Roman Imperial
Traian Decius (249-251), Antoninianus, Rome mint
Obverse: radiate, draped and cuirassed bust right
IMP C M Q TRAIANVS DECIVS AVG
Reverse: Dacia standing left, holding staff surmounted by ass's head
DACIA
Weight 3.97 g
Traian Decius, a general under Philip I, successfully suppressed the Pakatian uprising. His troops then forced him to accept the imperial dignity. Irritated, Philip I turned against him, but Decius won, and Philip was killed. The Senate then recognized Decius as emperor, giving him the attributes of Traian as a reference to the good emperor. As the Byzantine historian Zosimus later noted: "Decius was thus clothed in purple and forced to take power despite his reluctance and aversion." Decius spent the rest of his short reign fighting the barbarians. In the first two weeks of June 251, Traian Decius and his son Herennius became the first Roman emperors to die fighting a foreign enemy. Herennius died at his father's side, hit by an arrow. Decius, in turn, survived the initial phase of the confrontation, was killed at the end of the same day.
