Diocletian Last Coin ------------------ Next Coin Carausius

Roman Empire

Ruler: Domitius Domitianus
Reigned: Usurper, August 296 AD - early 297 AD
Denomination: Billon Follis (silvered)
Mint: Alexandria
Date of Issue: 296-297 AD
Obverse: Laureate head of Domitius Domitianus to right. "IMP CL DOMITIVS DOMITIANVS AVG".
Reverse: Genius standing left, holding patera in his right hand and cornucopiae with his left; at his feet to left, eagle standing left, his head turned to right. "GENIO POPVLI ROMANI".
Mint marks:
Γ
ALE
Reference: RIC 20, RCVM 12980
Weight: 9.0 gms
Diameter: 25.3 mm

DOMITIUS DOMITIANUS (Lucius Domitius Domitianus)

The most dangerous usurpation faced by the tetrarchic government in the East was that of Domitius Domitianus and Aurelius Achilleus in Egypt in the summer of 296 AD. Only the former has left a numismatic record of his brief tenure of power and due to the unreliability of ancient sources for this period details of the entire episode remain shrouded in uncertainty. The numismatic evidence, however, points clearly to a political disruption in Egypt in the latter part of August, 296, and the first mention of Domitianus as emperor occurs on a papyrus dated August 24th of his year 1. The first Papyrological mention of Achilleus is on September 5th of Domitianus' second year. Although the literary sources name only Achilleus in connection with the uprising there can be little doubt that Domitianus was the leader of the movement and it was probably only after his death early in the following year (last mention on a papyrus December 2nd, year 2) that his lieutenant Achilleus may have taken over the leadership and resisted Diocletian's siege of Alexandria well into 297. In fact, only in March 298 did Diocletian take the city.

Back to main page

R21081