in Moesia and Pannonia[3];
the soldiers were enraged because of the peace treaty signed between Philip and
the
Sassanids
. Once arrived, the troops forced Decius to assume the imperial
dignity himself instead. Decius still protested his loyalty to Philip, but the
latter advanced against him and was killed near
Verona
,
Italy
. The
Senate
then recognized Decius as Emperor, giving him the attribute Traianus as a
reference to the good emperor
Trajan
. As the
Byzantine historian
Zosimus
later
noted:
Decius was therefore clothed in purple and forced to
undertake the [burdens of] government, despite his reluctance and
unwillingness.
Political
and monumental initiatives
Decius’ political program was focused on the restoration of
the strength of the State, both military opposing the external threats, and
restoring the public piety
with a program of renovation of the
State religion
.
Either as a concession to the Senate, or perhaps with the
idea of improving public morality, Decius endeavoured to revive the separate
office and authority of the
censor
. The choice was left to the Senate, who unanimously selected
Valerian
(afterwards emperor). But Valerian, well aware of the dangers and
difficulties attaching to the office at such a time, declined the
responsibility. The invasion of the
Goths
and Decius’ death put an end to the abortive attempt.
During his reign, he proceeded to construct several building
projects in Rome “including the Thermae Deciane or Baths of Decius on the
Aventine” which was completed in 252 and still survived through to the
16th
century
; Decius also acted to repair the Colosseum, which had been damaged
by lightning strikes.
Persecution
of Christians
In January 250, Decius issued an edict for the suppression of
Christianity
. The edict itself was fairly clear:
All the inhabitants of the empire were required to
sacrifice before the magistrates of their community ‘for the safety of the
empire’ by a certain day (the date would vary from place to place and the
order may have been that the sacrifice had to be completed within a
specified period after a community received the edict). When they sacrificed
they would obtain a certificate (libellus) recording the fact that they had
complied with the order.
While Decius himself may have intended the edict as a way to
reaffirm his conservative vision of the Pax Romana and to reassure Rome’s
citizens that the empire was still secure, it nevertheless sparked a “terrible
crisis of authority as various [Christian] bishops and their flocks reacted to
it in different ways.” Measures were first taken demanding that the bishops
and officers of the church make a sacrifice for the Emperor,
a matter of an oath of allegiance that Christians considered offensive.
Certificates were issued to those who satisfied the
pagan
commissioners during the persecution of Christians under Decius. Forty-six such
certificates have been published, all dating from 250, four of them from
Oxyrhynchus
.
Christian followers who refused to offer a pagan sacrifice for the Emperor and
the Empire’s well-being by a specified date risked torture and execution.
A number of prominent Christians did, in fact, refuse to make a sacrifice and
were killed in the process including
Pope
Fabian
himself in 250 and “anti-Christian feeling[s] led to pogroms at
Carthage and Alexandria.”
In reality, however, towards the end of the second year of Decius’ reign, “the
ferocity of the [anti-Christian] persecution had eased off, and the earlier
tradition of tolerance had begun to reassert itself.”
The Christian church though never forgot the reign of Decius whom they labelled
as that “fierce tyrant”.
At this time, there was a second outbreak of the
Antonine Plague
, which at its height in 251 to 266 took the lives of 5,000 a
day in Rome. This outbreak is referred to as the “Plague of
Cyprian
” (the
bishop of Carthage
), where both the plague and the
persecution of Christians
were especially severe. Cyprian’s biographer
Pontius
gave a vivid picture of the demoralizing effects of the plague
and Cyprian moralized the event in his essay De mortalitate. In Carthage
the “Decian persecution” unleashed at the onset of the plague sought out
Christian scapegoats. Decius’ edicts were renewed under Valerius in 253 and
repealed under his son,
Gallienus
,
in 260-1.
Military
actions and death
The
barbarian
incursions into the Empire were becoming more and more daring and frequent
whereas the Empire was facing a serious economic crisis in Decius’ time. During
his brief reign, Decius engaged in important operations against the
Goths
, who
crossed the Danube to raid districts of Moesia and
Thrace
. This is
the first considerable occasion the Goths — who would later come to play such an
important role — appear in the historical record. The Goths under King
Cniva
were
surprised by the emperor while besieging
Nicopolis
on the Danube; the Goths fled through the difficult terrain of the
Balkans
, but
then doubled back and surprised the Romans near Beroë (modern
Stara
Zagora
), sacking their camp and dispersing the Roman troops. It was the
first time a Roman emperor fled in the face of Barbarians. The Goths then moved
to
Philippopolis attack
(modern
Plovdiv
),
which fell into their hands. The governor of Thrace,
Titus Julius Priscus
, declared himself Emperor under Gothic protection in
opposition to Decius but Priscus’s challenge was rendered moot when he was
killed soon afterwards.
The siege of Philippopolis had so exhausted the numbers and
resources of the Goths that they offered to surrender their treasure and
prisoners, on condition of being allowed to retire.[
neededcitation] Decius, who had succeeded in surrounding them and hoped to
cut off their retreat, refused to entertain their proposals. The final
engagement, in which the Goths fought with the courage of despair, under the
command of Cniva, took place during the second week of June 251 on swampy ground
in the Ludogorie
(region in northeastern Bulgaria which merges with Dobruja plateau
and the Danube Plain to the north) near the small settlement of Abrittus or
Forum Terebronii (modern
Razgrad
): see
Battle of Abrittus
.
Jordanes
records that Decius’ son
Herennius Etruscus
was killed by an arrow early in the battle, and to cheer
his men Decius exclaimed, “Let no one mourn; the death of one soldier is not a
great loss to the republic.” Nevertheless, Decius’ army was entangled in the
swamp and annihilated in this battle, while he himself was killed on the field
of battle.
As the historian
Aurelius Victor
relates:
The Decii (ie. Decius), while pursuing the
barbarians across the Danube, died through treachery at Abrittus after
reigning two years….Very many report that the son had fallen in battle
while pressing an attack too boldly; that the father however, has
strenuously asserted that the loss of one soldier seemed to him too little
to matter. And so he resumed the war and died in a similar manner while
fighting vigorously.
One literary tradition claims that Decius was betrayed by his
successor
Trebonianus Gallus
, who was involved in a secret alliance with the Goths but
this cannot be substantiated and was most likely a later invention since Gallus
felt compelled to adopt Decius’ younger son, Gaius Valens Hostilianus, as joint
emperor even though the latter was too young to rule in his own right.
It is also unlikely that the shattered Roman legions would proclaim as emperor a
traitor who was responsible for the loss of so many soldiers from their ranks.
Decius was the first Roman emperor to die in battle against a foreign enemy
Viminacium (VIMINACIVM) was a major city (provincial
capital) and military camp of the
Roman
province of
Moesia
(today’s
Serbia
), and the capital of
Moesia Superior
. The site is located 12 km
from the modern town of
Kostolac
in Eastern Serbia. The city dates back
to the 1st century AD, and at its peak it is believed to have had 40.000
inhabitants, making it one of the biggest cities of that time. It lies on the
Roman road
Via Militaris
. Viminacium was devastated by
Huns in the 5th century, but was later rebuilt by
Justinian
. It was completely destroyed with the
arrival
of
Slavs
in the 6th century. Today, the
archeological site occupies a total of 450 hectares, and contains remains of
temples, streets, squares, amphitheatres, palaces, hippodromes and Roman baths.
History
A XXV the scene of the
Trajan’s Column
, which may have
been accounted for “headquarters” of the Roman Emperor: Viminacium.
The remains of Viminacium, the capital of the Roman province of
Moesia Superior
, are located on territories of
the villages of Stari Kostolac and Drmno, about 12 km from the town of
Kostolac
and about 90 miles southeast of
Belgrade
. Viminacium was one of the most
important Roman cities and military camps in the period from 1st to 4th
centuries. Its exceptional strategic importance was reflected both in the
defense of the northern border of the Roman empire and in turn of communications
and commercial transactions. No less appealing to the Romans was the hinterland
of the Mlava
river valley, which is rich in ore and
grains. In Roman times, the town on the northern side of relying directly on the
branch of the Danube
, while the western side, touching the
walls Mlava rivers. Only in the later period, Viminacium spread to the left bank
of Mlava. Thanks to the location, land and waterways, Viminacium represented one
of those areas where the encounter of cultures between East and West was
inevitable. Although these roads were the primary military and strategic
function, they are taking place throughout antiquity very lively traffic and
certainly contributed to the very Viminacium become prosperous and an important
trading and business headquarters. In Viminacium,
Roman legion VII Claudia
was stationed, and a
nearby civilian settlement emerged from the military camp. In 117 during the
reign of Hadrian
it received city status. In the camp,
6.000 soldiers were stationed, and 30-40.000 lived nearby. In the first half of
the 3rd century the city was in full development, as evidenced by the fact that
at that time it acquired the status of a Roman colony, and the right to coin
local money. Here, in 211,
Septimius Severus
was proclaimed emperor by his
son Caracalla
. In the mausoleum and the excavated
tombs, the Roman emperor
Hostilian
, who died in 251, was buried.
A legion may have been stationed here as early as Augustus (27 BC-14 AD). In
33/34 AD a road was built, linking Viminacium and
Ratiaria
.
Claudius
(41-54) garrisoned Viminacium,
Oescus
and
Novae
as camps for the Moesian legions.
The first legion attested at Viminacium was the VII Claudia that came from
Dalmatia in 52 AD .
Emperor Trajan
(98-117) was headquartered here
during the
Dacian Wars
. It became a colonia with
minting privilege in 239 AD during the rule of
Gordian III
(238-244) and housed the Legion VII
and Legion IV.
Emperor Hostilian
was the son of the emperor
Decius
, who was killed in the ambush near the
ancient city of Abrutus located in present day Bulgaria. According to the old
manuscript, emperor Hostilian and his mother came to Viminacium to supervise the
organization of defense of northern borders, but both of them died of the
plague. Because of the distance and the fear of spreading the plague, he was
buried with all honors in Viminacium
Viminacium was the provincial capital of
Moesia Superior
. In the late spring of 293-294,
Diocletian
journeyed through his realm and he
re-organized Viminacium as the capital of the new province of Moesia Superior
Margensis. He registered that the people wrote in Latin, as opposed to Greek
in the southern provinces. Viminacium was the base camp of
ClaudiaLegio VII
,
and hosted for some time the
Flavia FelixIIII
.
It had a Roman amphitheatre with room for 12,000 people.
In 382 the city was the meeting place between
Theodosius
and
Gratian
amidst the
Gothic Wars
.
Viminacium was destroyed in 441 by the
Attila the Hun
, but rebuilt by
Justinian I
. During
Maurice’s Balkan campaigns
, Viminacium saw
destruction by the
Avars
in 582 and a
crushing defeat
of Avar forces on the northern
Danube bank in 599, destroying Avar reputation for invincibility.[3]
Location and
excavation
Valerian
AD 253-260. AR
Antoninianus. Viminacium mint. 1st emission, 1st phase, AD 253.
Viminacium is located in
Stari Kostolac
(Old
Kostolac
) a
Serbian
town on the
Danube
river, east of
Belgrade
. Viminacium is the location of the
first archaeological excavation in Serbia, which started in 1882, by
Mihailo Valtrović
, an architect by profession
and the first professor of archeology at the college in
Belgrade
. The only help he received was from 12
prisoners, because the state did not have enough resources to provide him with a
better work force. His research was continued by
Miloje Vasić
, in the 1970s[clarification
needed]. It has intensified in the last ten years in
the area of the Roman city of the Roman legionary camps and cemeteries. Many
studies suggest that the military camp at Viminacium had a rectangular plan,
measuring 442 x 385 meters, and that is not far from its western wall of
civilian settlement in an area of approximately 72 acres. Legionary camp in
Viminacium is now in a layer of arable land, so that wealth Viminacium easily
accessible to researchers, but, unfortunately, and the robbers.The National
Museum in Belgrade
and
Požarevac
kept some 40,000 items found in
Viminacium, of which over 700 made of gold and silver. Among them are many
objects that represent the European and world rarities invaluable.
It has been discovered and more than 13,500 graves. Tombstones and sarcophagi
are often decorated with relief representations of scenes from mythology or
daily life. We have found numerous grave masonry construction. Especially
interesting are the frescoes of the 4th-century tombs.
Fresco
with the notion of young women in
artistic value of the extreme range of late antique art. During the excavation,
an amphitheater, which with its 12,000 seats was one of the largest in the
Balkans
.
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