Uploaded January 2023 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago

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Is the "new" Emperor Sponsian real or fake? Technology is power, discover Rise of Kingdoms at bit.ly/ROKTECH_Invicta
Check out the ROK x Feeding America charity campaign at charity-rok.lilith.com/?kol=Invicta , the more friends you invite on the battlefield, the more ROK will donate!

The full research article about the coins of Emperor Sponsian can be found here: journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0274285#sec002

"Authenticating coins of the ‘Roman emperor’ Sponsian" by Paul N. Pearson , Michela Botticelli, Jesper Ericsson, Jacek Olender, Liene Spruženiece
Published: November 23, 2022

In this history documentary we take a look at the history of the Sponsian coins. This begins with their discovery in 1713 within a coin hoard found in Transylvania. Initially hailed as proof of a new emperor they were soon questioned and dismissed as fakes by experts. This concensus would stand for two centuries. However recent studies of these ancient gold coins now indicate that they might be real and that Emperor Sponsian existed. We explore the research article which brought this to light and discus what can be concluded from their work. A shoutout to the Rough Roman Memes page for raising awareness of Sponsian in the best way possible!

Timestamps:
00:00 Intro
01:41 The Initial Discovery
04:24 The Coins are Fake
06:15 Coin Forgeries
08:06 New Research
09:15 The Coins Are Real
11:14 Not So Fast
12:23 The Sponsian Hypothesis

#history
#documentary
#rome