Carausius, denarius

This denarius was a detecting find from April 2021 at Dilton Marsh, Wiltshire. It is recorded at the PAS as FASAM-437278. The PAS record states that this is the first of its type to be recorded and the auctioneer describes it as unique.

The obverse has a bust of Carausius. The reverse shows a hexastyle temple of Roma with a seated figure inside. The legend reads ROMAE AETERNAE V. The addition of the V at the end of the legend is unique. This could indicate that the temple depicted is the temple of Roma and Venus located in Rome. It is suggested that this would replicate the imagery used by Augustus and would fit into the wider attempts of Carausian numismatic propaganda.

Exergue mark

The coin is marked with “SRS” in the exergue. The PAS record suggests that this is a simply a erroneous form of “RSR”. This appeared on many coins of Carausius and stood for Redeunt Saturnia Regna. “the Golden Age returns”. The auctioneer considers that such uncharacteristic sloppiness would be surprising.