Our newly published research authenticating coins of the “Roman emperor” Sponsian drew some critical comments in your pages from Richard Abdy at the British Museum (Coins study suggests ‘fake emperor’ was real, say scientists, 23 November).
Abdy seems to be suggesting that it is somehow circular for us to say that the coins demonstrate the existence of an emperor Sponsian, but that it was Sponsian who made the coins. These statements are complementary, not circular. Without intending to draw any absurd comparison, Tutankhamun was originally known only from hieroglyphs on rare objects, but then they found the body.
