Unpublished Early Siliqua

Sale: Triton XI, Lot: 1061. Estimate $1000.  Closing Date: Monday, 7 January 2008.  Sold For $750. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

VISIGOTHS, Gaul. Uncertain king. 415-507. AR Siliqua (1.37 g, 12h). In the name of the Honorius. Pseudo-Ravenna mint in Gaul. Struck circa AD 415. D N HONORI-VS [P F] AVG, pearl-diademed, draped, and cuirassed bust right / VICTOR[I-]A AVGGG, Roma seated left on cuirass, holding Victory on globe in extended right hand, spear in left; PSRV. Reinhart, Münzen -; RIC X 3703 var. (AVGG); MEC 1, -; Hunter, Byzantine -. VF, toned, small surface chip at 2 o’clock on obverse. Unique and unpublished.

In his notes on the reign of Honorius in RIC (p. 135), Kent notes that these siliquae with PSRV mintmark were probably struck by the Visigoths in Gaul. Although he notes only the legend AVGG in Honorius’ name, he ties this issue to the similar issues they struck in the name of Priscus Attalus (RIC 3701-2). As the issues in Attalus’ name have both AVGG and AVGGG, it is not surprising that the latter is also found on the siliquae in Honorius’ name.

The Visigoths were one of many Germanic tribes that invaded the Roman Empire in the fourth century AD. Their early period is most notable for their defeat of the emperor Valens at Adrianople in AD 378 and their sacking of Rome under Alaric in AD 410. Alaric’s successor, Athaulf, led the Visigoths into Gaul and Spain, where they subsequently fought against the Vandals and Suevi for the emperor Honorius. Honorius rewarded them, in AD 417, with his permission to settle as foederati in western Aquitaine. Over the following half-century, the Visigoths rendered relatively faithful service for the empire, until their king Euric conquered much of Gaul and established an independent kingdom. This kingdom was quickly squashed in AD 507 by the Franks under Clovis, and the center of Visigothic power moved to Spain, where it flourished and took hold. The majority of the later kings were relatively weak and ineffectual. A few exceptions were the following: Leovigild, an outstanding military and political leader whose long reign (AD 568-586) ushered in the royal line that continued until the end; Reccared, who officially abandoned Arianism for Catholicism; and Sisebut and Swinthila, whose efforts led to the final conquest of Byzantine possessions in Spain. By AD 711, the decentralizing of power in Visigothic Spain had left the kingdom weak in the face of the invading Arabs, who defeated Roderick, the last Visigothic king. Another Visigothic leader, Achila II, continued to rule in Septimania, but he was also killed by the Arabs in AD 714.