Valerian, 253-260, Antoninianus

Valerian I, antoninianus, AR, reign AD 253–260, Antioch mint, struck AD 257 (dated by titulature TR P V and COS IIII), 4.01 g, 22 mm. Obverse with legend IMP VALERIANVS AVG surrounding a radiate, draped and cuirassed bust of Valerian right. Reverse with imperial titulature P M TR P V COS IIII P P, expanding to Pontifex Maximus, Tribunicia Potestate V, Consul IV, Pater Patriae. Struck from official Antioch dies of the early joint reign period; legends and titulature correspond to the dated eastern emission recorded for this type. RIC V (Valerian) 277.

Valerian’s eastern coinage is associated with the military and administrative pressures of the mid-third-century empire, when Antioch served as a principal imperial base facing the Sasanian frontier. Issues dated by tribunician and consular titles document the formal renewal of imperial powers and provide fixed points within Valerian’s reign, which culminated in the Persian campaigns and his capture by Shapur I in AD 260, a defining event of the third-century crisis.