AVT K M ANTΩ ΓOΡΔIANOC AYΓ (AYΓ ligate, Latin W), laureate, draped, cuirassed bust right / VΠ CAB MOΔECTOV NIKOΠOΛEITΩN ΠΡ-OC ICTΡON in right field, Athena standing left, holding shield and spear. 28mm, 13.07 grams. Nikopolis mint. Moushmov 1477; Varbanov 4177.

Naming magestrate Sabinius Modestus on the reverse. Dark patina, nicer than the scan.

Gordian III (225–244 AD) was the youngest sole emperor of the Roman Empire, ascending to the throne at just 13 years old during a period of political chaos and rapid turnover of emperors known as the Crisis of the Third Century. The grandson of Gordian I and nephew of Gordian II, he was proclaimed emperor in 238 AD after the deaths of his relatives and the short reigns of several other claimants. His rule was heavily influenced by the Senate and his advisors, particularly the capable Praetorian Prefect Timesitheus, who led successful military campaigns against the Sassanid Persian Empire. However, following Timesitheus’s death, Gordian’s fortunes declined; he was either killed in battle or murdered by his successor, Philip the Arab, in 244 AD. His reign is remembered as a brief period of relative stability amid widespread imperial turmoil.