Priscus Attalus AV Solidus. Rome, AD 409. PRISCVS ATTALVS P F AVG, pearl-diademed, draped and cuirassed bust to right / INVICTA ROMA AETERNA, helmeted and draped Roma, seated facing on high-backed throne supporting Victory, who stands to right on globe crowning her with wreath and palm, and holding spear; palm branch behind throne, R-M across fields, COMOB in exergue. RIC X 1404; C. 3; Depeyrot 39/1. 4.33g, 20mm, 12h.

About Extremely Fine; a few light scrapes, well struck on a full flan. Exceptionally Rare.

From a private European collection.

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 410, 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Although Rome had long been overlooked as a western imperial capital, having been replaced by Mediolanum in 286 and again by Ravenna in 402, the Visigoth siege of Rome culminating eventually in the sack of 410 dealt a keen blow to the Roman psyche.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. 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.