![]() ![]() On the basis of the above analysis, another coin bearing Sponsianus' name, in the Brukenthal Museum in Sibiu in Transylvania, has also been reclassified as genuine. Jesper Ericsson stated that a chemical analysis of the earth deposits found in the coin's recesses showed that the coins had been buried in soil for hundreds of years. Paul Pearson of University College London led the research and said that he was astonished by the confirmation that the coin had been used. Īfter further study in 2022, a group of scientists argued that scratch marks on one coin bearing Sponsianus' name and image, visible under an electron microscope, proved that it circulated in antiquity. However, according to the ancient numismatist Wayne Sayles, as the usurpers and emperors of the time were often ephemeral, the lack of further coins and the unusual qualities of those that are extant should not be seen as evidence that Sponsianus did not actually exist. The coins are also unusually heavy, appear to have been cast (instead of the more usual stamping process), and the inscriptions themselves do not follow the conventions of the time. The problems with the aurei are twofold: firstly, the obverse of the coin is "barbaric and strange" according to the findings of the Roman Imperial Coinage (a British catalogue of Roman Imperial currency), and the reverse of the coin is a copy of a Republican denarius struck in 135 BC. The traditional opinion of numismatists has been to regard the coins as non-authentic: In 1868, the French numismatist Henri Cohen dismissed them as "very poor quality modern forgeries". The hoard included other coins bearing the names of Philip the Arab and Gordian III, among others. Another entered the bequest of Baron Samuel von Brukenthal, a Habsburg governor of Transylvania. One was kept in the Hunterian Museum at Glasgow University, which also held three other coins from the original hoard. The sole evidence for the existence of Sponsianus is his name on a few double-aurei and a silver coin reportedly uncovered in a coin-hoard in Transylvania in 1713, and subsequently dispersed among several collections. Another possibility is that he was active earlier, during the reign of Philip the Arab or his son, Philip II. He could have proclaimed himself emperor in the 260s, after Dacia was cut off from the rest of the Empire during the reign of Gallienus. If there were a historical Sponsianus, he might have been active during the Crisis of the Third Century, most likely in the province of Dacia. However, the study's methodology and conclusions have been criticized by a number of scholars. A study of wear marks on the coins published in November 2022 concluded that the coins were authentic, supporting Sponsian's existence as a historical figure. No corresponding figure named Sponsianus is mentioned in any ancient sources, and the coins are widely believed to be the work of modern forgers. His existence is implied by a series of coins bearing his name, ostensibly part of a hoard excavated in the eighteenth century. Sponsianus, also known in English as Sponsian, may have been a Roman usurper during the third century. Usurpation of Julian of Pannonia (284-285). ![]() Postumus' Campaign against the Alamanni (263).Postumus' Campaign against the Franks (262).Usurpation of Mussius Aemilianus (261–262).Usurpation of Lucius Calpurnius Piso Frugi (261).Usurpation of Valens Thessalonicus (261).Invasion of the Alemanni (258–260 approx).Reign of Valerian and Gallienus (253–260) Abritus and death of Decius and Etruscus (251).Verona and death of Philip & Philip II (249) ![]()
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