The coin of Oaures of ancient Roman coins
Everyone may be familiar with the history of the crisis of the third century of ancient Rome, but there are certainly not many people who know Oaures, who initially helped the emperor Galenus on his crusade to the west and made great achievements, and then lost the emperor's trust and raised troops to independence and finally surrendered and died.
The currency he issued was very distinctive and became a unique sight among the many currencies of the crisis of the third century. The author tries to restore this real history as much as possible according to the information in my hand, and explain the brilliant and short life of this Roman general.
After the golden age of the Twelve Caesars and the Five Sages, the Roman Empire began to show signs of crisis due to the contradiction between slavery, productive forces and production relations, and by the third century it had evolved into a full-scale political and economic crisis.
The depletion of rural resources and the decline of the cities led to the total collapse of the imperial government, which is known in Roman history as the "crisis of the third century".
The reign of Emperor Gallienus (253-268 AD) coincided with the height of the crisis of the third century, with Germanic invasions in the north, the division of the Gallic Empire in the west, and the independence of the Kingdom of Palmyra in the east.
And it was in such a disintegrated situation that many generals raised troops to rebel, and later historians collectively referred to these usurped generals as the "Thirty Tyrants". And Aureolus is one of these thirty tyrants.
Oores was born around 230 AD in the Roman Empire's province of Dacia (present-day Romania) to a pastoral family, the exact date of birth is unknown.
Perhaps it was this origin that laid a solid foundation for him to become a good cavalry soldier in the future. Like many generals at the time, he started out as just an attendant, and with his ability and hard work, he reached the position of Imperial Horse Director.
The army of the Roman Empire was mostly infantry, and it was relatively inferior to the Sasanian cavalry forces, so Galenus decided to establish an elite cavalry corps, and it was in this context that Oores was discovered by the emperor and promoted to the cavalry force of the empire and entered the Senate.
His cavalry unit, which was later headquartered in Milan, was an independent, highly mobile field force directly responsible to the emperor, and he was the first commander of this cavalry unit, which shows the emperor's trust in him.
Oores proved to live up to the emperor's trust, and in 258 (260 AD), Oores, then administrator of Illikum, defeated the forces of Ingenuus (one of the Thirty tyrants) at the Battle of Morsha (in present-day Croatia).
In 261 he defeated another tyrant, Macrianus, in the Balkans. During this period, the Germanic governor Postumus (259-268 AD) raised troops in Gaul in 259 AD to establish the Gallic Empire independently and killed the emperor's youngest son, Saloninus.
So Galenus, after quelling the rebellion of Macrianus and Regalianus, returned to Gaul with Oores and prepared to destroy Postumus and his Gallic empire.
The war was initially favorable to Galenus , but at the last minute Postumus managed to escape, and was later demoted by accusing Oores of " dereliction of duty " .
At this point, the relationship between Oaures and the emperor began to crack. Subsequently, as Galenus withdrew his garrison to Dacia, Oores's homeland was invaded by barbarians, causing Oores to conspire with two officers to rebel, and after the defeat, everyone except Oores was punished, and the trust between him and the emperor was completely lost.
Desperate, Oaures declared his independence in Milan in 267 AD and invited Postumus to join him in his resistance to Galenus. However, in the face of the invitation to form an alliance, Postumus did not seem to appreciate and did not respond in any way.
Galenus could not sit idly by and immediately mobilized his army to kill Milan and defeated Oaures at the Battle of the Adal River east of the city and forced him to flee into Milan.
However, at this crucial moment of the siege (September 268 AD), Galenus was suddenly murdered by his own generals, and the reason is still unknown.
In the army, Claudius was proclaimed emperor by the army for Claudius II (268-270 AD). Oores also surrendered Claudius through bribes and other means, but this surrender could not save his life, and in the end, Oores was still killed by the Janissaries on charges of treason, and a generation of generals fell.
Claudius II received the title of "Gothicus" after defeating the Gothic invasion, and the history of Rome entered the revival of the Illyrian emperors.
Although nominally uniform, the currency of the crisis of the third century differed in color, weight, and shape depending on the economic conditions of each region.
For example, Antonian was originally a silver coin, with a diameter of about 21 mm and an actual weight of about 4.5 grams. However, by the end of Galenus its fineness had dropped to 5% silver, the color was copper or copper silver-plated, and the coin billet was reduced to about 19 mm, so there were often incomplete inscriptions, giving the feeling of "cutting edges", and the weight was reduced to about 3 grams.
At the same time, although the Antonian issued during the Perstumus period of the Gallic Empire declined, most of the coins remained silver, unchanged in diameter, and only slightly reduced in weight, and the coins issued by Oaures, one of the thirty tyrants, differed from other tyrants who issued coins, and the coins issued by other tyrants were engraved with the head of the tyrant himself.
