Roman Empire Probus - Siscia

Probus was one of the greatest of the late third century soldier emperors. His campaigns against the usurpers Proculus, Bonosus, and Saturninus left him the unchallenged ruler of Rome, and his defeat of the Germanic forces at the borders of Gaul and Illyria restored areas long lost to the Empire. Ironically, Probus would be murdered at Sirmium, not far from Siscia, by soldiers enraged at being put to work on a road building project, and resenting his boastful comment that armies would soon be superfluous in a pacified Empire.

Obverses depicting jugate busts are exceptional on the coinage of Imperial Rome. This particular coin depicts the jugate busts of Probus and Sol [Invictus]. It was Aurelian who established the worship of Sol Invictus at Rome, not to supplant the other gods, but as a new cult added to the many already existing. Aurelian promoted Sol as the patron god of the military as well as his own patron, and the two were closely associated on the coinage. After Aurelian’s death, the cult continued to flourish, with the result that Sol supplanted Jupiter as the typical god associated with the person of the emperor. As a military emperor who was a close associate of Aurelian, it was natural for Probus to continue promoting the new cult, and associating himself with the deity. The depiction of Sol and the emperor on the obverse here clearly shows that by the time of Probus, the cult of this deity had grown immensely, and that the position of the emperor was not subordinate to Sol, but equal in status.