LEG VIII AVG

442, Lot: 398. Estimate $150. Sold for $95. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

Gallienus. AD 253-268. Antoninianus (23mm, 2.92 g, 6h). Mediolanum (Milan) mint. Issue 2(2), AD 260-1. GALLIENVS AVG, radiate and cuirassed bust right / LEG VIII AVG VI P VI F, bull standing right. MIR 36, 1009r; RIC V (joint reign) 353; Cunetio 1466. Good Fine, some silver content, porosity on reverse, weakness of strike.

Bought from Galata, 1989. Ex Glendinings (9 December 1986), lot 174 (part of); ‘Gibraltar’ (Jimena de la Frontera) Hoard (1962) [NC 1962, pp. 335–406].

Like VII Claudia, Legio VIII Augusta was originally founded by Julius Caesar in the 50s BC and was reconstituted by Octavian (later Augustus) during the Second Triumvirate (43-31 BC). Its steadfast loyalty to its patron won it the title of Augusta late in his reign (27 BC - AD 14). VIII Augusta played a key role in the German campaigns of Tiberius and the Pannonian Revolt of AD 6-8, and remained stationed in Pannonia for sometime thereafter. A detachment probably formed part of the British invasion force under Claudius in AD 43, while the rest of the legion was stationed at Novae in Moesia (modern Svistov, Bulgaria). After suppressing the revolt of Saturninus in AD 89, VIII Augusta settled into permanent residence in upper Germany at Argentoratum (modern Strasbourg). Despite being stationed in the heart of the breakaway Gallic Empire of Postumus, at least part of the legion remained loyal to Gallienus, as attested on his coinage. Like other Caesarian legions, a bull was its symbol.