Gallienus joint reign with Valerian I, 253 – 260 and sole reign, 260 – 268. Aureus, Mediolanum 259, AV 4.29 g. GALLIENVS GER AVG Bare-headed bust r. Rev. VII DES COS Wild boar standing r. C –. RIC –. Göbl 1231A. Calicó –.
Extremely rare, apparently only the fifth specimen known. An unusual and interesting
portrait of fine style struck on a very broad flan. Metal flaw on reverse field and
slightly wavy flan, otherwise good very fine

In AD 253, the Senate appointed Gallienus as a second emperor to reign alongside his father Valerian. The latter hoped that with two emperors dividing the problems of the embattled Roman Empire, between them they could better handle them. Once Gallienus was confirmed in his power, Valerian marched east to confront Shapur I and the Sasanian Persian Empire, which had recently seized Antioch and reoccupied Armenia. Gallienus took control of the west, where he faced Germanic invasions and the revolt of the rogue Pannonian governor Ingenuus. The emperor defeated Ingenuus in battle near Sirmium, thanks in part to his new mobile cavalry corps (the comitatus). In the aftermath the rebel governor was either killed by his own troops or committed suicide.Unfortunately, the repression of Ingenuus had denuded the frontiers of troops as they were employed to fight the rebel. Under such circumstances, the Germanic peoples across the Rhine and Danube frontiers took the opportunity to cross into Roman territory and raid virtually unhindered. A large force composed primarily of Alemanni and Juthungi even managed to cross the Alps and enter Italy, plundering wherever it went. The Alemanni were defeated by the forces of Gallienus at last near Mediolanum (Milan) in AD 259, as they were withdrawing from Italy. The Roman victory may be attributed both to the speed of the Roman cavalry and the fact that the Alemanni were heavily laden by all of the booty they had carried off.The reverse type depicting a running boar seems to have been intended to connect Gallienus with Hercules as a new hero, successfully taking up the difficult task of defending Rome and the Empire from monstrous external threats. Although this is not obvious from the aureus with its bold reverse legend giving the consular date, a parallel issue of antoniniani carries the legend HERCVLI CONS(ervatori) AVG(ustae) (“for Hercules the preserver of Augustus”). Thus the boar in question must be the Erymanthian boar—a monstrous creature that devastated the territory of Arcadia surrounding its mountainous lair. Hercules was tasked with capturing this boar as his Fourth Labor undertaken for Eurystheus of Tyrins. Hercules only succeeded in this task by luring the animal into deep snow where it was unable to charge.The obverse type is very unusual in its depiction of the emperor with a bare head. It is unclear why this portrait type was chosen when the legend clearly advertises the victory over the Alemanni through the title GERM(anicus). One might have expected a laureate and cuirassed bust or helmeted bust in keeping with the theme of victory and the heroic implications of the reverse type. Perhaps the bare head might have been intended to give Gallienus an appearance more closely approximating that of Hercules. This hero sometimes appears bareheaded in Roman sculptural and numismatic art, although he is most frequently shown wearing a taenia or laurel wreath.The heroic implication of this coin is rather ironic, since the army of Gallienus did not actually save Italy from the Germanic invasion, but only prevented the Alemanni from leaving with all that they had taken. Indeed, Rome itself was only spared the sack because the Senate had hastily assembled its own army to defend the walls of the city. This action caused Gallienus to become suspicious of the Senate and subsequently led the emperor to ban senators from holding military commands. This ban soured his previously good relationship with the Senate. Further and very serious problems grew out of Gallienus’ “heroic” defeat of the Alemanni. A dispute about the distribution of the spoils after a successful secondary action against the retreating Juthungi became the excuse for the commander Postumus to claim the title of Augustus and establish his own breakaway Gallic Empire. At best, Gallienus was a poor man’s Hercules and it seemed like many were prepared to give him his poisoned shirt.