In the last issue of Coin Collector, I discussed the coinage of Gallienus during his joint reign with his father, Valerian, from AD 253–60. With the capture of Valerian by the Persian King Shapur in AD 260, the Roman Empire had only Gallienus as its legitimate emperor. Almost immediately, a welter of usurpers sprang up, and the coinage of one of these, Postumus, ruler of the breakaway so-called Gallic Empire, has been the subject of an earlier article in this magazine (Coin Collector, Issue 10).
It quickly became apparent that Gallienus’ sole reign would not be an easy one. With rivals contesting his rule within the borders of the empire and barbarians invading the frontiers, Gallienus was almost always on the move to attempt to deal with the multiple threats to his rule. The reign saw perhaps the nadir of the empire’s fortunes, for example, the sack of the great city of Ephesus at the hands of the Goths in AD 263. There was a general stagnation of the economy, with none of the great public buildings constructed in earlier ages;
