The numismatic chronicle and journal of the Royal ... - IndianCoins.org

92 E. A. SYDENHAM.and not, as seems quite possible, a Gallic imitation,I venture to suggest that it is an " emergency " coin,and that some clue as to its raison d'etre may be foundin a reference to contemporary history.In the year A.D. 65, which was in several waysa disastrous year, the city of Lugdunum was almosttotally destroyed by fire. So overwhelming a disastermust, amongst other things, have seriously dislocatedthe working of the mint. In the confusion, coinswould have been struck from any dies that came tohand ; and, since there must have been vast quantitiesof dies used for the striking of the Altar of Lugdunumcoins of Tiberius, it appears by no means improbablethat a few had survived down to the time of Nero.The solitary example of this coin in the FrenchNational Collection is evidently struck from a muchworndie, which goes to support this theory withregard to it ;and owing to the poorness of its conditionit is scarcely possible to give an illustration of it.In the general confusion that marks the last threemonths of Nero's reign and the beginning of that ofGalba, a number of mints cropped up in Spain andGaul, which issued revolutionary gold and silvercoins commonly known as " autonomous " requiredfor the payment of Galba 's troops in Spain and therebel army of Vindex in Gaul.A few historical details are necessary in order toplacethe coins of the period in their right relationto one another.The revolutionary movement, under the leadershipof Julius Vindex, spread over the greater part of southernand central Gaul, and even to the Rhine district. But,though Vindex himself held the post of governor of