Roman Empire

Claudius II ‘Gothicus’, Emperor AD 268-270

RIC -; Calicó 3957, Extremely Fine

Mediolanum, AD 268/9. IMP CLAVDIVS P F AVG, laureate, draped and cuirassed bust of Claudius II right. Reverse: VICTORIA AVG, Victory advancing left, holding wreath and palm branch.

Ex Heritage 3054 (7 April 2017), 30248

Upon the death of Gallienus the cavalry commander M. Aurelius Valerius Claudius was then proclaimed Emperor as Claudius II. His assumption of the purple was followed almost immediately by a spectacular rout of a vast Gothic army at Naissus in AD 268. This dramatic and unexpected victory earned Claudius II the title Gothicus, by which he is still known today. A few months later he crushed the Alemanni before detaching Hispania and parts of Gaul from the breakaway Gallic Empire. In early AD 269 he was beginning preparations for a war against the Vandals when his life was cut short by the plague. The Senate immediately deified him. Later Claudius II was appropriated as the ancestor of the dynasty of Constantine.