Carausius, with spouse? -

Carausius (286-293), AR Denarius, 4.90g, 7h, Londonium [?], IMR CARAVSIVS P F AV, laureate, draped and cuirassed bust right, rev. CONIVGE AG, Emperor, standing right, helmeted, receiving globe from female figure [Concordia ?] over altar, XX in exergue (FASAM-8CD14C this coin; RIC V, Pt. 2 - [Forthcoming]).  Provenance: Found Speen, West Berkshire, September 2019.  Images and data reproduced by kind permission of Spink and Son Ltd, London.  Item is from the February 2021 auction 21123, lot # 4661.

The hunt for a spouse for the usurper Carausius began with William Stukeley's 1752 misreading of the reverse legend of one of his coins, interpreting FORTVNA AVG as a transcription of the name 'Oriuna'. As Askew notes (The Coinage of Roman Britain), all examples of this type are faulty as regard omitting the first letter of the legend, but the attribution to Fortuna is otherwise certain.'    

And so the story of Carausius' wife would be put to bed, were it not for this new find, recently recorded by Dr Sam Moorhead for his revision of the Coinage of Carausius and Allectus (RIC V, Part 2, Spink, forthcoming). The reverse legend clearly reads 'CONIVGE AG' or CONIVGE A[V]G[VSTA] ~ 'the wife of the Emperor'. Twinned with the symbolism of the world being presented to Carausius over a sacrificial altar - the traditional venue for the swearing of marriage vows, it is tantalising to think that Stukeley although fanciful in his interpretations back in the 18th Century may ultimately be proved right thanks to this discovery, a potentially seismic find that records the existence of an Imperial consort for the first and most famous usurper of the Britannic Empire.