The discovery of an ancient gold coin has proved the existence of a Roman emperor previously thought to be “fake”, experts have revealed.
The coin bearing the name Sponsian was unearthed over 300 years ago in Transylvania, once the domain of the Roman Empire and now within the borders of Romania.
At the time, the discovery was believed to be a fake and locked away in a museum cupboard. But now, scientists have changed their tune and think it actually proves Sponsian’s existence.
Led by Professor Paul Pearson at University College London, experts discovered scratch marks when studying the coin under a microscope, proving it was being circulated 2,000 years ago.
Pearson told the BBC: “What we have found is an emperor. He was a figure thought to have been a fake and written off by the experts. But we think he was real and that he had a role in history.”
The coin was not made as intricately as others at the time, leading experts to believe it was a fake and Sponsian never existed, but Pearson thought otherwise after seeing a picture of it while researching for a book on the Roman Empire.
He could see the scratches in the picture and thought they might have been produced while the coin was in circulation, so he contacted the Hunterian Museum at Glasgow University, where the coin had been kept, asking if he could conduct research on it.
After examining four coins under a microscope, the scientists concluded that the scratches were a result of them being tossed around in purses.
As for the question of who was Sponsian, the researchers believe he was a military commander forced to crown himself emperor as no one else wanted to be in charge of the most distant and difficult to defend outpost of the empire, Dacia.
In Dacia, Sponsian would have been cut off from the rest of the empire and surrounded by his enemies during a tumultuous period involving a civil war and pandemic.
Jesper Ericsson, another researcher on the team, said the decision to produce coins with Sponsian’s face on was to boost the economy of the isolated region.
He told the outlet: “Our interpretation is that he was in charge to maintain control of the military and of the civilian population because they were surrounded and completely cut off”.
Pearson added: “In order to create a functioning economy in the province they decided to mint their own coins. They may not have known who the actual emperor was because there was civil war.
“But what they needed was a supreme military commander in the absence of real power from Rome. He took command at a period when command was needed.”
