Gold Aureus of Trajan Decius, 4.05 g.
Title
Gold Aureus of Trajan Decius, 4.05 g.
Creator
Trajan Decius
Date
249-251 CE
Description
Obverse: Laureate and cuirassed bust of Trajan Decius facing right; IMP(ERATOR) C(AIVS) M(ESSIVS) Q(VINTVS) TRAIANVS DECIVS AVG(VSTVS): Imperator Gaius Messius Quintus Traianus Decius Augustus.
Reverse: Abundantia standing facing right, emptying cornucopia held in both hands; ABVNDANTIA AVG(VSTI): Abundance of the Augustus.
Style/Period: Roman Empire
Gaius Messius Quintus Decius was born in Pannonia on the Danube and rose to high offices under the emperor Philip I. When the troops at the Danubian frontier revolted, Philip persuaded Decius to defend the border, and when he succeeded, his own troops proclaimed him emperor. He then marched on Italy and killed Philip in battle at Verona. He added the name Trajan, probably because of that emperor's original conquest of the Danubian area. He was called back to the area by a massive invasion of Goths, and he, his son, and a large part of his army were killed in battle there in 251 CE.
Decius' portraits are among the most expressive of the period. He is depicted as a military man, with short, stippled hair and beard, but his face, with its deeply lined forehead and sunken eyes, conveys the strain and anxiety of the times. On the reverse, Abundantia, the personification of abundance, particularly of grain, pours grain from her cornucopia.
-- Carol L. Lawton
Bibliography: H. Mattingly, E.A. Sydenham, and C.H.V. Sutherland, The Roman Imperial Coinage IV.3: Gordian III - Uranus Antoninus (London 1949) 10.
Decius' portraits are among the most expressive of the period. He is depicted as a military man, with short, stippled hair and beard, but his face, with its deeply lined forehead and sunken eyes, conveys the strain and anxiety of the times. On the reverse, Abundantia, the personification of abundance, particularly of grain, pours grain from her cornucopia.
-- Carol L. Lawton
Bibliography: H. Mattingly, E.A. Sydenham, and C.H.V. Sutherland, The Roman Imperial Coinage IV.3: Gordian III - Uranus Antoninus (London 1949) 10.
Source
Former collection of Ottilia Buerger. Purchased from Abner Kreisberg, July 9, 1960.
Identifier
91.222
Rights
Wriston Art Center Galleries, Lawrence University, Appleton, WI,wriston-gallery@lawrence.edu,920-832-6890
Subject
Roman, Empire, Trajan Decius, Abundantia, cornucopia
Files
Citation
Trajan Decius, “Gold Aureus of Trajan Decius, 4.05 g.,” Lawrence University Classics Department & Ottilia Buerger Coin Collections, accessed November 5, 2026, https://thor.lawrence.edu/omeka/buerger/items/show/307.