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L IVL AVR SVLP VRA ANTONINVS - Lucius Julius Aurelius Sulpicius Uranius Antoninus
A tantalisingly obscure figure, Lucius Julius Aurelius Sulpicius Uranius Antoninus struck a series of coins in gold and silver quite unlike anything his contemporaries were able to produce: the purity and weight of the metal used was far above that found under the legitimate emperors Valerian and Gallienus.
Also in marked contrast, Uranius does not afford himself the usual imperial titles on his aurei or denarii, the latter being struck from the same dies as the former. However, his billon and bronze coinage is more typical of the provincial coinage of the period, including the use of the greek translations of Imperator and Augustus. The literary sources are unclear about Uranius: Zosimus places him as a usurpur during the reign of Gallienus, and John Malalas, a contemporary Christian writer, notes that he was the hereditary high priest of the sun-god El Gabal, a principal deity of Emesa. It is understood that Uranius came to prominence while trying to defend the city of Emesa from the army of the Sassanid king Shapur I, who was returning from sacking Antioch. Numismatic evidence from a provincial bronze coin securely dates the reign of Uranius to the 565th year of the Seleucid Era, providing a chronological anchor of AD 253/4 for his rebellion, neatly tying in with the literary sources.
It is probable that in the uncertain period after the death of Trebonianus Gallus and the civil war between Aemilian and Valerian, and in the face of possible attack by the Sassanid Persians Uranius was acclaimed imperator by garrisoned troops to deal with the imminent threat. That his gold and silver does not mark him out with the imperial titles, while his bronze coinage does, might perhaps be explained thus: in an attempt to avoid notice in Rome as another claimant to the imperial throne, coinage that might circulate further was kept neutral and inoffensive, while bronze coins destined to be used locally and within the nearby Persian Empire clearly showed his dominance of the area, especially practical for his defence of Emesa. However, in the end nearly all that can be said with a reasonable degree of confidence is that Uranius Antoninus rose to prominence in the unsettled conditions of the mid 3rd-Century, only to vanish into historical obscurity. Whether he was assassinated or voluntarily abdicated may never be known. VICTORIA AVG - Victoria Augusti: Victory of the emperor [Augustus].
A tantalisingly obscure figure, Lucius Julius Aurelius Sulpicius Uranius Antoninus struck a series of coins in gold and silver quite unlike anything his contemporaries were able to produce: the purity and weight of the metal used was far above that found under the legitimate emperors Valerian and Gallienus.
Also in marked contrast, Uranius does not afford himself the usual imperial titles on his aurei or denarii, the latter being struck from the same dies as the former. However, his billon and bronze coinage is more typical of the provincial coinage of the period, including the use of the greek translations of Imperator and Augustus. The literary sources are unclear about Uranius: Zosimus places him as a usurpur during the reign of Gallienus, and John Malalas, a contemporary Christian writer, notes that he was the hereditary high priest of the sun-god El Gabal, a principal deity of Emesa. It is understood that Uranius came to prominence while trying to defend the city of Emesa from the army of the Sassanid king Shapur I, who was returning from sacking Antioch. Numismatic evidence from a provincial bronze coin securely dates the reign of Uranius to the 565th year of the Seleucid Era, providing a chronological anchor of AD 253/4 for his rebellion, neatly tying in with the literary sources.
It is probable that in the uncertain period after the death of Trebonianus Gallus and the civil war between Aemilian and Valerian, and in the face of possible attack by the Sassanid Persians Uranius was acclaimed imperator by garrisoned troops to deal with the imminent threat. That his gold and silver does not mark him out with the imperial titles, while his bronze coinage does, might perhaps be explained thus: in an attempt to avoid notice in Rome as another claimant to the imperial throne, coinage that might circulate further was kept neutral and inoffensive, while bronze coins destined to be used locally and within the nearby Persian Empire clearly showed his dominance of the area, especially practical for his defence of Emesa. However, in the end nearly all that can be said with a reasonable degree of confidence is that Uranius Antoninus rose to prominence in the unsettled conditions of the mid 3rd-Century, only to vanish into historical obscurity. Whether he was assassinated or voluntarily abdicated may never be known. VICTORIA AVG - Victoria Augusti: Victory of the emperor [Augustus].