Hostilian, 251. Antoninianus (Silver, 22 mm, 4.17 g, 6 h), Antiochia, June-August 251. C OVAL OSTI MES C QVINTVS AVG (!) Radiate, draped and cuirassed bust of Hostilian to right; below, ••••. Rev. ROMAE AETERNAE AVG Roma seated left, holding Victory in her right hand and spear in her left; at her side, shield. Cohen -. RIC -. RSC -. Apparently unpublished with this obverse legend. Struck from a worn obverse die and with minor porosity, otherwise, very fine.


Hostilian was the younger son of the Roman general, C. Messius Quintus Decius Valerinus, who in 249 became the emperor Trajan Decius after rebelling against Philip I. When Decius and his older son, Herennius Etruscus, were defeated and killed by Gothic invaders in the disastrous Battle of Abrittus in mid 251, Hostilian was adopted by the new emperor, Trebonianus Gallus, who accepted the young prince as his co-ruler to avoid the outbreak of a civil war. This surprising decision did not hold very long, as Hostilian conveniently passed away some months later, making way for the appointment of Gallus' own son, Volusian, to the rank of Augustus. Aurelius Victor and the Epitome de Caesaribus report that Hostilian died of the Plague of Cyprian, but the suspicious circumstances of his death have led many to believe that he was, as the Byzantine historian Zosimos claims, executed at the behest of Gallus.