I just got top coin today - not a thing of beauty, but nonetheless a significant upgrade on the one I
had before !
This is
RIC VI Lyons 254 for
Galerius, dating to 307-308 AD.
A quick recap of the
history here, for those unfamiliar ...
At the end of the 3rd century, with the empire's defences crumbling at the edges,
Diocletian forms the "rule of four"
Tetrarchy to bring things under control. Under this system there would be two
augusti (initially
Diocletian and
Maximian) and two hand picked caesars (initially
Galerius and Constantius) who would then replace them once the
augusti retired. Rinse and repeat. The traditonal system of an emperor being replaced by
his son, was now replaced by a system where the emperors-in-waiting (casears) would be chosen based on
merit by each generation of
augusti.
In 305
Diocletian decides he'd rather be a cabbage farmer (seriously - he talks about it later), so retires and
Maximian by prior agreement, retires too (unhappily) at the same time. Initially all is in order and the caesars Constantius and
Galerius are made
augusti, and appoint a new generation of caesars,
Severus II and
Maximinus II.
In 306 Constantius dies in battle (at York,
Britain), with
Constantine by
his side. The army -
tetrarchy be damned - acclaim
Constantine as
augustus, and he duly asks
Galerius to be recognized as such.
Galerius is unhappy, but having raised
Constantine (as near hostage) in
his court knows he is a capable general, now backed by
his father's army, so agrees to the lesser title of
caesar.
Maxentius, Maximian's son, watches this all unfold, and is aggrieved himself at not having been able to inherit power from
his father. So he now usurps, claiming control of
Rome and
Carthage, with
Maximian happily coming out of retirement as self-styled
senior augustus to
help him.
Galerius is not consulted,
nor happy, and makes multiple attempts, to no avail, to reclaim
Rome.
In 307
Maximian and
Constantine now reinforce their hold on power by forming an
alliance.
Maximian elevates (by what authority?!)
Constantine to
augustus, and has him marry
his daughter,
Fausta, to cement the relationship.
Constantine recognizes
Maximian on
his coins, initially as DN ... S(enior)
AVG, later simpler as
Imperator.
The stage is now set for this coin ... Constantine's position
had changed from initially having to ask
Galerius for recognition to now having the upper hand. Between himself,
Maximian and
Maxentius they now control the whole western empire, including
Rome itself, with large armies and resources at their disposal. In 307-308 at the
mint of Lyons (due to it's proximity to
Italy, perhaps)
Constantine confidently asserts
his new world order by (
RIC VI Lyons 246-285) advertising
his Concordia with
Maximian, recognizing
Maxentius, and honoring the retired
Diocletian as "
AETER AVG". But
Galerius, the real
senior augustus, is not ignored ...
Constantine issues coins for him too, with the downright insulting title of junior
augustus (
IVN AVG), that we see on my new aquisition below, and no "
PIVS" or "
FELIX" either!
As interesting juxtaposition with this coin, below that is another issued by
Constantine (or maybe
his father, although
Constantine certainly used the title too on
RIC 83) from only a year or two earlier at
London, flattering
Galerius as IN(VICTVS)
AVG. How times
had changed ... from
INV AVG to
IVN AVG !
This is one of the things that makes
Constantine fun to collect - all the drama of the time, political alliances, enemies, geographic nuances, is all played out on the coins!
Ben
