Austria 20 Euro silver coin 2010 Virunum “Rome on the Danube” series
In the days when the Romans ruled most of the known world their settlements also controlled modern-day Austria. Virunum, the impressive first in six-coin Rome on the Danube series, celebrates the capital of the Roman province of Noricum, which covered two thirds of the country.
The centre of cultural life in Noricum and home to the only great Roman amphitheatre to have been discovered on Austrian territory, Virunum was founded by the Emperor Claudius. His profile features on the coin’s splendid obverse over a background in which a Roman chariot is drawn by a pair of horses. The scene is taken from a Roman tombstone found in Virunum, which can be seen today on the wall of a church in the neighbouring village of Maria-Saal. It is a scene reflected on the coin’s obverse, where a horse-drawn Roman wagon passes in front of a temple as a blacksmith fashions prized Noric iron into swords for the Roman legions stationed in Virunum.
face value: 20 Euro
date of issue: 04.05.2010
coin design: Mag. Helmut Andexlinger / Herbert Wähner
diameter: 34.00 mm
alloy: Silver Ag 900
fine weight: 18.00 g
total weight: 20.00 g
Claudium Virunum was a Roman city in the province of Noricum, on today's Zollfeld in the Austrian State of Carinthia. Virunum may also have been the name of the older Celtic-Roman settlement on the hilltop of Magdalensberg nearby. Virunum (Virunensis) is today a Titular See of the Roman Catholic Church.
Municipium Claudium Virunum, or simply, Virunum, was founded under Emperor Claudius as the capital of the province of Noricum succeeding the town upon the hilltop of Magdalensberg, perhaps also taking its name from that settlement, which is widely believed to have been the royal capital city of the pre-Roman Celtic kingdom of Noricum, a town whose name is, as yet, not known. The new Roman foundation was situated on the main route from the Adriatic to the Danube, with a branch through south eastern Carinthia connecting Virunum with the Amber Road. Established on a flood-proof terrace on the edge of Zollfeld parts of the city stretched as far as Töltschach Hill in the east.
The city had the Latin Right and was the seat of the provincial governor (procurator Augusti provinciae Norici) till the middle of the 2nd century. After the Marcomannic Wars (which the Romans called bellum Germanicum) the administration of the province was moved to Ovilava, today's Upper Austrian town of Wels, but the administration of the province's finances remained in Virunum. When Emperor Diocletian split the large province of Noricum, Virunum became the capital of the province of Noricum mediterraneum.
From AD 343 Virunum is known to have been a bishop's see. Little is known about the decline of the city. Being unfortified and situated in a flat valley, during the Migration Period (the “Barbarian Invasions”) the city was probably partly or totally evacuated by its inhabitants, who left for the surrounding hills such as Ulrichsberg or Grazerkogel. In the 5th century there is mention of Teurnia in western Carinthia near today's town of Spittal an der Drau as the capital town of Noricum.
The territory administered from Virunum comprised central and lower Carinthia as well as parts of Styria and covered an area of about 9000 km². The usual authorities such as city council, magistrate and dual mayorship (“II viri iure dicundo”) are known in part by name.
Claudius (1 August 10 BC – 13 October 54 AD) was Roman emperor from 41 to 54. A member of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, he was the son of Drusus and Antonia Minor. He was born at Lugdunum in Gaul, the first Roman Emperor to be born outside Italy.