★ A beautiful follis of the usurper Domitius Domitianus ★

Domitius Domitianus, usurper, 297-298. Follis (Bronze, 26 mm, 10.37 g, 12 h), Alexandria, late 297 or early 298. IMP C L DOMITIVS DOMITIANVS AVG Laureate head of Domitius Domitianus to right. Rev. GENIO POPV-L-I ROMANI / B / ALE Genius, nude but for chlamys over his left shoulder, standing front, head to left, holding patera in his right hand and cornucopiae in his left; at feet to left, eagle standing left with closed wings, head to right. Cohen 1. RIC 20. Rare. A lovely piece with a particularly attractive brown patina. About extremely fine.

Historical evidence regarding the Egyptian revolt of 297 (or 296?) is scanty. Literary sources style Aurelius Achilleus the leader of the uprising, but sparse surviving papyri and the numismatic record show that the dominant figure was, in fact, an otherwise unknown L. Domitius Domitianus. The revolt arose in the ancient city of Thebes, but the rebels quickly gained control over Lower Egypt and Alexandria, where Domitius struck a rare series of imperial aurei and folles and a few Roman Provincials. Whether he was still alive when Diocletian crushed the revolt in early 298 is a matter of debate, as some historians have tried to dissolve the contradicting sources by suggesting that Domitius died in late 297 and was succeeded by Aurelius Achilleus, whose name would then be remembered in historiography as the usurper whom Diocletian killed after breaching the walls of Alexandria.