An exceptional deposit of 141 Roman gold coins dating to the late 4th century has been unearthed near Holzthum in northern Luxembourg. The coins are gold solidi struck during the reigns of nine emperors who reigned between 364 and 408 A.D.
That would definitely catch my eye.
Three of the 141 solidi were issued by Emperor Eugenius whose coins are rare because he reigned for only two years (392-394 A.D.) and was never acknowledged as western emperor by the eastern emperor Theodosius. Eugenius was installed by the powerful general of Frankish origin Arbogast after the previous emperor, Valentinian II, was found hanged in his bedroom under mysterious circumstances. Theodosius had appointed Arbogast Valentinian II’s guardian, and he looked askance upon the death and replacement shenanigans.
He looked even more askance when Eugenius fired all of Theodosius’ hand-picked administrators at the imperial court, pacified the dwindling but vocal pagan senatorial contingent by using public moneys to restore the Altar of Victory in the Curia and revived alliances with the Franks and Alemanni, recruiting them for his army. Theodosius blew off the ambassadors Eugenius sent requesting his official recognition as Augustus of the West and instead proclaimed his eight-year-old son Honorius western Augustus. Two years after his ascension to the throne, Eugenius met Theodosius’ army at the Battle of the Frigidus on the border between modern-day Italy and Slovenia and was routed. Eugenius was captured, executed and his head put on display; Abrogast committed suicide.
The first gold coins were discovered by a pair of amateur archaeologists in September of 2019. They were looking for potsherds in a field as they had done many times before. One of them took a break and wandered over to the adjacent field where the glint of gold caught his eye. It was a Roman coin, shining in near-mint condition, entirely exposed on the surface of the soil. They scanned the field with metal detectors and in just an hour, found almost 40 coins.
In addition to the coin deposit, the excavations also discovered the remains of a late Roman burgus, a small fortified observational tower found most commonly on the Germanic borders of the Empire in the 4th century, with several graves around it.
The gold solidi are in excellent condition and because they include very rare examples, INRA experts have evaluated the value of the coins at 308,600 euros, approximately $322,000.
"Is there such a thing as a dishonest Archaeologist?" Asking for a friend....
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