Analysis reignites debate over existence of 3rd-century CE emperor named Sponsian:
In 1713, a cache of Roman coins was discovered in Transylvania, several of which bore the portrait and name of Sponsian—but there are no historical records of a Roman emperor with that name. The coins largely have been dismissed as forgeries for more than a century, but a re-analysis using a variety of physics-based methods has yielded evidence that they might be authentic, according to a recent paper published in the journal PLoS ONE. So Sponsian may have been a real emperor after all.
One of the Sponsian coins is now in the Brukenthal National Museum in Sibiu, Romania; another is part of the Hunterian collection at the University of Glasgow. "This has been a really exciting project for the Hunterian and we're delighted that our findings have inspired collaborative research with museum colleagues in Romania," said co-author Jesper Ericsson, curator of numismatics at the Hunterian. "Not only do we hope that this encourages further debate about Sponsian as a historical figure, but also the investigation of coins relating to him held in other museums across Europe."
Sponsian (or Sponsianus) seems to have been an obscure Roman military commander in the Roman province of Dacia, an isolated gold mining outpost that overlaps with modern-day Romania. Per the authors, he was most likely active during a critical period of unrest during the 3rd century CE. After the assassination of Emperor Severus Alexander—by his own troops, no less—the Roman Empire was besieged by barbarian invasions, peasant rebellions, civil wars, a pandemic (the Plague of Cyprian), and the rise of multiple usurpers vying for power. Due to the resulting currency debasement and economic collapse, by the 260s, there were three competing states: the Gallic Empire, the Palmyrene Empire, and the Italy-centric Roman Empire caught between them. Things didn't stabilize politically until Diocletian rose to power and restructured the imperial government in 284.
Sponsian is so obscure that the coins bearing his name are the only concrete evidence of his existence. At the time of their discovery, the coins were deemed authentic. But doubts about their authenticity grew over time, and in 1868, French numismatist Henri Cohen declared the Sponsian coins to be "very poor quality modern forgeries"—possibly the work of a Viennese forger who thought inventing an emperor would better catch the attention of collectors. So Sponsian, by extension, may never have existed. The coins were heavier than usual, with inscriptions inconsistent with other Roman coins. Others have argued that there were so many self-proclaimed rulers during that chaotic period and their time in power was so fleeting that the discrepancies shouldn't be surprising.
Journal Reference:
Paul N. Pearson, Michela Botticelli, Jesper Ericsson, et al. Authenticating coins of the 'Roman emperor' Sponsian, PLOS ONE (DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0274285)
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Wednesday December 14, @03:17PM (7 children)
Empire in Chaos, Sponsian in control of the gold mines and mint - WTF not declare himself Emperor when there is no credible opposition?
Україна досі не є частиною Росії Слава Україні🌻 https://news.stanford.edu/2023/02/17/will-russia-ukraine-war-end
(Score: 2) by looorg on Wednesday December 14, @05:34PM (6 children)
As soon as you do a bunch of other people come together and out the woodworks and want to assassinate you? Clearly it's better to sit around in Dacia with your gold mine and wait for things to pan out in your eventual favor, or not.
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Wednesday December 14, @05:43PM (5 children)
>want to assassinate you?
I'm guessing, based solely on the utter lack of all historical records of him beyond these coins from his mine/mint, that they not only assassinated him, but also erased him from every type of record they could find. One of his supporters probably stashed the coins and then was also killed.
Україна досі не є частиною Росії Слава Україні🌻 https://news.stanford.edu/2023/02/17/will-russia-ukraine-war-end
(Score: 3, Informative) by Immerman on Thursday December 15, @02:01AM (4 children)
Alternately he just ran the mine+mint, and when there was no clear emperor he just put his own head on them instead. Probably less dangerous than endorsing any one contender, and thus drawing a target on his back from all the others.
Is there any claim on the coin that he's the emperor, or is it just assumed because that's normally whose head is on them?
I mean, I imagine most contenders would probably understand and tolerate something along the lines of "I'm just keeping the money flowing while you guys sort it out - do you want to jeopardize the cash flow by bringing your fight to the mint, or come back to model for a new coin once Rome is unified under your glorious rule?"
(Score: 2) by driverless on Thursday December 15, @01:39PM (3 children)
Or it was some mint employee, as you say, but he created a handful of DIY-ish cast coins with his head on them for fun for his kids. Even if they're found to be genuine, as you say all it proves it that he's a guy whose head is on a small number of coins, not that he held any sort of actual position.
(Score: 2) by Immerman on Thursday December 15, @03:51PM (2 children)
For that matter he need not even be a mint employee - stamping gold isn't exactly extremely demanding. Could have been some random geek making custom coins to add authenticity to his DnD campaign.
(Score: 2) by driverless on Thursday December 15, @11:30PM (1 child)
Another thing it could be is something like the shirty sandcast semi-gibberish pseudo-silver-dollars churned out by an entire cottage industry in China for sale to unsuspecting tourists who think they're putting one over on the ignorant locals.
Even if the debate about their age is settled, it really doesn't prove anything about the alleged person on them.
(Score: 2) by Immerman on Friday December 16, @08:50AM
That seems unlikely with gold coins. Gold being, you know, gold.
Old coins weren't inherently worthless fiat currencies like today's - the purpose of a traditional gold or silver coin is simply to provide standard weights of gold and silver - the embossing is almost entirely for vanity's sake, though it does also help to denominate the weight since adjacent kingdoms don't necessary use coins of the same weight.
(Score: 2) by Immerman on Wednesday December 14, @04:50PM (2 children)
Physics-based methods? Could they be any more vague? *All* methods of doing *anything* are physics-based methods.
Even the full article just says
When the *only* part of the article that's news is that new analysis has revised the opinion on their authenticity, you'd think there'd be at least *some* mention of what they found that changed their mind.
(Score: 2) by richtopia on Wednesday December 14, @08:28PM (1 child)
They could have used astrology-based methods.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by hendrikboom on Thursday December 15, @06:59PM
Astrology is actually plausible in this case -- compare any symbology on the coins to symbols that were popular in the astrology of those times. Thus a culture-based approach.
(Score: 2) by istartedi on Wednesday December 14, @05:35PM
Roman history is not my primary interest, but that name sounded familiar. His reign was characterized by the last major persecution of the Christians. There was one intervening regime just before Constantine [wikipedia.org] came to power as a Christian, transforming the empire. The article also mentions Constantine introduced the solidus [wikipedia.org] gold coin which remained in use for 100s of years.
I'm given to understand that Roman coins were in use well past the decline of the Empire, definitely in the Middle Ages and even in to the 19th and early 20th century before modern banking was established, although it probably would have been an uncommon transaction more like barter or the buy/sell of "junk" silver that takes place these days.
Appended to the end of comments you post. Max: 120 chars.
(Score: 1) by pTamok on Wednesday December 14, @08:01PM
BBC (2022-11-24): Gold coin proves 'fake' Roman emperor was real [bbc.com]