Gallienus Debasement Set

This is a Set of three coins of Gallienus is a floating frame illustrating the debasement of the collapse of Rome. Included, will be an autographed copy of this chart which has become so widely cited as the image of just how fast Rome truly fell.

Publius Licinius Egnatius Gallienus was the son of the emperor Valerian I. Gallienus was raised to the rank of co-emperor (Augustus) soon after his father was hailed Augustus by his troops. He was in charge of defending against the German hordes invading from the North. His father went off to defend against the East where the Persians were invading. In battle, Valerian I was captured and turned into a Royal Slave in 260AD. Upon his death, he is said to have been stuffed as a trophy. It took just 8.6 years for the collapse of the Roman Monetary System. The barbarians in the North assumed if the Persians could capture the emperor, then so could they, and invaded to the point they reached Milan. Subsequently, Aurelian who came to power in 270AD constructed the wall around Rome.

The collapse in the Roman Monetary System I put together by actually testing the coins minted each year is reflected in this table between 253AD and 268AD when Gallienus was effectively assassinated because of the monetary collapse. Christian persecutions became a major effort as the Romans blamed the Christians for angering the gods.

253 0.5145
254 0.40425
255 0.40425
256 0.40425
257 0.35
258 0.33
259 0.33
260 0.3135
261 0.297
262 0.264
263 0.231
264 0.198
265 0.165
266 0.091
267 0.022
268 0.022