Antoninianus of Cornelia Salonina, Mediolanum (Gaul) 260 - 268

Curator: This is an Antoninianus of Cornelia Salonina, likely minted in Mediolanum, which was Roman Gaul, during her reign as empress. The weight is just over 3.5 grams. Editor: The coin has such a palpable aura of age and use. It is also very small. It really makes one wonder about the hands it passed through and how the materials have transformed over time. Curator: Absolutely. As Salonina, the wife of Emperor Gallienus, she occupied a unique, though often unstable, position in a male-dominated power structure. Coins like these were not just currency; they were a form of propaganda, reinforcing her image and role within the Roman Empire, though her power ended with Gallienus's assasination. Editor: Seeing how worn the coin is, you almost feel the labor involved in creating it, the materials extracted and processed. It is humbling to consider the raw matter, human action, and social relations embedded in such an object. Curator: It’s true, the coin embodies the complex intersection of gender, power, and representation within the socio-political context of the Roman Empire. Thank you. Editor: And the material conditions that made that intersection possible.