Lot 52 – Victorin (269–271)

Aureus – Cologne ou Trêves (fin 269)Magnifique exemplaire d’une grande rareté.Seulement 6 exemplaires connus.Légères traces de monture. Exemplaire de la collection Biaggi, N°1539, de la vente NAC 40 du 16 mai 2007, N°820, et de la vente NAC 54 du 24 mars 2010, N°571. 6.14g – Cal. 3811 (cet exemplaire), RIC V.4 514/5 (cet exemplaire), Sondermann 1.2 (cet exemplaire) Superbe – AUThe Romano-Gallic emperors are of interest because their social origins alternate: Postumus (260-269) was a simple man, whom the Spanish aristocrat Laelianus (269) replaced, until the revolt of the common soldier Marius (269). He himself was then overthrown by the wealthy M. Piavonius Victorinus (269-271). The latter was not only well-born, but displayed both administrative and military talents, according to Aurelius Victor (Caes. 33.12). He had shared a consulship in 265 or 267 and was tribunus praetorianorum at Trier under Postumus. His reign was complicated by the opposition of the emperor in Rome, Claudius II Gothicus (268-270), and the reconquest by the Aedui of territories east of the Rhône, which he only recovered in the fall of 270 after the siege of Autun. His aurei are especially interesting because of a series that names various legions and portrays their badges, which confirms the importance of the army at that time. Nevertheless, he did not die at the hand of his political competitors but was apparently killed in Cologne by an officer who did not approve of the emperor’s attempt at seducing his wife: « When Lollianus was eventually killed, Victorinus found himself the only figure in power, but this was not to last. He wasted his time chasing and molesting the wives of both soldiers and officers until one day, in the vicinity of Agrippina Colonia he was assassinated as the result of a plot organized by a clerk whose wife he had raped » (Historia Augusta). He was replaced – with the support of his mother Victoria – by another nobleman, the senator Tetricus (271-274), who gave him the honors of consecration, and Victorinus became the only Romano-Gallic emperor to receive that distinction.