1. E ASTERN USURPERS OR LOYAL VASSALS ? C OINS ABOUT THE REGIONAL AND IMPERIAL AMBITIONS OF THE THIRD CENTURY EASTERN PRETENDERS Dr. Liesbeth Claes Leiden University XV INC Taormina 2015 1

2. R ESEARCH CONTEXT van Gelder fund 2013 -> forthcoming article 2015 Iconography on coinage Roman pretenders 235-285 AD = ambitions? 2

3. T HIRD CENTURY AND COINAGE Crisis Imperial pretenders Not ‘legitimate’ emperors Fabulous anecdotes Direct rivals of imperial throne => Coinage = direct source 3

4. Z OOM IN : E ASTERN PRETENDERS 253-285 AD Uranius, Macriani, Vaballathus & Zenobia, Saturninus Hypothesis: Not all imperial intentions? Also regional ambitions Rector orientis Later stage imperial aspirations? 4

5. M ETHODOLOGY Coin types Four categories Romanness imitations Imperial imitations Local imperial imitations Local types Collected: RIC + recent publications 5

6. C OIN MESSAGES : GRAPH 6

7. U RANIUS Lucius Iulius Aurelius Sulpicius Severus Uranius Antoninus ~ Sampsigeramus of Emesa The year 253 Coinage as source 7

8. U RANIUS ’ TYPES ‘Imperial’, provincial as well as city coinage “ΑΥΤΟΚΡΑΤΟΡ” and “ΣΕΒΑΣΤΟΣ” “Imperator” and “Augustus” conservator Augusti and victoria Augusti SAECVLARES AVGG – COS I ~ Philip => imperial imitations 59% 8

9. U RANIUS ’ TYPES No Antoniniani Local hallmarks (23%) New year gifts? The god El-Gebal 9

10. M ACRIANI 260 Samosata Macrianus Sen.: procurator arcae et praepositus annonae ¾ Imperial imitations and ¼ “Romanness” imitations 10

11. V ABALATHUS & Z ENOBIA Odaenathus –> loyal deputy of Gallienus The years 267 and 270 11

12. C OINAGE OF V ABALATHUS & Z ENOBIA Alexandrian mint Antiochian mint

13. S ATURNINUS Governor Syria Literary sources: declined emperorship 13

14. S ATURNINUS ’ COINAGE Antiochian mint VICTORIA AVGG Dux orientis position vacant  VICTORIA AVG 14

15. C ONCLUSION Third century crisis Standard imperial messages -> continution imperial line Regional particularism-> local supporters Loyal deputies -> imperial aspirations grew 15

16. E ASTERN USURPERS OR LOYAL VASSALS ? C OINS ABOUT THE REGIONAL AND IMPERIAL AMBITIONS OF THE THIRD CENTURY EASTERN PRETENDERS by Dr. Liesbeth Claes, Leiden University Contact me: Doelensteeg 16l.claes@hum.leidenuniv.nl 2311VL Leidenlizl_claes@hotmail.com the Netherlands+31 (0)71 527 1121 Images are under the courtesy of wildwinds.com and the Netherlandsche Bank 16