Here is the Sponsian coin paper: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0274285.
In my reading, the authors do not claim that Sponsian is "a lost Roman emperor", but rather an obscure and not very important regional strongman. From the paper: "Sponsian never controlled an official mint and was unrecorded by all later historians, so he certainly did not rule in Rome."
In my reading, the authors do not claim that Sponsian is "a lost Roman emperor", but rather an obscure and not very important regional strongman. From the paper: "Sponsian never controlled an official mint and was unrecorded by all later historians, so he certainly did not rule in Rome."
Here is the Sponsian coin paper: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0274285.
In my reading, the authors do not claim that Sponsian is "a lost Roman emperor", but rather an obscure and not very important regional strongman. From the paper: "Sponsian never controlled an official mint and was unrecorded by all later historians, so he certainly did not rule in Rome."
I read it the same way.