LAELIANUS (Usurper, 269). Antoninianus. Colonia Agrippinensis.

Obv: IMP C LAELIANVS P F AVG.
Radiate and cuirassed bust right.
Rev: VICTORIA AVG.
Victory advancing right, holding wreath and palm frond.

RIC² 472.

Ulpius Cornelius Laelianus, also called Lollianus, reigned for only a few months, in 269 AD before being killed. He was a usurper of the Emperor of Gaul Postumus and is included in the list of Thirty Tyrants in the Historia Augusta, but little is known about his origins. Postumus was a commander of the Limes Germanicus who rebelled around 260 and proclaimed himself Augustus after killing the Caesar Saloninus, son of Gallienus. He had created an empire in Gaul with its own senate, consuls and praetorians, with a capital at Augusta Treverorum (Trier) and a mint at Lugdunum (Lyon), which Laelianus also used. In 268, one of Postumus's officers, Ulpius Cornelius Laelianus, rebelled against him by proclaiming himself Augustus in Mogontiacum, in Germania Superior, where the Legio XXII Primigenia was stationed, of which he probablu was the commander. However, his rebellion lasted only two months, then he was beheaded, either by his own soldiers or by the soldiers of Postumus, who were besieging the capital. The siege of Mogontiacum was lethal for Postumus too. He was killed by his own soldiers for refusing to allow them to plunder the conquered city, and was immediately replaced by Marcus Aurelius Marius.

Condition: Good very fine.

Weight: 2.97 g.
Diameter: 20 mm.