Domitianus II - Suggested Interpretation

Suggested Interpretation

The evidence is not sufficient to confirm that the associate or protégé of Aureolus mentioned in the HA, the obscure rebel of Aurelian’s reign mentioned by Zosimus and the Imperial claimant celebrated in the coins were one and the same man. However, academic opinion is inclined to the view that, more likely than not, they were one and the same.

It is quite possible that, as a client of Aureolus, Domitianus would later have become associated with the Gallic regime given what is suspected and known about his patron's relations with Postumus. If HA’s assertions as to his military reputation are correct it is not unlikely that he would have been welcomed into the entourage of the ‘Gallic Emperor’ and his successors. However, the evidence is too vague and circumstantial.

The evidence of his coins suggests that the Domitianus was almost certainly a military figure associated with the rebel ‘Gallic Empire’ who commanded troops close enough to one of the mint-cities of Trier or Cologne to ensure that his Imperial pretensions were proclaimed in the traditional manner. It was very difficult for would-be Emperors in regions where there was no established mint to issue coins.

Given what is known of the chronology of the ‘Gallic Empire’ his bid for Empire is most probably associated with the period of confusion following the officers’ coup against the ‘Gallic Emperor’, Victorinus, early in 271. The men who murdered Victorinus seem to have had no political agenda and it is not surprising that there should have been period of confusion after his death. In this circumstance it would not have been surprising that a faction may have been tempted to put forward a figure such as Domitianus who had an established military reputation – particularly if he was, indeed, the same man as the conqueror of the Macriani mentioned in the HA. On the other hand, the literary evidence does suggest that the forces favouring Tetricus I as the new Emperor were able to assert themselves so swiftly and decisively that Domitianus’s elevation was hardly remarked outside the provinces controlled by the 'Gallic Empire'.

The most likely interpretation of the evidence of the coins is that Domitianus was involved in the officer coup that overthrew Victorinus and managed to secure temporary control of one of the 'Gallic' mints. It is thus more likely that he was suppressed by Tetricus I than by the central Roman Emperor Aurelian as the Zosimus reference - see above – would appear to suggest.

The use of the cognomen alone in the Imperial title is sufficiently unusual to raise questions about the circumstances in which the coins were produced. The circumstances in which the Chalgrove specimen was discovered leaves no doubt that it was, indeed, struck by somebody in the early 270s AD, but we have to consider that it might have been produced by a faction of the Rhine army officer ‘’cadre’’ which hoped to use Domitianus as a figurehead, possibly without his knowledge or approval.

Domitianus's fate is unknown. One possibility is that he was either executed by Tetricus or, more likely, that he was murdered by his own troops when the main Rhine army garrisons declared for Tetricus. A second possibility is that he was defeated by Placidianus, a general loyal to Aurelian who had been stationed to guard the lower Rhone valley during Victorinus' assault on Autun in 270. This would suggest that his rebellion took place in southern Gaul, near enough to the central empire's provinces to be of concern to Aurelian.