Found four gold coins transylvania (Romania) attest to the existence of a new and almost unknown Roman emperor, sponsianaround AD 260, who ruled the then Roman province of Dacia, according to recently published research.

The pieces, which are in the Hunterian Art Gallery in Glasgow, Scotland, were found in 1713 in the Transylvania region and they have been considered by experts as fake till nowwhen a collaboration between the universities of Glasgow and College London would prove it to be true.

“They engraved the title of ‘Imp’, from Imperato, meaning supreme military commander, reserved only for emperors. He wears a crown, which is part of the imperial symbols, and has a Roman name … “, Professor Paul Pearson, head of the investigation, described to EFE.

Along with these, notable emperors were represented in that find, such as Gordian III (238-244) and Philip the Arab (244-249), all located in the third century, Pearson says.

Its surfaces are covered in seemingly natural scratches, as well as deposited dirt and sediment, according to the University’s College London academic, which led them to conclude that “either they are a very sophisticated fake or they are genuine.

For this reason they were subjected to an imaging and spectroscopic analysis, to closely observe these patterns, the deposit of materials and the earth attached to the coins, in order to compare them with others used in Roman times.

The sediment trail

After careful observation by the Glasgow Art History Technique group and the London Department of Earth Sciences, they found “all the elements of the earth” in the “sediments, deposited materials, and debris” attached to them, Pearson says.

“The most incredible” as evidence, says the academician, was to find silica orewhich achieves the foundation and compaction of the earth with “the same appearance as coins that have actually been buried”.

Very significant stripes of each length and size in their wear are also observed in the analysis, the professor explains, in the same way as real coins, indicating that they were in circulation.

Dacian province, scope for the number of gold mines“it was the hardest for the Romans to conquer, the last to reach and the first to abandon,” contextualizes Pearson.

The historical sources, he argues, show a contradiction, Dacia was “undersupplied” and “lost by Rome, during the emperor Galliano (260-268 AD)”, and also the population “abandoned it in an orderly manner towards the south, near the Danube” during the rule of Aurelian (270-275 AD).

isolated from Rome

The hypothesis that would repair the conflict of that decade is that of a people who took care of their own defense and who have lost contact with Rome which has established its own regime, Pearson proposes.

This would explain how these coins were made by hand, “because there was no official mint”, e For this reason they have long been considered fake.defends the head of the investigation.

Its circulation throughout the region and for a long period of time would respond to the remoteness from the rest of the empire and its self-sufficiency, as well as to the hoarding of different peoples such as the Goths, in the east, or the Carpigians, in the Carpathians, says the professor .

What would happen to all the coins that circulated? In the opinion of the researchers, they would have been withdrawn as unofficial at that time (…) and perhaps they were melted down at that time (270 AD), which is why they would be so rare, speculates the academician .

This is the hypothesis contained in the over 200 pages of research, called “Authentication of the coins of the “Roman emperor” Esponsianus”, which now lends itself to being addressed by historians and specialists.

Thus, concludes Pearson, “if Sposiano existed and our hypothesis is correcthe would have been an important local commander, with no intention of fighting for the Roman Empire and taking care of the people of Dacia” with the title of emperor, as the coins document.

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