[gothic-l] Victoria Gothica on Roman coins

[dirk at SMRA.CO.UK]

I am quite amazed to find wrong references to Roman coins with the
'Victoria Gothica' inscription in various -even recent- historical
books and articles. In different articles and books I found references
claiming that the emperors Phillipus Arabs, Maximinus Thrax, Probus,
and Aurelianus have minted coins with a reference to the victories
over the Goths. However, all of them are simply wrong.

Neither of these emperors has refered to the Goths on his coins.
Phillipus Arabs minted coins with the inscription 'Victoria Carpica'
which refered to a campaign against the Carpi,which may have been
allied with the Goths. Maximinus Thrax only minted coins with the
Victorica Germanica inscription. Similarly, Probus only produced coins
with the inscription 'Victoria Germanica' and no coin with Victoria
Gothica has ever come to light of Probus, although he may have had the
honory title 'Gothicus Maximus'. Aurelianus also produced coins with
'Victoria Germanica' but never refereing to the Goths.

All the standard references on Imperial Roman coinage show that there
are only three emperors who refered to the Goths on their coins. These
are Claudius II Gothicus (268-70AD), his brother Quintillus, who reign
for only a few months and his reference to a Gothic victory should not
be taken too serious. And finally, Tacitus (275-76)who minted both
aurei and antoniniani with the 'Vict Gotthi' inscription. All of these
coins are  rare, indicating that the issues were all very small.

Interestingly, Claudius Gothicus also minted coins with the
inscription Victoria Germanica in reference to the defeat that he
inflicted on the Alamanni before marching eastwards to defeat the
Goths. The differentiation shows that Romans did not see Goths as
Germanic at this time, but still called them Skyths instead.


cheers,
Dirk


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