The Sponsian gold coin. The Hunterian/University of Glasgow.
USA Today has an interesting story about some Roman coins. The four coins were discovered in 1713 in what is now Romania. They depict three different people - one shows Emperor Gordian II and two show Emperor Phillip. The fourth coin is problematic as it bears the visage of Sponsian. Although there are other Sponsian coins in existence, he was not a Roman Emperor and so the coins were thought to be forgeries. However, recent research, published in the journal PLOS ONE, has come to a different conclusion. The coin has been authenticated using powerful microscopes. The coin was examined under visible and ultraviolet light and using an electron scanning microscope. The researchers found the coins are composed of materials consistent with authentic Roman coins.
First things first, Pearson stressed one thing about Sponsian. "Nobody is claiming he ever ruled in Rome," he told USA TODAY.
Researchers believe he was a military commander in the Roman province of Dacia, which overlapped with modern-day Romania, and was known for its gold mines.
The area was cut off from the rest of the Roman empire around 260 CE and there was an ongoing civil war.
Researchers think he was a military commander who found himself in a difficult situation. He became an emperor to protect both members of the military and civilians in Dacia until things calmed down.
"They were surrounded by hostile tribes and the borderlands were devastated at that time," Pearson said. "We think that they held out in this area, minting coins of a very sort of strange and almost homemade type manufacture, because there was no regular Roman mint available to them."
If things played out this way, Pearson said, this allowed Sponsian to hold the local economy at bay until order was restored in the 270s.
This hypothesis, he said, is just that. He and other researchers are trying to piece together exactly who he was and how the coins were created, but more evidence and discussion will be needed to figure it out.
"We hope our work will stimulate that kind of debate and discussion," he said.