ROMAN EMPIRE Claudius II 268-270 AD antoninianius

Description

Claudius II, nicknamed Gothicus for his victories over them, was a general in the army of Gallienus. He was a member, with several other future Emperors, of the conspiracy that assassinated Gallienus. He passed his entire two year reign at war, and died, uncharacteristically for the time, of plague, rather than by assassination. He was popular, and was deified after his death.

In the Imperial Period Roman coinage became an engine for governmental propaganda. All of the themes of the coins are celebratory of some aspect of govermental authority or achievement.

The Roman Republic was founded in response to tyrannical kings. It functioned for several centuries in a kind of balance of rich and poor people (slaves didn’t count). The general idea was that laws would constrain personal power. During the days of Julius Caesar, et al, powerful people became too powerful, and a new system of slightly constrained autocracy, the Empire, developed. The main catalog we use on this web site for Roman coins is Roman Coins and their Values, by David Sear.