Priscus Attalus AR '24 Siliquae'. Rome, AD 409-410. PRISCVS ATTALVS P F AVG, draped and cuirassed bust to right, wearing diadem with row of jewels between double row of pearls / INVICTA ROMA AETERNA, Roma seated facing on throne ornamented with two lion heads; she is helmeted and wears a necklace, armlet and bracelets, and is robed in a tunic which leaves her right breast bare, and a peplum, one end of which hangs over her left arm and is fastened to a fibula; in her right hand she holds a globe surmounted by Victory to right bearing wreath and palm, and with her left, a reversed spear; RMPS in exergue. RIC X 1408; Gnecchi I, p. 83, 1-2 pl. 37, 6-7; Toynbee p. 174 note 77, pl. 49, 2; H. Grueber, Roman Medallions in the British Museum 1874, p. 101, pl. 66 (77.98g); Cohen VIII, p. 205, 5-6. 64.05g, 51mm, 5h.

Ex Italo Vecchi Ltd - Bonhams, Auction 5, 19 March 1981, lot 457;
Reportedly found in Rome (date uncertain) stopping up one end of a lead pipe filled with solidi, most likely secreted around the time of the sack of the city.

Mint State; surfaces somewhat corroded. Of the greatest rarity: one of four recorded examples, and the only one in private hands, with the others being in the Berlin Sataatliche Münzsammlung, the British Museum and the Bibliothèque Nationale de France in Paris.
The intended weight of these massive coins is calculated from the few known examples which indicate that they were struck to the equivalent of a quarter of a Roman pound - theoretically about 80 grams. The metrology of this coinage is unique and seems to reflect 24 so-called ‘siliquae’, equivalent to 1/24 of a solidus each as fixed by the law of 397 and later mentioned in a law of the year 428 (Cod. Theod. xii.4.1, and xiii.2; Nov. Majoriani, vii.6). The actual Roman name for this silver unit of what should by law have been about 2.7 grams is unknown.

It must be remembered that term ‘siliqua’ was officially applied to 1/144 of the Roman pound, the lowest weight of the Roman metrological scale, equivalent to 0.19 grams, for which there is no known coin in silver or gold. The contemporary ratio of gold to silver in the 5th century was 1:18 which renders this gigantic silver denomination the equivalent of one gold solidus. The reason for their issue is probably as an accession donative where 20 pieces would have constituted the customary four solidi and a pound of silver, a supplement to the solidi struck with the same types and legends. These particularly heavy silver coins are the largest silver issues in Roman coinage, excluding a unique medallion of Valentinian which is very unlikely to have served any monetary function.

Priscus Attalus was a Romano-Greek from Asia of noble descent whose father had moved to Italy under Valentinian I. He became an important senator in Rome, serving as praefectus urbi at the time of the Visigothic king Alaric’s second siege in 409. Angered by the western emperor Honorius’ lack of concessions, Alaric pressured the senate of Rome by threatening to destroy the granaries at Ostia. Faced with starvation, the Senate was forced to cooperate with the Visigoths by electing one of their own members to be raised to Augustus as a rival for Honorius, whose court was based in Ravenna. In so doing, Alaric hoped to bring Honorius to negotiations. Attalus was to be the last non-Christian pretender to the purple, and was twice proclaimed emperor by the Visigoths in an effort to impose their terms on the weak and ineffectual Honorius. Attalus’ first reign only lasted a few months when in 410 Alaric deposed Attalus, believing he was hampering his negotiations with Honorius.

After Rome had been intermittently under attack from the Visigoths for three years, Alaric led part of his army north to challenge Honorius in Ravenna. When the venture failed, he returned to Rome to depose Attalus and sacked the city for three days in August AD 410 AD, taking Attalus and Honorius’ half-sister, Galla Placidia, as hostages.

Although Rome had long been overlooked as a western imperial capital, having been replaced by Mediolanum in 286 AD and again by Ravenna in 402, the Visigoth siege of Rome culminating eventually in the sack of AD 410 dealt a keen blow to the Roman psyche. This was the first time that the spiritual and cultural heart of the empire had been conquered in fully eight hundred years. The legend INVICTA ROMA AETERNA – ‘the unconquerable, eternal Rome’ and image of an enthroned Roma holding Victory vainly invokes the invincibility of the city of Rome and are laughably ironic, but reflect the desperate faith the besieged Romans felt in the invincibility of their historic capital. Despite being crowned in direct opposition to Honorius, Attalus’ Rome issues show a marked stylistic continuity with those of Honorius, likely owing to the highly competent mint workers who remained in Rome during the Visigoth siege.

Attalus remained a prisoner of the Visigoths for five years until he was called on as emperor against Honorius again by Alaric’s successor and brother-in-law Athaulf. After heavy fighting between several different parties during these years, Athaulf allied the Visigoths with Honorius, cementing the partnership by marrying Galla Placidia in 414 AD. The partnership was short-lived and Honorius’ general Constantius (who would later become Emperor Constantius III) began to blockade the ports of Gaul. In reply, Athaulf acclaimed Priscus Attalus as emperor again. Attalus’ second reign was no more successful than his first, and he fell into the hands of Constantius and Honorius, who paraded him in triumph through the streets of Rome and banished him to the Aeolian Islands after relieving him of his right thumb and forefinger in a symbolic punishment against his revolt.