Very rare antoninianus with "Mars Bringer of Peace" on the reverse, trying to give a positive character to the recently negotiated peace with the Goths who had just killed the previous Emperors Trajan Decius and his son Herennius Etruscan at the Battle of Abritus. It was not, however, the peace won by the activities related to Mars but rather the humiliating surrender that caused the Goths to leave Roman territory in exchange for an annual donation and loaded up the loot and prisoners they had captured during the invasion.
Roman Imperial
Trebonianus Gallus (251-253), Antoninianus 251-253, Rome mint
Obverse: radiate, draped and cuirassed bust right
IMP CAE C VIB TREB GALLVS AVG
Reverse: Mars running to left, holding branch and spear
MARTI PACIFERO
Weight 3.9 g
Trebonian Gallus was proclaimed emperor by the army when his predecessor Trajan Decius, along with his older son, Herennius Etruscan, died in the Battle of the Goths at Abrittus in late 251. The election was quickly accepted by the Senate, elevating the younger son of Decius Hostilian to Augustus. Hostilian was soon killed by the plague, and the Trebonians with their son Volusian, co-ruler raised to the rank of Augustus after Hostilian's death, ruled only until August 253, when they were killed by their own soldiers. The proclamation on the reverse of "universal happiness" is here only wishful propaganda - in fact the situation of the Roman Empire, threatened by the Germans from the north and the Sassanids from the east, was extremely difficult.
