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Metal Detectorist Finds Coin that Rewrites Roman History

The discovery of a coin of a hitherto unrecognised rebel Roman ‘emperor’ – Domitianus - has excited experts at the British Museum and looks set to rewrite history.

The coin, part of a hoard, was discovered by Brian Malin whilst using a metal-detector on farmland ten miles from Oxford in April 2003.

Richard Abdy (Curator of Roman Coins, British Museum) said ‘so little is known of Domitianus that some scholars have seriously doubted his existence. The new discovery makes it certain both that this shadowy claimant to the Imperial throne existed, and that he mounted a serious challenge for the position of emperor in the troubled period of the early 270s AD’, known as the ‘Gallic Empire.’

The antiquity of this coin of Domitianus is beyond doubt as it came from a hoard consisting of over 5,000 common Roman coins fused together in a third century AD pot, which had to be painstakingly separated by British Museum conservators.

Abdy continues, 'there are only two, fleeting references, to Domitianus in historical sources as a high-ranking army officer punished for treason by the Emperor Aurelian (ruled AD 270-275). But neither identify him as a rebel emperor (called 'tyrants' by the official Roman sources). Only the archaeological evidence of this coin shows that he was indeed emperor and provides us with a face to go with history's forgotten ruler.

There is one other known coin depicting Domitianus in existence, which was found in the Loire area of France in 1900. Since it was unique and unprecedented the coin was dismissed as a modern hoax. It then disappeared into the collections of a small museum in western France and has only recently been traced. The Oxfordshire coin matches the French example and together the coins provide the final indisputable proof of the existence of Domitianus.

Top right: Obverse of the "Malin Domitianus" coin now on display at the British Museum. Bottom left: The hoard of 5,000 Roman coins in which the "new" Roman emperor was found.