A Danubian senator sent to subdue the Goths, Decius came back an emperor in 249. He wanted to restore the Rome of old: a coinage honouring the deified emperors, and the first edict ordering every inhabitant to sacrifice to the gods, which set off the first general persecution of the Christians. In 251 he fell with his son in the marshes of Abrittus, facing the Goths: the first emperor killed in battle by a foreign enemy.
Antoninianus, mint of Rome, 2nd officina. Billon, 400‰ fine, die axis 1 o'clock
