Hostilian, as Caesar, 250-251. Aureus (Gold, 20 mm, 3.88 g, 1 h), Rome. C VALENS HOSTIL MES QVINTVS N C Bare-headed and draped bust of Hostilian to right, seen from behind. Rev. PRINCIPI IVVENTVTIS Hostilian, as prince of the youth, standing front in military attire, head to left, holding signum in his right hand and scepter in his left. Calicó 3316. Cohen 33. RIC 181b. Fully lustrous and undoubtedly among the finest known. A magnificent piece with a splendid portrait of the finest style struck in high relief. Virtually as struck.



Hostilian was the younger son of the Roman general C. Messius Quintus Decius Valerinus, who became Emperor Trajan Decius in 249 after rebelling against Philip I. When Decius and his elder 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. Gallus made the young prince his co-ruler to prevent civil war. However, this arrangement was short-lived; Hostilian died under suspicious circumstances a few months later. This paved the way for Gallus to elevate his own son, Volusian, to the rank of Augustus. While Aurelius Victor and the Epitome de Caesaribus report that Hostilian died of the Plague of Cyprian, the suspicious circumstances have led many modern historians to agree with the Byzantine writer Zosimos, who believed that the prince was executed on Gallus’ orders.