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MARCVS AVRELIVS - Dupondius - 164 AD
Obv.: M AVREL ANTONINVS AVG ARMENIACVS P M, radiate head right
Rev.: VICT AVG TR P XVIII IMP II COS III S C, Victory stg. right holds trophy. At her feet Armenia seated right.
Gs. 11,3 mm. 26
Cohen 986Maxentius

Georgia Georgia and Armenia as part of the Iranian state
Nâdir Shâh Afshâr, 1148-1160 H./1735-1747 AD Rupee 1152 H. Tiflîs. Album 2744 Lang 89
Quant.Geek

Georgia Georgia and Armenia as part of the Iranian state
Husayn, 1105-1135 H./1694-1722 AD Abbasi of oblong shape 1129 H., Tiflîs, mint and date in central cartouche. Album 2677 Quant.Geek

JUSTINIAN I, AE Follis (40 Nummi), struck 529 - 533 at Antioch (Theoupolis)Obverse: D N IVSTINIANVS P P AVG. Justinian enthroned facing, holding long sceptre in his right hand and globus cruciger in his left.
Reverse: Large M, cross above and officina letter (Δ = 4th Officina) below, asterisk in field to left of M and outward facing crescent in field to right; in exergue, +THEUP
Diameter: 34mm | Weight: 18.69gms | Die Axis: 5
SBCV: 214 | DOC: 206d.1

Much of Antioch was destroyed by a great earthquake on 29th November 528 and, following this disaster, the city was renamed Theoupolis.

530: In the spring of this year Belisarius and Hermogenes (magister officiorum) defeated a combined Persian-Arab army of 50,000 men at the Battle of Dara in modern Turkey, and in the summer a Byzantine cavalry force under the command of Sittas defeated a major Persian invasion into Roman Armenia at the Battle of Satala.
531: On April 19th, at the Battle of Callinicum, a Byzantine army commanded by Belisarius, was defeated by the Persians at Raqqa in northern Syria. Nevertheless, Justinian negotiated an end to the hostilities and Belisarius was hailed as a hero.
532: On January 11th this year anger among the supporters of the most important chariot teams in Constantinople, the Blues and the Greens, escalated into violence towards the emperor. For the next five days the city was in chaos and the fires that started during the rioting resulted in the destruction of much of the city. This insurrection, known as the Nika riots, was put down a week later by Belisarius and Mundus resulting in 30,000 people being killed in the Hippodrome.
On February 23rd Justinian ordered the building of a new Christian basilica in Constantinople, the Hagia Sophia. More than 10,000 people were employed in the construction using material brought from all over the empire.
2 comments*Alex

JUSTINIAN I, AE Half-Follis (20 Nummi), struck 527 – 528 at AntiochObverse: D N IVSTINIANVS P P AVG. Diademed, draped and cuirassed bust of Justinian I facing right.
Reverse: Large K, Large latin cross to left dividing letters A–N / T–X; officina letter to right of K (Γ = third officina).
Diameter: 28mm | Weight: 5.8gms | Die Axis: 12
SBCV: 224a | Not in DOC
Rare

This coin was struck prior to Antioch being renamed Theoupolis following the great earthquake that virtually destroyed the city on 29th November 528.

527: One of Justinian's first acts as sole emperor was to reorganise the command structure of the Byzantine army. He appointed Belisarius to command the Eastern army in Armenia and on the Byzantine-Persian frontier.
528: In February of this year Justinian appointed a commission to codify all the laws of the Roman Empire that were still in force from Hadrian to the current date. This Code of Civil Laws came to be called the Codex Justinianus.
On November 29th a great earthquake struck Antioch, killing thousands and destroying much of the city including the Domus Aurea (Great Church) built by Constantine the Great.*Alex

JUSTINIAN I, AE Half-Follis (20 Nummi), struck 529 – 533 at Antioch (Theoupolis)Obverse: D N IVSTINIANVS P P AVG. Justinian I enthroned facing, holding long sceptre in his right hand and globus cruciger in his left.
Reverse: Large K, Large latin cross to left dividing letters T–H/Є–U/O/P; officina letter to right of K (Δ = fourth officina).
Diameter: 28mm | Weight: 8.4gms | Die Axis: 11
SBCV: 225 | DOC: 208.6
Rare

Much of Antioch was destroyed by a great earthquake on 29th November 528 and, following this disaster, the city was renamed Theoupolis.

530: In the spring of this year Belisarius and Hermogenes (magister officiorum) defeated a combined Persian-Arab army of 50,000 men at the Battle of Dara in modern Turkey, and in the summer a Byzantine cavalry force under the command of Sittas defeated a major Persian invasion into Roman Armenia at the Battle of Satala.
531: On April 19th, at the Battle of Callinicum, a Byzantine army commanded by Belisarius, was defeated by the Persians at Raqqa in northern Syria. Nevertheless, Justinian negotiated an end to the hostilities and Belisarius was hailed as a hero.
532: On January 11th this year anger among the supporters of the most important chariot teams in Constantinople, the Blues and the Greens, escalated into violence towards the emperor. For the next five days the city was in chaos and the fires that started during the rioting resulted in the destruction of much of the city. This insurrection, known as the Nika riots, was put down a week later by Belisarius and Mundus resulting in 30,000 people being killed in the Hippodrome.
On February 23rd Justinian ordered the building of a new Christian basilica in Constantinople, the Hagia Sophia. More than 10,000 people were employed in the construction using material brought from all over the empire.
1 comments*Alex

(0161) MARCUS AURELIUS (limes denarius)161-180 AD
struck 164/5
Limes Denarius 18 mm, 2.11 g
O: M ANTONINVS AVG ARMENIACVS, laureate head right.
R: P M TR P XIX IMP III COS III, Annona standing left, holding grain ears over modius, and cornucopia in left hand
Rome; cf RIC 125laney

(0813) LEO V (The Armenian)813-820 AD
AE Follis 17 mm X 20 mm 3.01 g
O: Facing bust of Leo with a short beard, wearing a crown and loros and holding cross potent
R: Facing bust of Constantine, beardless, wearing crown and chlamys and holding globus cruciger.
Syracuse mint, Sear Byzantine 1636

2 commentslaney

019a04. Marcus AureliusDenarius. Obv: ANTONINVS AVG ARMENIACVS, laureate head right.
Rev: P M TR P XVIII IMP II COS III, mourning Armenia seated left in peaked cap, hand on bow and quiver; before a vexillum and shield, ARMEN in ex. RIC 81.lawrence c

020a02. Lucius VerusSestertius. Rome mint. 163-164 AD. Obv: L AVREL VERVS AVG-ARMENIACVS, bare headed, draped bust right, seen from behind.
Rev: VICT AVG TR P IIII IMP II COS II, Victory standing to the right, holding trophy in both hands over Armenian captive seated at foot; S C across field. RIC III (Marcus Aurelius) 1408. Posted on Wildwinds.lawrence c

020a05. Lucius VerusDenarius. Obv: L VERVS AVG ARMENIACVS, laureate head right.
Rev: TR P IIII IMP II COS II, Mars standing right holding spear and leaning on shield. RIC 516, RSC 230.lawrence c

037b Marcus Aurelius (139-161 A.D. as Caesar, 161-180 A.D. as Augustus), RIC III 0081, Rome, AR-Denarius, P M TR P XVIII IMP II COS III, -/-//ARMEN, Armenia seated left, #1037b Marcus Aurelius (139-161 A.D. as Caesar, 161-180 A.D. as Augustus), RIC III 0081, Rome, AR-Denarius, P M TR P XVIII IMP II COS III, -/-//ARMEN, Armenia seated left, #1
avers: ANTONINVS AVG ARMENIACVS, Laureate head right.
reverse: P M TR P XVIII IMP II COS III, Armenia seated left, left hand on the bow with shield and vexillum before her.
exergue: -/-//ARMEN, diameter: 17,0mm, weight: 3,18g, axis: 11h,
mint: Rome, date: 163-164 A.D.,
ref: RIC III. 081, p-219, RSC 7, BMCRE 274, Sear 4881, p-303,
Q-0011 commentsquadrans

037b Marcus Aurelius (139-161 A.D. as Caesar, 161-180 A.D. as Augustus), RIC III 0125, Rome, AR-Denarius, P M TR P XIX IMP II COS III, Annona standing left, #1037b Marcus Aurelius (139-161 A.D. as Caesar, 161-180 A.D. as Augustus), RIC III 0125, Rome, AR-Denarius, P M TR P XIX IMP II COS III, Annona standing left, #1
avers: ANTONINVS AVG ARMENIACVS, Laureate head right.
reverse: P M TR P XIX IMP II COS III, Annona standing left, right foot set on prow (?), emptying cornucopia with both hands into modius before her.
exergue: -/-//--, diameter: 17,5-18mm, weight: 2,99g, axis: 11h,
mint: Rome, date:165 A.D.,
ref: RIC III. 125, p-, C 474, BMCRE 359, RSC 484, Sear 4920,
Q-001quadrans

037b Marcus Aurelius (139-161 A.D. as Caesar, 161-180 A.D. as Augustus), RIC III 0138, Rome, AR-Denarius, P M TR P XIX IMP III COS III, Roma seated left, #1037b Marcus Aurelius (139-161 A.D. as Caesar, 161-180 A.D. as Augustus), RIC III 0138, Rome, AR-Denarius, P M TR P XIX IMP III COS III, Roma seated left, #1
avers: M ANTONINVS AVG ARMENIACVS, Laureate head right.
reverse: P M TR P XIX IMP III COS III, Roma seated left, holding palladium and scepter.
exergue: -/-//--, diameter: 18,0mm, weight: 2,86g, axis: 1h,
mint: Rome, date:165 A.D.,
ref: RIC III. 138, p-224, RSC 481, Sear ,
Q-0011 commentsquadrans

037b Marcus Aurelius (139-161 A.D. as Caesar, 161-180 A.D. as Augustus), RIC III 0142, Rome, AR-Denarius, P M TR P XIX IMP III COS III, Annona standing left, #1037b Marcus Aurelius (139-161 A.D. as Caesar, 161-180 A.D. as Augustus), RIC III 0142, Rome, AR-Denarius, P M TR P XIX IMP III COS III, Annona standing left, #1
avers: M ANTONINVS AVG ARMENIACVS, Laureate head right.
reverse: P M TR P XIX IMP III COS III, Annona standing left, holding grain-ears over modius and cornucopiae.
exergue: -/-//--, diameter: 18,5-19mm, weight: 3,09g, axis: 6h,
mint: Rome, date:165 A.D.,
ref: RIC III. 142, p-224, RSC 484, Sear 4922,
Q-0011 commentsquadrans

038 Lucius Verus. AR Denarius obv: L VERVS AVG ARMENIACVS bare head r.
rev: TR P III IMP I COS II Armenia seated l. surmounted by arms,
standard before her
ex: ARMENhill132

039 Lucius Verus (161-169 A.D.), Rome, RIC III 0528 (Marc.Aur.), AR-Denarius, TR P V IMP II COS II, Mars standing right, #1039 Lucius Verus (161-169 A.D.), Rome, RIC III 0528 (Marc.Aur.), AR-Denarius, TR P V IMP II COS II, Mars standing right, #1
avers: L VERVS AVG ARMENIACVS, Bare head right.
reverse: TR P V IMP II COS II, Mars standing right, holding spear (reversed) and leaning on shield.
exergue: -/-//--, diameter: 16,5-17,5 mm, weight: 3,31g, axes: 6h,
mint: Rome, date: 164-65 A.D.,
ref: RIC III 528(Marc.Aur.), p 256, C 262,
Q-001quadrans

039 Lucius Verus (161-169 A.D.), Rome, RIC III 0529 (Marc.Aur.), AR-Denarius, TR P V IMP II COS II, Mars standing right, #1039 Lucius Verus (161-169 A.D.), Rome, RIC III 0529 (Marc.Aur.), AR-Denarius, TR P V IMP II COS II, Mars standing right, #1
avers: L VERVS AVG ARMENIACVS, Laureate head right.
reverse: TR P V IMP II COS II, Mars standing right, holding spear (reversed) and leaning on shield.
exergue: -/-//--, diameter: 17.0-18,0 mm, weight: 3,30g, axes: 6h,
mint: Rome, date: 164-65 A.D.,
ref: RIC III 529 (Marc.Aur.), p-256, C 263,
Q-001quadrans

039 Lucius Verus (161-169 A.D.), Rome, RIC III 0537 (Marc.Aur.), AR-Denarius, TR P V IMP II COS II, Roma, in military attire, #1039 Lucius Verus (161-169 A.D.), Rome, RIC III 0537 (Marc.Aur.), AR-Denarius, TR P V IMP II COS II, Roma, in military attire, #1
avers: L VERVS AVG ARMENIACVS, Laureate head right.
revers: TR P V IMP II COS II, Roma, in military attire, walking left, holding Victory and trophy.
exergue: -/-//--, diameter: 17,0-18,0 mm, weight: 3,18 g, axes: 0 h,
mint: Rome, date: 164-165 A.D.,
ref: RIC III 537 (Marc.Aur.), p 257,
Q-001quadrans

039 Lucius Verus (161-169 A.D.), Rome, RIC III 0537 (Marc.Aur.), AR-Denarius, TR P V IMP II COS II, Roma, in military attire, #2039 Lucius Verus (161-169 A.D.), Rome, RIC III 0537 (Marc.Aur.), AR-Denarius, TR P V IMP II COS II, Roma, in military attire, #2
avers: L VERVS AVG ARMENIACVS, Laureate head right.
revers: TR P V IMP II COS II, Roma, in military attire, walking left, holding Victory and trophy.
exergue: -/-//--, diameter: 16,0-18,0 mm, weight: 3,11 g, axes: 5 h,
mint: Rome, date: 164-165 A.D.,
ref: RIC III 537 (Marc.Aur.), p 257,
Q-002quadrans

051 - Marcus Aurelius denarius - RIC 091Obv:- ANTONINVS AVG ARMENIACVS, Bare head right
Rev:- P M TR P XVIII IMP II COS III, Mars standing right, resting on spear and shield
Minted in Rome. A.D. 164
Reference RIC 91. BMCRE 261. RSC 468maridvnvm

051 - Marcus Aurelius, Denariua - RIC 092Obv:- ANTONINVS AVG ARMENIACVS, Laureate bust right
Rev:- P M TR P XVIII IMP II COS III, Mars standing right with spear & shield on ground
Minted in Rome. Dec. A.D. 163 - Dec. 164
Reference:- RIC II Marcus Aurelius 92

Minor lamination fault in from of nose.maridvnvm

053 - Lucius Verus Denarius - RIC 516Obv:- L VERVS AVG ARMENIACVS, Laureate head right, slight drapery on far shoulder
Rev:- TR P IIII IMP II COS II, Mars standing right holding a spear resting left hand on shield
Minted in Rome. Dec. A.D. 163 - Dec. A.D. 164
Reference:- RIC 516maridvnvm

053 - Lucius Verus denarius - RIC 516Obv:- L VERVS AVG ARMENIACVS, Laureate head right, slight drapery on far shoulder
Rev:- TR P IIII IMP II COS II, Mars standing right holding a spear resting left hand on shield
Minted in Rome. Dec. A.D. 163 - Dec. A.D. 164
Reference:- RIC 5163 commentsmaridvnvm

053 - Lucius Verus Sestertius - RIC 1379Obv:- L. AVREL VERVS AVG ARMENIACVS, Laureate head right
Rev:- TR P IIII IMP II COS II, S-C, Mars walking right, holding a trophy and spear
Minted in Rome. A.D. 164
Reference:- BMCRE 1109. RIC 1379maridvnvm

098-117 AD - TRAJAN AE sestertius - struck 104-110 ADobv: [IMP CAES NER TRAIANO OPTIMO AVG GER DAC PM TR P COS VI PP] (laureate, draped bust right)
rev: [ARMENIA ET MESOPOTAMIA IN POTESTATEM P R REDACTAE] (Trajan standing to the front, head turned right, holding spear and parazonium; on both sides of him and reclining are the three females figures, Armenia, Euphrates, Tigris), S-C in field
ref: RIC II 642 (R), BMC 1039, C.39 (20frcs)
mint: Rome
22.41gms, 33mm
Rare

History: Trajan declared war against the Parthians, after overrunning Syria, Mesopotamia and Armenia, he defeated in every encounter, establishing several governments, and thereby gaining from the Roman Senate the title of Parthicus.

This coin is worn enough, even the legends are disappeared, too, but shows the result about one of the most impotant Roman conquest.berserker

102. TrajanTrajan. AD 98-117. Æ Sestertius (29mm, 25.58 g, 7h). Rome mint. Struck AD 116-117. Laureate and draped bust right / [REX PARTHIS DATVS], Trajan seated left on platform, presenting Parthamaspates to kneeling Parthian; attendant standing behind emperor. RIC II 667; Woytek 594v-2; Banti 96. Fine, green patina.

Parthian interference in Armenia prompted Trajan to declare war against their king Osroes I in AD 114. He quickly reestablished Roman control of Armenia, forced the submission of Osrhoene, and in AD 116 took Mesopotamia by defeating Osroes I. Rather than pursuing the Parthians into Iran, Trajan set up a pro-Roman Parthian "buffer state" in Mesopotamia under a puppet-king Parthamaspates. ecoli

114 AD: Trajan's comprehensive political settlement in the EastOrichalcum sestertius (25.16g, 34mm, 6h) Rome mint. Struck AD 116.
IMP CAES NER TRAIANO OPTIMO AVG GER DAC PARTHICO PM TRP COS VI PP laureate draped bust, rricht
REGNA ADSIGNATA / S C [in ex.] Trajan seated left on platform, prefect and soldier standing; three kings standing before
RIC 666 [R]; Cohen 325; BMC 1043; Foss (Roman Historic Coins) 104/67

Trajan assigns kingdoms to client princes in the East in AD 114. The three kings are presumably of Armenia, Mesopotamia and Parthia4 commentsCharles S

115 AD: Trajan's conquest of Armenia and Mesopotamia Orichalcum sestertius (26.2g, 33mm, 7h). Rome mint. Struck AD 116-117.
IMP CAES NER TRAIANO OPTIMO AVG GER DAC PARTHICO PM TRP COS VI PP laureate and draped bust of Trajan facing right
ARMENIA ET MESOPOTAMIA POTESTATEM PR REDACTAE [around] S C [in field] Trajan standing right, holding spear and parazonium; on the ground, the reclining figures of Armenia, the Euphrates and the Tigris
RIC 642 [R]; Cohen 39; Foss (Roman Historical Coins): 105/71

Coin minted between 116 spring and 117 aug (PARTHICO in legend) on the occasion of the conquest of Mesopotamia in 115. Beginning in 114 AD, Trajan began his campaign against Parthia which had deposed the pro-Roman king of Armenia. By 115 AD Trajan had turned Armenia into a Roman province. He then moved southward through Mesopotamia, capturing the Parthian capital, Ctesiphon, in 116 AD.Charles S

1303a, Galerius, 1 March 305 - 5 May 311 A.D.Galerius, RIC VI 59, Cyzicus S, VF, Cyzicus S, 6.4 g, 25.86 mm; 309-310 AD; Obverse: GAL MAXIMIANVS P F AVG, laureate bust right; Reverse: GENIO A-VGVS[TI], Genius stg. left, naked but for chlamys over left shoulder, holding patera and cornucopiae. A nice example with sharp detail and nice brown hoard patina. Ex Ancient Imports.

De Imperatoribus Romanis,
An Online Encyclopedia of Roman Emperors

Galerius (305-311 A.D.)

Michael DiMaio, Jr.
Salve Regina University

Caius Galerius Valerius Maximianus, more commonly known as Galerius, was from Illyricum; his father, whose name is unknown, was of peasant stock, while his mother, Romula, was from beyond the Danube. Galerius was born in Dacia Ripensis near Sardica. Although the date of his birth is unknown, he was probably born ca. 250 since he served under Aurelian. As a youth Galerius was a shepherd and acquired the nickname Armentarius. Although he seems to have started his military career under Aurelian and Probus, nothing is known about it before his accession as Caesar on 1 March 293. He served as Diocletian's Caesar in the East. Abandoning his first wife, he married Diocletian's daugher, Valeria.

As Caesar he campaigned in Egypt in 294; he seems to have taken to the field against Narses of Persia, and was defeated near Ctesiphon in 295. In 298, after he made inroads into Armenia, he obtained a treaty from the Persians favorable to the Romans. Between 299-305 he overcame the Sarmatians and the Carpi along the Danube. The Great Persecution of the Orthodox Church, which was started in 303 by the Emperor Diocletian, was probably instigated by Galerius. Because of the almost fatal illness that he contracted toward the end of 304, Diocletian, at Nicomedeia, and Maximianus Herculius, at Mediolanum, divested themselves of the purple on 1 May 305. Constantius and Galerius were appointed as Augusti, with Maximinus Daia and Severus as the new Caesars. Constantius and Severus reigned in the West, whereas Galerius' and Daia's realm was the East. Although Constantius was nominally senior Augustus, the real power was in the hands of Galerius because both Caesars were his creatures.

The balance of power shifted at the end of July 306 when Constantius, with his son Constantine at his side, passed away at York in Britain where he was preparing to face incursions by the Picts; his army proclaimed Constantine his successor immediately. As soon as he received the news of the death of Constantius I and the acclamation of Constantine to the purple, Galerius raised Severus to the rank of Augustus to replace his dead colleague in August 306. Making the best of a bad situation, Galerius accepted Constantine as the new Caesar in the West. The situation became more complicated when Maxentius, with his father Maximianus Herculius acquiesing, declared himself princes on 28 October 306. When Galerius learned about the acclamation of the usurper, he dispatched the Emperor Severus to put down the rebellion. Severus took a large field army which had formerly been that of Maximianus and proceeded toward Rome and began to besiege the city, Maxentius, however, and Maximianus, by means of a ruse, convinced Severus to surrender. Later, in 307, Severus was put to death under clouded circumstances. While Severus was fighting in the west, Galerius, during late 306 or early 307, was campaigning against the Sarmatians.

In the early summer of 307 Galerius invaded Italy to avenge Severus's death; he advanced to the south and encamped at Interamna near the Tiber. His attempt to besiege the city was abortive because his army was too small to encompass the city's fortifications. Not trusting his own troops, Galerius withdrew. During its retreat, his army ravaged the Italian countryside as it was returning to its original base. When Maximianus Herculius' attempts to regain the throne between 308 and 310 by pushing his son off his throne or by winning over Constantine to his cause failed, he tried to win Diocletian and Galerius over to his side at Carnuntum in October and November 308; the outcome of the Conference at Carnuntum was that Licinius was appointed Augustus in Severus's place, that Daia and Constantine were denoted filii Augustorum, and that Herculius was completely cut out of the picture. Later, in 310, Herculius died, having been implicated in a plot against his son-in-law. After the Conference at Carnuntum, Galerius returned to Sardica where he died in the opening days of May 311.

By Michael DiMaio, Jr., Salve Regina University; Published: De Imperatoribus Romanis: An Online Encyclopedia of Roman Rulers and their Families http://www.roman-emperors.org/startup.htm. Used by permission.

Galerius was Caesar and tetrarch under Maximianus. Although a talented general and administrator, Galerius is better known for his key role in the "Great Persecution" of Christians. He stopped the persecution under condition the Christians pray for his return to health from a serious illness. Galerius died horribly shortly after. Joseph Sermarini, FORVM.

Edited by J. P. Fitzgerald, Jr.

Cleisthenes

1409a, Julian II "the Philosopher," February 360 - 26 June 363 A.D.Julian II, A.D. 360-363; RIC 167; VF; 2.7g, 20mm; Constantinople mint; Obverse: DN FL CL IVLIANVS P F AVG, helmeted & cuirassed bust right, holding spear & shield; Reverse: VOT X MVLT XX in four lines within wreath; CONSPB in exergue; Attractive green patina. Ex Nemesis.

De Imperatoribus Romanis,
An Online Encyclopedia of Roman Emperors

Julian the Apostate (360-363 A.D.)

Walter E. Roberts, Emory University
Michael DiMaio, Jr., Salve Regina University

Introduction

The emperor Flavius Claudius Julianus reigned from 360 to 26 June 363, when he was killed fighting against the Persians. Despite his short rule, his emperorship was pivotal in the development of the history of the later Roman empire. This essay is not meant to be a comprehensive look at the various issues central to the reign of Julian and the history of the later empire. Rather, this short work is meant to be a brief history and introduction for the general reader. Julian was the last direct descendent of the Constantinian line to ascend to the purple, and it is one of history's great ironies that he was the last non-Christian emperor. As such, he has been vilified by most Christian sources, beginning with John Chrysostom and Gregory Nazianzus in the later fourth century. This tradition was picked up by the fifth century Eusebian continuators Sozomen, Socrates Scholasticus, and Theodoret and passed on to scholars down through the 20th century. Most contemporary sources, however, paint a much more balanced picture of Julian and his reign. The adoption of Christianity by emperors and society, while still a vital concern, was but one of several issues that concerned Julian.

It is fortunate that extensive writings from Julian himself exist, which help interpret his reign in the light of contemporary evidence. Still extant are some letters, several panegyrics, and a few satires. Other contemporary sources include the soldier Ammianus Marcellinus' history, correspondence between Julian and Libanius of Antioch, several panegyrics, laws from the Theodosian Code, inscriptions, and coinage. These sources show Julian's emphasis on restoration. He saw himself as the restorer of the traditional values of Roman society. Of course much of this was rhetoric, meant to defend Julian against charges that he was a usurper. At the same time this theme of restoration was central to all emperors of the fourth century. Julian thought that he was the one emperor who could regain what was viewed as the lost glory of the Roman empire. To achieve this goal he courted select groups of social elites to get across his message of restoration. This was the way that emperors functioned in the fourth century. By choosing whom to include in the sharing of power, they sought to shape society.

Early Life

Julian was born at Constantinople in 331. His father was Julius Constantius, half-brother of the emperor Constantine through Constantius Chlorus, and his mother was Basilina, Julius' second wife. Julian had two half-brothers via Julius' first marriage. One of these was Gallus, who played a major role in Julian's life. Julian appeared destined for a bright future via his father's connection to the Constantinian house. After many years of tense relations with his three half-brothers, Constantine seemed to have welcomed them into the fold of the imperial family. From 333 to 335, Constantine conferred a series of honors upon his three half-siblings, including appointing Julius Constantius as one of the consuls for 335. Julian's mother was equally distinguished. Ammianus related that she was from a noble family. This is supported by Libanius, who claimed that she was the daughter of Julius Julianus, a Praetorian Prefect under Licinius, who was such a model of administrative virtue that he was pardoned and honored by Constantine.

Despite the fact that his mother died shortly after giving birth to him, Julian experienced an idyllic early childhood. This ended when Constantius II conducted a purge of many of his relatives shortly after Constantine's death in 337, particularly targeting the families of Constantine's half-brothers. ulian and Gallus were spared, probably due to their young age. Julian was put under the care of Mardonius, a Scythian eunuch who had tutored his mother, in 339, and was raised in the Greek philosophical tradition, and probably lived in Nicomedia. Ammianus also supplied the fact that while in Nicomedia, Julian was cared for by the local bishop Eusebius, of whom the future emperor was a distant relation. Julian was educated by some of the most famous names in grammar and rhetoric in the Greek world at that time, including Nicocles and Hecebolius. In 344 Constantius II sent Julian and Gallus to Macellum in Cappadocia, where they remained for six years. In 351, Gallus was made Caesar by Constantius II and Julian was allowed to return to Nicomedia, where he studied under Aedesius, Eusebius, and Chrysanthius, all famed philosophers, and was exposed to the Neo-Platonism that would become such a prominent part of his life. But Julian was most proud of the time he spent studying under Maximus of Ephesus, a noted Neo-Platonic philospher and theurgist. It was Maximus who completed Julian's full-scale conversion to Neo-Platonism. Later, when he was Caesar, Julian told of how he put letters from this philosopher under his pillows so that he would continue to absorb wisdom while he slept, and while campaigning on the Rhine, he sent his speeches to Maximus for approval before letting others hear them. When Gallus was executed in 354 for treason by Constantius II, Julian was summoned to Italy and essentially kept under house arrest at Comum, near Milan, for seven months before Constantius' wife Eusebia convinced the emperor that Julian posed no threat. This allowed Julian to return to Greece and continue his life as a scholar where he studied under the Neo-Platonist Priscus. Julian's life of scholarly pursuit, however, ended abruptly when he was summoned to the imperial court and made Caesar by Constantius II on 6 November 355.

Julian as Caesar

Constantius II realized an essential truth of the empire that had been evident since the time of the Tetrarchy--the empire was too big to be ruled effectively by one man. Julian was pressed into service as Caesar, or subordinate emperor, because an imperial presence was needed in the west, in particular in the Gallic provinces. Julian, due to the emperor's earlier purges, was the only viable candidate of the imperial family left who could act as Caesar. Constantius enjoined Julian with the task of restoring order along the Rhine frontier. A few days after he was made Caesar, Julian was married to Constantius' sister Helena in order to cement the alliance between the two men. On 1 December 355, Julian journeyed north, and in Augusta Taurinorum he learned that Alamannic raiders had destroyed Colonia Agrippina. He then proceeded to Vienne where he spent the winter. At Vienne, he learned that Augustudunum was also under siege, but was being held by a veteran garrison. He made this his first priority, and arrived there on 24 June 356. When he had assured himself that the city was in no immediate danger, he journeyed to Augusta Treverorum via Autessioduram, and from there to Durocortorum where he rendezvoused with his army. Julian had the army stage a series of punitive strikes around the Dieuse region, and then he moved them towards the Argentoratum/Mongontiacum region when word of barbarian incursions reached him.

From there, Julian moved on to Colonia Agrippina, and negotiated a peace with the local barbarian leaders who had assaulted the city. He then wintered at Senonae. He spent the early part of the campaigning season of 357 fighting off besiegers at Senonae, and then conducting operations around Lugdunum and Tres Tabernae. Later that summer, he encountered his watershed moment as a military general. Ammianus went into great detail about Julian's victory over seven rogue Alamannic chieftains near Argentoratum, and Julian himself bragged about it in his later writing. After this battle, the soldiers acclaimed Julian Augustus, but he rejected this title. After mounting a series of follow-up raids into Alamannic territory, he retired to winter quarters at Lutetia, and on the way defeated some Frankish raiders in the Mosa region. Julian considered this campaign one of the major events of his time as Caesar.

Julian began his 358 military campaigns early, hoping to catch the barbarians by surprise. His first target was the Franks in the northern Rhine region. He then proceeded to restore some forts in the Mosa region, but his soldiers threatened to mutiny because they were on short rations and had not been paid their donative since Julian had become Caesar. After he soothed his soldiers, Julian spent the rest of the summer negotiating a peace with various Alamannic leaders in the mid and lower Rhine areas, and retired to winter quarters at Lutetia. In 359, he prepared once again to carry out a series of punitive expeditions against the Alamanni in the Rhine region who were still hostile to the Roman presence. In preparation, the Caesar repopulated seven previously destroyed cities and set them up as supply bases and staging areas. This was done with the help of the people with whom Julian had negotiated a peace the year before. Julian then had a detachment of lightly armed soldiers cross the Rhine near Mogontiacum and conduct a guerilla strike against several chieftains. As a result of these campaigns, Julian was able to negotiate a peace with all but a handful of the Alamannic leaders, and he retired to winter quarters at Lutetia.

Of course, Julian did more than act as a general during his time as Caesar. According to Ammianus, Julian was an able administrator who took steps to correct the injustices of Constantius' appointees. Ammianus related the story of how Julian prevented Florentius, the Praetorian Prefect of Gaul, from raising taxes, and also how Julian actually took over as governor for the province of Belgica Secunda. Hilary, bishop of Poitiers, supported Ammianus' basic assessment of Julian in this regard when he reported that Julian was an able representative of the emperor to the Gallic provincials. There is also epigraphic evidence to support Julian's popularity amongst the provincial elites. An inscription found near Beneventum in Apulia reads:
"To Flavius Claudius Julianus, most noble and sanctified Caesar, from the caring Tocius Maximus, vir clarissimus, for the care of the res publica from Beneventum".

Tocius Maximus, as a vir clarissimus, was at the highest point in the social spectrum and was a leader in his local community. This inscription shows that Julian was successful in establishing a positive image amongst provincial elites while he was Caesar.

Julian Augustus

In early 360, Constantius, driven by jealousy of Julian's success, stripped Julian of many troops and officers, ostensibly because the emperor needed them for his upcoming campaign against the Persians. One of the legions ordered east, the Petulantes, did not want to leave Gaul because the majority of the soldiers in the unit were from this region. As a result they mutinied and hailed Julian as Augustus at Lutetia. Julian refused this acclamation as he had done at Argentoratum earlier, but the soldiers would have none of his denial. They raised him on a shield and adorned him with a neck chain, which had formerly been the possession of the standard-bearer of the Petulantes and symbolized a royal diadem. Julian appeared reluctantly to acquiesce to their wishes, and promised a generous donative. The exact date of his acclamation is unknown, but most scholars put it in February or March. Julian himself supported Ammianus' picture of a jealous Constantius. In his Letter to the Athenians, a document constructed to answer charges that he was a usurper, Julian stated that from the start he, as Caesar, had been meant as a figurehead to the soldiers and provincials. The real power he claimed lay with the generals and officials already present in Gaul. In fact, according to Julian, the generals were charged with watching him as much as the enemy. His account of the actual acclamation closely followed what Ammianus told us, but he stressed even more his reluctance to take power. Julian claimed that he did so only after praying to Zeus for guidance.

Fearing the reaction of Constantius, Julian sent a letter to his fellow emperor justifying the events at Lutetia and trying to arrange a peaceful solution. This letter berated Constantius for forcing the troops in Gaul into an untenable situation. Ammianus stated that Julian's letter blamed Constantius' decision to transfer Gallic legions east as the reason for the soldiers' rebellion. Julian once again asserted that he was an unwilling participant who was only following the desire of the soldiers. In both of these basic accounts Ammianus and Julian are playing upon the theme of restoration. Implicit in their version of Julian's acclamation is the argument that Constantius was unfit to rule. The soldiers were the vehicle of the gods' will. The Letter to the Athenians is full of references to the fact that Julian was assuming the mantle of Augustus at the instigation of the gods. Ammianus summed up this position nicely when he related the story of how, when Julian was agonizing over whether to accept the soldiers' acclamation, he had a dream in which he was visited by the Genius (guardian spirit) of the Roman state. The Genius told Julian that it had often tried to bestow high honors upon Julian but had been rebuffed. Now, the Genius went on to say, was Julian's final chance to take the power that was rightfully his. If the Caesar refused this chance, the Genius would depart forever, and both Julian and the state would rue Julian's rejection. Julian himself wrote a letter to his friend Maximus of Ephesus in November of 361 detailing his thoughts on his proclamation. In this letter, Julian stated that the soldiers proclaimed him Augustus against his will. Julian, however, defended his accession, saying that the gods willed it and that he had treated his enemies with clemency and justice. He went on to say that he led the troops in propitiating the traditional deities, because the gods commanded him to return to the traditional rites, and would reward him if he fulfilled this duty.

During 360 an uneasy peace simmered between the two emperors. Julian spent the 360 campaigning season continuing his efforts to restore order along the Rhine, while Constantius continued operations against the Persians. Julian wintered in Vienne, and celebrated his Quinquennalia. It was at this time that his wife Helena died, and he sent her remains to Rome for a proper burial at his family villa on the Via Nomentana where the body of her sister was entombed. The uneasy peace held through the summer of 361, but Julian concentrated his military operations around harassing the Alamannic chieftain Vadomarius and his allies, who had concluded a peace treaty with Constantius some years earlier. By the end of the summer, Julian decided to put an end to the waiting and gathered his army to march east against Constantius. The empire teetered on the brink of another civil war. Constantius had spent the summer negotiating with the Persians and making preparations for possible military action against his cousin. When he was assured that the Persians would not attack, he summoned his army and sallied forth to meet Julian. As the armies drew inexorably closer to one another, the empire was saved from another bloody civil war when Constantius died unexpectedly of natural causes on 3 November near the town of Mopsucrenae in Cilicia, naming Julian -- the sources say-- as his legitimate successor.

Julian was in Dacia when he learned of his cousin's death. He made his way through Thrace and came to Constantinople on 11 December 361 where Julian honored the emperor with the funeral rites appropriate for a man of his station. Julian immediately set about putting his supporters in positions of power and trimming the imperial bureaucracy, which had become extremely overstaffed during Constantius' reign. Cooks and barbers had increased during the late emperor's reign and Julian expelled them from his court. Ammianus gave a mixed assessment of how the new emperor handled the followers of Constantius. Traditionally, emperors were supposed to show clemency to the supporters of a defeated enemy. Julian, however, gave some men over to death to appease the army. Ammianus used the case of Ursulus, Constantius' comes sacrum largitionum, to illustrate his point. Ursulus had actually tried to acquire money for the Gallic troops when Julian had first been appointed Caesar, but he had also made a disparaging remark about the ineffectiveness of the army after the battle of Amida. The soldiers remembered this, and when Julian became sole Augustus, they demanded Ursulus' head. Julian obliged, much to the disapproval of Ammianus. This seems to be a case of Julian courting the favor of the military leadership, and is indicative of a pattern in which Julian courted the goodwill of various societal elites to legitimize his position as emperor.

Another case in point is the officials who made up the imperial bureaucracy. Many of them were subjected to trial and punishment. To achieve this goal, during the last weeks of December 361 Julian assembled a military tribunal at Chalcedon, empanelling six judges to try the cases. The president of the tribunal was Salutius, just promoted to the rank of Praetorian Prefect; the five other members were Mamertinus, the orator, and four general officers: Jovinus, Agilo, Nevitta, and Arbetio. Relative to the proceedings of the tribunal, Ammianus noted that the judges, " . . . oversaw the cases more vehemently than was right or fair, with the exception of a few . . .." Ammianus' account of Julian's attempt at reform of the imperial bureaucracy is supported by legal evidence from the Theodosian Code. A series of laws sent to Mamertinus, Julian's appointee as Praetorian Prefect in Italy, Illyricum, and Africa, illustrate this point nicely. On 6 June 362, Mamertinus received a law that prohibited provincial governors from bypassing the Vicars when giving their reports to the Prefect. Traditionally, Vicars were given civil authority over a group of provinces, and were in theory meant to serve as a middle step between governors and Prefects. This law suggests that the Vicars were being left out, at least in Illyricum. Julian issued another edict to Mamertinus on 22 February 362 to stop abuse of the public post by governors. According to this law, only Mamertinus could issue post warrants, but the Vicars were given twelve blank warrants to be used as they saw fit, and each governor was given two. Continuing the trend of bureaucratic reform, Julian also imposed penalties on governors who purposefully delayed appeals in court cases they had heard. The emperor also established a new official to weigh solidi used in official government transactions to combat coin clipping.

For Julian, reigning in the abuses of imperial bureaucrats was one step in restoring the prestige of the office of emperor. Because he could not affect all elements of society personally, Julian, like other Neo-Flavian emperors, decided to concentrate on select groups of societal elites as intercessors between himself and the general populace. One of these groups was the imperial bureaucracy. Julian made it very clear that imperial officials were intercessors in a very real sense in a letter to Alypius, Vicar of Britain. In this letter, sent from Gaul sometime before 361, the emperor praises Alypius for his use of "mildness and moderation with courage and force" in his rule of the provincials. Such virtues were characteristic of the emperors, and it was good that Alypius is representing Julian in this way. Julian courted the army because it put him in power. Another group he sought to include in his rule was the traditional Senatorial aristocracy. One of his first appointments as consul was Claudius Mamertinus, a Gallic Senator and rhetorician. Mamertinus' speech in praise of Julian delivered at Constantinople in January of 362 is preserved. In this speech, Claudius presented his consular selection as inaugurating a new golden age and Julian as the restorer of the empire founded by Augustus. The image Mamertinus gave of his own consulate inaugurating a new golden age is not merely formulaic. The comparison of Julian to Augustus has very real, if implicit, relevance to Claudius' situation. Claudius emphasized the imperial period as the true age of renewal. Augustus ushered in a new era with his formation of a partnership between the emperor and the Senate based upon a series of honors and offices bestowed upon the Senate in return for their role as intercessor between emperor and populace. It was this system that Julian was restoring, and the consulate was one concrete example of this bond. To be chosen as a consul by the emperor, who himself had been divinely mandated, was a divine honor. In addition to being named consul, Mamertinus went on to hold several offices under Julian, including the Prefecture of Italy, Illyricum, and Africa. Similarly, inscriptional evidence illustrates a link between municipal elites and Julian during his time as Caesar, something which continued after he became emperor. One concrete example comes from the municipal senate of Aceruntia in Apulia, which established a monument on which Julian is styled as "Repairer of the World."

Julian seems to have given up actual Christian belief before his acclamation as emperor and was a practitioner of more traditional Greco-Roman religious beliefs, in particular, a follower of certain late antique Platonist philosophers who were especially adept at theurgy as was noted earlier. In fact Julian himself spoke of his conversion to Neo-Platonism in a letter to the Alexandrians written in 363. He stated that he had abandoned Christianity when he was twenty years old and been an adherent of the traditional Greco-Roman deities for the twelve years prior to writing this letter.

(For the complete text of this article see: http://www.roman-emperors.org/julian.htm)

Julian’s Persian Campaign

The exact goals Julian had for his ill-fated Persian campaign were never clear. The Sassanid Persians, and before them the Parthians, had been a traditional enemy from the time of the Late Republic, and indeed Constantius had been conducting a war against them before Julian's accession forced the former to forge an uneasy peace. Julian, however, had no concrete reason to reopen hostilities in the east. Socrates Scholasticus attributed Julian's motives to imitation of Alexander the Great, but perhaps the real reason lay in his need to gather the support of the army. Despite his acclamation by the Gallic legions, relations between Julian and the top military officers was uneasy at best. A war against the Persians would have brought prestige and power both to Julian and the army.

Julian set out on his fateful campaign on 5 March 363. Using his trademark strategy of striking quickly and where least expected, he moved his army through Heirapolis and from there speedily across the Euphrates and into the province of Mesopotamia, where he stopped at the town of Batnae. His plan was to eventually return through Armenia and winter in Tarsus. Once in Mesopotamia, Julian was faced with the decision of whether to travel south through the province of Babylonia or cross the Tigris into Assyria, and he eventually decided to move south through Babylonia and turn west into Assyria at a later date. By 27 March, he had the bulk of his army across the Euphrates, and had also arranged a flotilla to guard his supply line along the mighty river. He then left his generals Procopius and Sebastianus to help Arsacius, the king of Armenia and a Roman client, to guard the northern Tigris line. It was also during this time that he received the surrender of many prominent local leaders who had nominally supported the Persians. These men supplied Julian with money and troops for further military action against their former masters. Julian decided to turn south into Babylonia and proceeded along the Euphrates, coming to the fortress of Cercusium at the junction of the Abora and Euphrates Rivers around the first of April, and from there he took his army west to a region called Zaitha near the abandoned town of Dura where they visited the tomb of the emperor Gordian which was in the area. On April 7 he set out from there into the heart of Babylonia and towards Assyria.

Ammianus then stated that Julian and his army crossed into Assyria, which on the face of things appears very confusing. Julian still seems to be operating within the province of Babylonia between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. The confusion is alleviated when one realizes that,for Ammianus, the region of Assyria encompassed the provinces of Babylonia and Assyria. On their march, Julian's forces took the fortress of Anatha, received the surrender and support of several more local princes, and ravaged the countryside of Assyria between the rivers. As the army continued south, they came across the fortresses Thilutha and Achaiachala, but these places were too well defended and Julian decided to leave them alone. Further south were the cities Diacira and Ozogardana, which the Roman forces sacked and burned. Soon, Julian came to Pirisabora and a brief siege ensued, but the city fell and was also looted and destroyed. It was also at this time that the Roman army met its first systematic resistance from the Persians. As the Romans penetrated further south and west, the local inhabitants began to flood their route. Nevertheless, the Roman forces pressed on and came to Maiozamalcha, a sizable city not far from Ctesiphon. After a short siege, this city too fell to Julian. Inexorably, Julian's forces zeroed in on Ctesiphon, but as they drew closer, the Persian resistance grew fiercer, with guerilla raids whittling at Julian's men and supplies. A sizable force of the army was lost and the emperor himself was almost killed taking a fort a few miles from the target city.
Finally, the army approached Ctesiphon following a canal that linked the Tigris and Euphrates. It soon became apparent after a few preliminary skirmishes that a protracted siege would be necessary to take this important city. Many of his generals, however, thought that pursuing this course of action would be foolish. Julian reluctantly agreed, but became enraged by this failure and ordered his fleet to be burned as he decided to march through the province of Assyria. Julian had planned for his army to live off the land, but the Persians employed a scorched-earth policy. When it became apparent that his army would perish (because his supplies were beginning to dwindle) from starvation and the heat if he continued his campaign, and also in the face of superior numbers of the enemy, Julian ordered a retreat on 16 June. As the Roman army retreated, they were constantly harassed by guerilla strikes. It was during one of these raids that Julian got caught up in the fighting and took a spear to his abdomen. Mortally wounded he was carried to his tent, where, after conferring with some of his officers, he died. The date was 26 June 363.

Conclusion

Thus an ignominious end for a man came about who had hoped to restore the glory of the Roman empire during his reign as emperor. Due to his intense hatred of Christianity, the opinion of posterity has not been kind to Julian. The contemporary opinion, however, was overall positive. The evidence shows that Julian was a complex ruler with a definite agenda to use traditional social institutions in order to revive what he saw as a collapsing empire. In the final assessment, he was not so different from any of the other emperors of the fourth century. He was a man grasping desperately to hang on to a Greco-Roman conception of leadership that was undergoing a subtle yet profound change.
Copyright (C) 2002, Walter E. Roberts and Michael DiMaio, Jr. Used by permission.

In reality, Julian worked to promote culture and philosophy in any manifestation. He tried to reduce taxes and the public debts of municipalities; he augmented administrative decentralisation; he promoted a campaign of austerity to reduce public expenditure (setting himself as the example). He reformed the postal service and eliminated the powerful secret police.
by Federico Morando; JULIAN II, The Apostate, See the Julian II Page on NumisWiki

Flavius Claudius Iulianus was born in 331 or maybe 332 A.D. in Constantinople. He ruled the Western Empire as Caesar from 355 to 360 and was hailed Augustus by his legions in Lutetia (Paris) in 360. Julian was a gifted administrator and military strategist. Famed as the last pagan emperor, his reinstatement of the pagan religion earned him the moniker "the Apostate." As evidenced by his brilliant writing, some of which has survived to the present day, the title "the Philosopher" may have been more appropriate. He died from wounds suffered during the Persian campaign of 363 A.D. Joseph Sermarini, FORVM.

Edited by J. P. Fitzgerald, Jr.

2 commentsCleisthenes

1410a, Jovian, 27 June 363 - 17 February 364 A.D.Bronze AE 3, RIC 179, aVF, Constantinople, 3.126g, 21.6mm, 180o. Obverse: D N IOVIANVS P F AVG, pearl diademed, draped and cuirassed bust left; Reverse: VOT V MVLT X within wreath, CONSPG in exergue; scarce.

Flavius Jovianuswas born in 331 at Singidunum, modern Belgrade. His distinguished father, Varronianus, had been a tribune of the legion Ioviani and a comes domesticorum, perhaps under Constantius II, who had retired to private life shortly before Jovian's elevation to the purple. Jovian married a daughter of Lucillianus, perhaps named Charito, and by her produced at least two children.

Jovian himself was a protector domesticus under Constantius II and Julian and, under Julian, primicerius domesticorum. Various Christian sources maintain that Jovian's Christianity led to his deposition by Julian, though most modern scholars dismiss this as ex post facto Christian apologetic. Jovian, recalled to the ranks if he had ever been dismissed, marched with Julian against Sapor in 363, and on 27 June, the day after that emperor's death, was acclaimed Augustus.

Ammianus and Zosimus, among others, detail the difficult straits of the Roman army during its withdrawal from Persian territory, Ammianus from the perspective of a proud soldier confident even in defeat of the superiority of Roman arms, Zosimus, in a much shorter and confused version, concentrating on the predicament of Jovian's troops and on the dire effects to the empire of the peace terms agreed to with Sapor. These terms entailed the cessation to Persia of Roman territory beyond the Tigris -- the cities of Singara and Nisibis, however, to be surrendered on the condition of the safe passage of their inhabitants -- and the guarantee of the neutrality of Rome's ally Arsaces, King of Armenia, in the event of future hostilities between Roman and Persia. Ammianus asserts that in agreeing to these terms Jovian misjudged his tactical strength and wasted an opportunity presented by negotiations with Sapor to move his forces closer to supplies at Corduena, and that Jovian acted on the advise of flatterers to preserve the fighting strength of his forces in the event of an attempt by Julian's relative Procopius to seize the throne. Others present the treaty terms as unavoidable given the Roman predicament.

Jovian appears to have treaded cautiously with regard to religious matters during the early months of his reign. Eunapius says that Jovian continued to honor Maximus and Priscus, the Neoplatonist advisors of Julian, and, upon reaching Tarsus, Jovian performed funeral rites for Julian. Nonetheless, various Christians, most notably Athanasius, took the initiative in an effort to gain Jovian's favor and support. An adherent of the Nicaean creed, Jovian did eventually recall various bishops of homoousian disposition and restore to their followers churches lost under earlier emperors. But in spite of such measures, unity among various Christian sects seems to have been the foremost concern of Jovian, whose ipsissima verba Socrates Scholasticus purports to give: "I abhor contentiousness, but love and honor those hurrying towards unanimity" (Hist. Eccl. 3.25).

Jovian died at the age of thirty-two on 17 February 364 at Dadastana on the boundary of Bithynia and Galatia. The cause of his death was most probably natural and is variously attributed to overeating, the consumption of poisonous mushrooms, or suffocation from fumes of charcoal or of the fresh paint on the room in which he was sleeping. Ammianus' comparison of the circumstances of Jovian's death to those of Scipio Aemilianus suggest the possibility of foul play, as does John of Antioch's reference to a poisoned rather than a poisonous mushroom, while John Chrysostom -- in a highly suspect literary context of consolatio-- asserts outright that the emperor was murdered. Eutropius records that he was enrolled among the gods, inter Divos relatus est. Zonaras says he was buried in the Church of the Holy Apostles and that his wife, Charito, was eventually laid to rest beside him.

Ancient authors agree that Jovian was of modest intellect but imposing physique and disposed to excessive eating and drinking.

By Thomas Banchich, Canisius College
Published: De Imperatoribus Romanis: An Online Encyclopedia of Roman Rulers and their Families http://www.roman-emperors.org/startup.htm. Used by permission.

Edited By J. P. Fitzgerald, Jr.

Cleisthenes

143 AD: The king of Armenia is appointed by Antoninus PiusOrichalcum sestertius (23.57g, 31mm, 11h). Rome mint. Struck AD 143-144.
ANTONINVS AVG PIVS P P TR P COS III laureate head of Antoninus Pius facing right
REX ARMENIIS DATVS [around] S C [in ex.] Antoninus Pius, togate, standing facing, head turned left, placing a tiara on the head of the Armenian king, standing left, wearing short tunica and cloak, his right hand raised and holding a roll in his left.
RIC 619 [R]; BMC 1272; Cohen 686; Foss (Roman Historical Coins) 126:42
ex The New York Sale XX jan 2009; ex Gorny & Mosch, Auction 147 lot 2159, March 2006
In A.D. 143, Antoninus Pius appointed kings for the Armenians and the Quadi and dedicated separate issues for both events. 3 commentsCharles S

160 Marcus AureliusMarcus Aurelius 161-180 A.D.

Dupondius 165-166 A.D.

obv. Marcus Aurelius, Crowned faces right, M AVREL ANTONINUS AVG ARMENIACVS PM

rev. Providentia standing l. holding wand and scepter; globe at feet, TR POT XX IMP III COS III

RIC III 924 Cohen 806

btter photo3 commentsRandygeki(h2)

161-169 AD - LUCIUS VERUS AE dupondius - struck 165-166 ADobv: L VERVS AVG ARM PARTH MAX (radiate head right)
rev: TR POT VI IMP III COS II (parthian captive seated right at base of trophy, hands tied behind back, arms before), S-C in field
ref: RIC III 1445 (M.Aurelius) (C), C202 (3frcs)
mint: Rome
12.08gms, 24mm
Scarce

History: Between 162 and 166 Verus was in the East, nominally commanding a campaign against the Parthian empire for the control over the Armenian kingdom. Statius Priscus, Avidius Cassius and Martius Verus generals were entrusted with real command of the legions. Cassius led the overall campaign, destroyed the city of Seleucia on the Tigris and burned to the ground the palace at the capital Ctesiphon; Priscus led the invasion of Armenia that took the capital of Artashat (Artaxata); Martius Verus is limited only to the mention of his name by the ancients, but he was later the governor of Cappadocia. Lucius Verus received the title Parthicus Maximus in Aug. 165 AD.berserker

161-169 AD - LUCIUS VERUS AR denarius - struck 164 ADobv: L VERVS AVG ARMENIACVS (bare head right)
rev: TRP IIII IMP II COS II (Victory standing left on globe, holding wreath & palm)
ref: RIC III 520 (M.Aurelius), C.240
2.41gms, 17mmberserker

161-180 AD - MARCUS AURELIUS AE sestertius - struck 163-164 ADobv: M AVREL ANTONINVS AVG ARMENIACVS P M (laureated bearded head right)
rev: VICT AVG TR P XVIII IMP II COS III (Victory standing right holding trophy a captive Armenian at her feet), S-C in field
ref: RIC 890 (S), Cohen 984 (12 Francs 1878), BMC 1092
21.14gms, 30mm,
Rare

History: After the death of Antoninus Pius the parthian king, Vologaesus III run over Armenia in 161 AD. The Expeditio orientalis was started the next year from Capua,Italy. Statius Priscus, Avidius Cassius and Martius Verus were entrusted with command of the legions while Marcus Aurelius conducted affairs of the state back in Rome. The 5 year campaign (161 – 166 AD) against Parthia proved to be as decisive as any war in recent Roman history. A Roman candidate once again sat the Armenian throne and Parthia had been thoroughly defeated. This coin commemorate the end of the first phase of the Parthian War.berserker

161-180 AD - MARCUS AURELIUS AR denarius - struck 164 ADobv: ANTONINVS AVG ARMENIACVS (laureate head right)
rev: P M TRP XVIII IMP II COS III (Emperor standing right with spear, leaning on shield)
ref: RIC III 91, C.468
mint: Rome
3.37gms, 18mm,

Aurelius received the title Armeniacus in the early 164 ADberserker

161-180 AD - MARCUS AURELIUS AR denarius - struck 164 ADobv: ANTONINVS AVG ARMENIACVS (laureate head right)
rev: P M TRP XVIII IMP II COS III (Armenia seated left, left hand on bow with shield and vexillum before her), ARMEN in ex.
ref: RIC III 78, Cohen 7
mint: Rome
3,41gms, 18mm,

"The most distinctive type shows a figure of Armenia seated on the ground surrounded by various weapons" RIC III pp198berserker

17 Marcus Aurelius RIC 123Marcus Aurelius 161-180 AD. AR Denarius. Rome Mint. December 164 - August 165 AD. (2.96g: 17.84mm) Obv: ANTONINVS AVG ARMENIACVS, Bare head right. Rev: P M TR P XIX IMP II COS III, Mars standing right, holding spear and shield on ground.
RIC 123; RSC 472.

Ex: Tyche NumismaticsPaddy

1791 AE Halfpenny Token. Leeds, Yorkshire.Obverse: ARTIS NOSTRÆ CONDITOR •. Standing figure of Bishop Blaize (patron saint of woolcombers) holding a wool comb in his raised right hand and a book and crosier in his left; at his feet, to right, a lamb facing right with it's head turned to left.
Reverse: LEEDS HALFPENNY 1791. Coat of arms of the City of Leeds consisting of a shield containing three stars and a hanging fleece, crested by an owl. The date, 17 - 91, bisected by the base of the shield.
Edge: “PAYABLE AT THE WAREHOUSE OF RICHARD PALEY •XX•".
Diameter: 29mm | Axis: 6
Dalton & Hamer: 45 | Conder: 20 (Yorkshire)

This token was issued by Richard Paley, a freeholder, maltster, soap-boiler and chandler with a business in a locality known as the “Calls” in Leeds. The token was manufactured by Matthew Bolton at his SOHO Mint in Birmingham, the dies were engraved by Henry Brownbill.

Bishop Blaise, also known as Saint Blasius, was a well-known martyr from Armenia, who as the price of his faith, back in the 4th century, had been put to death by being raked with red-hot rakes. Later he was adopted as the Patron Saint of Woolcombers and, appropriately, his effigy is usually shown holding a rake. On this token, however, Bishop Blaise is shown holding the traditional bishop's crosier.*Alex

198Caracalla 198-217 AD
AR denarius
Obv "ANTONINVS PIVS AVG"
Laureate head right
Rev "PONTIF TRP X COS II"
Caracalla standing half-left, head turned right, holding spear and parazonium; at feet seated female (Armenia) and two reclining river-gods (Euphrates and Tigris) each holding a palm frond or reeds and leaning upon overturned urn from which water flows
Rome mint
RIC 96mauseus

1al Tiberius14-37

As
Laureate head, left, TI CAESAR AVGVST F IMPERAT V
PONTIF MAXIM TRIBVN POTEST XXIII SC

This is one of a series of 12 Caesars pieces that were local finds in Serbia. There are better coins out there, but I'll hang onto these because they really got me into the hobby.

RIC 469

Per Suetonius: Within three years, however, both Lucius Caesar and Gaius Caesar were dead [in AD2 and 4 respectively], and Augustus now adopted both their brother Agrippa Postumus, and Tiberius, who was first required to adopt his nephew Germanicus [in 4 AD]. . . .

From that moment onwards, Augustus did all he could to enhance Tiberius’ prestige, especially after the disowning and banishment of Postumus [ca 6 AD] made it obvious that Tiberius was the sole heir to the succession. . . .

Tiberius acted like a traditional citizen, more modestly almost than the average individual. He accepted only a few of the least distinguished honours offered him; it was only with great reluctance that he consented to his birthday being recognised, falling as it did on the day of the Plebeian Games in the Circus, by the addition of a two-horse chariot to the proceedings; and he refused to have temples, and priests dedicated to him, or even the erection of statues and busts, without his permission; which he only gave if they were part of the temple adornments and not among the divine images. . . .

Moreover, in the face of abuse, libels or slanders against himself and his family, he remained unperturbed and tolerant, often maintaining that a free country required free thought and speech. . . . He even introduced a species of liberty, by maintaining the traditional dignities and powers of the Senate and magistrates. He laid all public and private matters, small or great, before the Senate consulting them over State revenues, monopolies, and the construction and maintenance of public buildings, over the levying and disbanding of troops, the assignment of legions and auxiliaries, the scope of military appointments, and the allocation of campaigns, and even the form and content of his replies to letters from foreign powers. . . .

Returning to Capreae, he abandoned all affairs of state, neither filling vacancies in the Equestrian Order’s jury lists, nor appointing military tribunes, prefects, or even provincial governors. Spain and Syria lacked governors of Consular rank for several years, while he allowed the Parthians to overrun Armenia, Moesia to be ravaged by the Dacians and Sarmatians, and Gaul by the Germans, threatening the Empire’s honour no less than its security. Furthermore, with the freedom afforded by privacy, hidden as it were from public view, he gave free rein to the vices he had concealed for so long. . . . Blindado

1an GermanicusAdopted by Tiberius in 4 AD, died mysteriously in 19

As, struck by Caligula

Bare head, left, GERMANICVS CAESAR TI AVGVST F DIVI AVG N
C CAESAR AVG GERMANICVS PON M TR POT SC

RIC 57

Germanicus Julius Caesar (c16 BC-AD 19) was was born in Lugdunum, Gaul (modern Lyon). At birth he was named either Nero Claudius Drusus after his father or Tiberius Claudius Nero after his uncle. He received the agnomen Germanicus, in 9 BC, when it was posthumously awarded to his father in honour of his victories in Germania. Germanicus was the grandson-in-law and great-nephew of the Emperor Augustus, nephew and adoptive son of the Emperor Tiberius, father of the Emperor Caligula, brother of the Emperor Claudius, and the maternal grandfather of the Emperor Nero. He married his maternal second cousin Agrippina the Elder, a granddaughter of Augustus, between 5 and 1 BC. The couple had nine children. Two died very young; another, Gaius Julius Caesar, died in early childhood. The remaining six were: Nero Caesar, Drusus Caesar, the Emperor Caligula, the Empress Agrippina the Younger, Julia Drusilla, and Julia Livilla.

According to Suetonius: Germanicus, who was the son of Drusus the Elder and Antonia the Younger, was adopted (in 4AD) by Germanicus’s paternal uncle, Tiberius. He served as quaestor (in7AD) five years before the legal age and became consul (in12AD) without holding the intermediate offices. On the death of Augustus (in AD14) he was appointed to command the army in Germany, where, his filial piety and determination vying for prominence, he held the legions to their oath, though they stubbornly opposed Tiberius’s succession, and wished him to take power for himself.

He followed this with victory in Germany, for which he celebrated a triumph (in 17 AD), and was chosen as consul for a second time (18 AD) though unable to take office as he was despatched to the East to restore order there. He defeated the forces of the King of Armenia, and reduced Cappadocia to provincial status, but then died at Antioch, at the age of only thirty-three (in AD 19), after a lingering illness, though there was also suspicion that he had been poisoned. For as well as the livid stains which covered his body, and the foam on his lips, the heart was found entire among the ashes after his cremation, its total resistance to flame being a characteristic of that organ, they say, when it is filled with poison.

All considered Germanicus exceptional in body and mind, to a quite outstanding degree. Remarkably brave and handsome; a master of Greek and Latin oratory and learning; singularly benevolent; he was possessed of a powerful desire and vast capacity for winning respect and inspiring affection.

His scrawny legs were less in keeping with the rest of his figure, but he gradually fleshed them out by assiduous exercise on horseback after meals. He often killed enemy warriors in hand-to-hand combat; still pleaded cases in the courts even after receiving his triumph; and left various Greek comedies behind amongst other fruits of his studies.

At home and abroad his manners were unassuming, such that he always entered free or allied towns without his lictors.

Whenever he passed the tombs of famous men, he always offered a sacrifice to their shades. And he was the first to initiate a personal search for the scattered remains of Varus’s fallen legionaries, and have them gathered together, so as to inter them in a single burial mound.

As for Germanicus, Tiberius appreciated him so little, that he dismissed his famous deeds as trivial, and his brilliant victories as ruinous to the Empire. He complained to the Senate when Germanicus left for Alexandria (AD19) without consulting him, on the occasion there of a terrible and swift-spreading famine. It was even believed that Tiberius arranged for his poisoning at the hands of Gnaeus Calpurnius Piso, the Governor of Syria, and that Piso would have revealed the written instructions at his trial, had Tiberius not retrieved them during a private interview, before having Piso put to death. As a result, the words: ‘Give us back Germanicus!’ were posted on the walls, and shouted at night, all throughout Rome. The suspicion surrounding Germanicus’ death (19 AD) was deepened by Tiberius’s cruel treatment of Germanicus’s wife, Agrippina the Elder, and their children.1 commentsBlindado

1ar Nero54-68

As

Bare head, right, IMP NERO CAESAR AVG P MAX TR P P P
Genius, GENIO AVGVSTI

RIC 86

Suetonius wrote: Nero was born nine months after the death of Tiberius, at Antium, at sunrise on the 15th of December (AD 37). . . . While he was still a young stripling he took part in a successful performance of the Troy Game in the Circus, in which he exhibited great self-possession. At the age of twelve or so (sometime in AD 50), he was adopted by Claudius, who appointed Annaeus Seneca, already a member of the Senate, as his tutor. The following night, it is said, Seneca dreamed that his young charge was really Caligula, and Nero soon proved the dream prophetic by seizing the first opportunity to reveal his cruel disposition. . . . After Claudius’s death (AD 54) had been announced publicly, Nero, who was not quite seventeen years old, decided to address the Guards in the late afternoon, since inauspicious omens that day had ruled out an earlier appearance. After being acclaimed Emperor on the Palace steps, he was carried in a litter to the Praetorian Camp where he spoke to the Guards, and then to the House where he stayed until evening. He refused only one of the many honours that were heaped upon him, that of ‘Father of the Country’, and declined that simply on account of his youth.

Eutropius summarized: To him succeeded NERO, who greatly resembled his uncle Caligula, and both disgraced and weakened the Roman empire; he indulged in such extraordinary luxury and extravagance, that, after the example of Caius Caligula, he even bathed in hot and cold perfumes, and fished with golden nets, which he drew up with cords of purple silk. He put to death a very great number of the senate. To all good men he was an enemy. At last he exposed himself in so disgraceful a manner, that he danced and sung upon the stage in the dress of a harp-player and tragedian. He was guilty of many murders, his brother, wife, and mother, being put to death by him. He set on fire the city of Rome, that he might enjoy the sight of a spectacle such as Troy formerly presented when taken and burned.

In military affairs he attempted nothing. Britain he almost lost; for two of its most noble towns4 were taken and levelled to the ground under his reign. The Parthians took from him Armenia, and compelled the Roman legions to pass under the yoke. Two provinces however were formed under him; Pontus Polemoniacus, by the concession of King Polemon; and the Cottian Alps, on the death of King Cottius.

15 When, having become detestable by such conduct to the city of Rome, and being deserted at the same time by every one, and declared an enemy by the senate, he was sought for to be led to punishment (the punishment being, that he should be dragged naked through the streets, with a fork placed under his head,5 be beaten to death with rods, and then hurled from the Tarpeian rock), he fled from the palace, and killed himself in a suburban villa of one of his freed-men, between the Salarian and Nomentane roads, at the fourth milestone from the city. He built those hot baths at Rome, which were formerly called the Neronian, but now the Alexandrian. He died in the thirty-second year of his age, and the fourteenth year of his reign; and in him all the family of Augustus became extinct.

Having successfully dispatched his scheming mother Agrippina in 59 and survived a decade on the throne, Nero must have felt like a genius when this was minted ca 64 AD!1 commentsBlindado

1bc Trajan98-117

Sestertius
Laureate head, right, IMP CAES NERVAE TRAIANO AVG GER DAC P M TR P COS V PP
Roma and kneeling Dacian, SPQR OPTIMO PRINCIPI SC

RIC 485

Eutropius enthused: To [Nerva] succeeded ULPIUS CRINITUS TRAJANUS, born at Italica in Spain, of a family rather ancient than eminent for his father was the first consul in it. He was chosen emperor at Agrippina, a city of Gaul. He exercised the government in such a manner, that he is deservedly preferred to all the other emperors. He was a man of extraordinary skill in managing affairs of state, and of remarkable courage. The limits of the Roman empire, which, since the reign of Augustus, had been rather defended than honourably enlarged, he extended far and wide. He rebuilt some cities in Germany; he subdued Dacia by the overthrow of Decebalus, and formed a province beyond the Danube, in that territory which the Thaiphali, Victoali, and Theruingi now occupy. This province was a thousand miles in circumference.

He recovered Armenia, which the Parthians had seized, putting to death Parthamasires who held the government of it. He gave a king to the Albani. He received into alliance the king of the Iberians, Sarmatians, Bosporani, Arabians, Osdroeni, and Colchians. He obtained the mastery over the Cordueni and Marcomedi, as well as over Anthemusia, an extensive region of Persia. He conquered and kept possession of Seleucia, Ctesiphon, Babylon, and the country of the Messenii. He advanced as far as the boundaries of India, and the Red Sea, where he formed three provinces, Armenia, Assyria, and Mesopotamia, including the tribes which border on Madena. He afterwards, too, reduced Arabia into the form of a province. He also fitted out a fleet for the Red Sea, that he might use it to lay waste the coasts of India.

Yet he went beyond his glory in war, in ability and judgment as a ruler, conducting himself as an equal towards all, going often to his friends as a visitor, either when they were ill, or when they were celebrating feast days, and entertaining them in his turn at banquets where there was no distinction of rank, and sitting frequently with them in their chariots; doing nothing unjust towards any of the senators, nor being guilty of any dishonesty to fill his treasury; exercising liberality to all, enriching with offices of trust, publicly and privately, every body whom he had known even with the least familiarity; building towns throughout the world, granting many immunities to states, and doing every thing with gentleness and kindness; so that during his whole reign, there was but one senator condemned, and he was sentenced by the senate without Trajan's knowledge. Hence, being regarded throughout the world as next to a god, he deservedly obtained the highest veneration both living and dead. . . .

After having gained the greatest glory both in the field and at home, he was cut off, as he was returning from Persia, by a diarrhoea, at Seleucia in Isauria. He died in the sixty-third year, ninth month, and fourth day of his age, and in the nineteenth year, sixth month, and fifteenth day of his reign. He was enrolled among the gods, and was the only one of all the emperors that was buried within the city. His bones, contained in a golden urn, lie in the forum which he himself built, under a pillar whose height is a hundred and forty-four feet. So much respect has been paid to his memory, that, even to our own times, they shout in acclamations to the emperors, "More fortunate than Augustus, better than Trajan!" Blindado

1be Hadrian117-138

Sestertius
Laureate head, right, HADRIANVUS AVG COS III PP
Fortuna standing left with rudder on globe and cornucopia, FORTVNA AVG

RIC 759

According to the Historia Augusta, "Bereft of his father at the age of ten, he became the ward of Ulpius Trajanus, his cousin, then of praetorian rank, but afterwards emperor, and of Caelius Attianus, a knight. He then grew rather deeply devoted to Greek studies, to which his natural tastes inclined so much that some called him 'Greekling. . . .' In the 105-106 second Dacian war, Trajan appointed him to the command of the First Legion, the Minervia, and took him with him to the war; and in this campaign his many remarkable deeds won great renown. . . . On taking possession of the imperial power
Hadrian at once resumed the policy of the early emperors and devoted his attention to maintaining peace throughout the world. . . . [I]n this letter to the Senate he apologized because he had not left it the right to decide regarding his accession, explaining that the unseemly haste of the troops in acclaiming him emperor was due to the belief that the state could not be without an emperor. . . . He was, in the same person, austere and genial, dignified and playful, dilatory and quick to act, niggardly and generous, deceitful and straightforward, cruel and merciful, and always in all things changeable. . . . Hadrian's memory was vast and his ability was unlimited ; for instance, he personally dictated his speeches and gave opinions on all questions. He was also very witty. . . ."

After this Hadrian departed for Baiae, leaving Antoninus at Rome to carry on the government. But he received no benefit there, and he thereupon
sent for Antoninus, and in his presence he died there at Baiae on the sixth day before the Ides of July.

According to Eutropius: After the death of Trajan, AELIUS HADRIAN was made emperor, not from any wish to that effect having been expressed by Trajan himself, but through the influence of Plotina, Trajan's wife; for Trajan in his life-time had refused to adopt him, though he was the son of his cousin. He also was born at Italica in Spain. Envying Trajan's glory, he immediately gave up three of the provinces which Trajan had added to the empire, withdrawing the armies from Assyria, Mesopotamia, and Armenia, and deciding that the Euphrates should be the boundary of the empire. When he was proceeding, to act similarly with regard to Dacia, his friends dissuaded him, lest many Roman citizens should be left in the hands of the barbarians, because Trajan, after he had subdued Dacia, had transplanted thither an infinite number of men from the whole Roman world, to people the country and the cities; as the land had been exhausted of inhabitants in the long war maintained by Decebalus.

He enjoyed peace, however, through the whole course of his reign; the only war that he had, he committed to the conduct of a governor of a province. He went about through the Roman empire, and founded many edifices. He spoke with great eloquence in the Latin language, and was very learned in the Greek. He had no great reputation for clemency, but was very attentive to the state of the treasury and the discipline of the soldiers. He died in Campania, more than sixty years old, in the twenty-first year, tenth month, and twenty-ninth day of his reign. The senate was unwilling to allow him divine honours; but his successor Titus Aurelius Fulvius Antonius, earnestly insisting on it, carried his point, though all the senators were openly opposed to him. 1 commentsBlindado

1bj Marcus Aurelius161-180

Sestertius

Laureate head, right, IMP CAES M AVREL ANTONINVS AVG PM
Salus stg, SALVTI AVGVSTOR TR P XVII COS III SC

RIC 843

The Historia Augusta relates: He was reared under the eye of Hadrian, who called him Verissimus. . . . And so he was adopted in his eighteenth year, and at the instance of Hadrian exception was made for his age and he was appointed quaestor for the year of the second consulship of Antoninus [Pius], now his father. . . . After Hadrian's death, Pius immediately got his wife to ask Marcus if he would break off his betrothal to the daughter of Lucius Commodus and marry their own daughter Faustina (whom Hadrian had wanted to marry Commodus' son, even though he was badly matched in age). After thinking the matter over, Marcus replied he was willing. And when this was done, Pius designated him as his colleague in the consulship, though he was still only quaestor, gave him the title of Caesar. . . .

When Antoninus Pius saw that the end of his life was drawing near, having summoned his friends and prefects, he commended Marcus to them all and formally named him as his successor in the empire. . . . Being forced by the senate to assume the government of the state after the death of the Deified Pius, Marcus made his brother his colleague in the empire, giving him the name Lucius Aurelius Verus Commodus and bestowing on him the titles Caesar and Augustus.

Eutropius summarizes: They carried on a war against the Parthians, who then rebelled for the first time since their subjugation by Trajan. Verus Antoninus went out to conduct that war, and, remaining at Antioch and about Armenia, effected many important achievements by the agency of his generals; he took Seleucia, the most eminent city of Assyria, with forty thousand prisoners; he brought off materials for a triumph over the Parthians, and celebrated it in conjunction with his brother, who was also his father-in-law. He died in Venetia. . . . After him MARCUS ANTONINUS held the government alone, a man whom any one may more easily admire than sufficiently commend. He was, from his earliest years, of a most tranquil disposition; so that even in his infancy he changed countenance neither for joy nor for sorrow. He was devoted to the Stoic philosophy, and was himself a philosopher, not only in his way of life, but in learning. . . .

Under his rule affairs were successfully conducted against the Germans. He himself carried on one war with the Marcomanni, but this was greater than any in the memory of man,so that it is compared to the Punic wars. . . . Having persevered, therefore, with the greatest labour and patience, for three whole years at Carnuntum,14 he brought the Marcomannic war to an end; a war which the Quadi, Vandals, Sarmatians, Suevi, and all the barbarians in that quarter, had joined with the Marcomanni in raising; he killed several thousand men, and, having delivered the Pannonians from slavery, triumphed a second time at Rome with his son Commodus Antoninus, whom he had previously made Caesar. . . . Having, then, rendered the state happy, both by his excellent management and gentleness of disposition, he died in the eighteenth year of his reign and the sixty-first of his life, and was enrolled among the gods, all unanimously voting that such honour should be paid him. 3 commentsBlindado

1bu Caracalla198-217

Denarius

Laureate head, right, ANTONINVS PIVS AVG BRIT
Mars, MARTI PROPVGNATORI

RIC 223

The Historia Augusta, in the life of Severus, records: As he was advancing against Albinus, moreover, and had reached Viminacium 4 on his march, he gave his elder son Bassianus the name Aurelius Antoninus 5 and the title of Caesar, in order to destroy whatever hopes of succeeding to the throne his brother Geta had conceived. His reason for giving his son the name Antoninus was that he had dreamed that an Antoninus would succeed him. It was because of this dream, some believe, that Geta also was called Antoninus, in order that he too might succeed to the throne. . . . [After defeating Niger], he bestowed the. toga virilis on his younger son, Geta, and he united his elder son in marriage with Plautianus' daughter [Plautilla]. . . . Soon thereafter he appointed his sons to the consulship ; also he greatly honored his brother Geta. . . . Severus [in 198] invaded Parthia, defeated the king, and came to Ctesiphon; and about the beginning of the winter season he took the city. For this feat, likewise, the soldiers declared his son, Bassianus Antoninus, co-emperor; he had already been named Caesar and was now in his thirteenth year. And to Geta, his younger son, they gave the name Caesar. . . .

In the life of Caracalla, the history continues: He himself in his boyhood was winsome and clever, respectful to his parents and courteous to his parents' friends, beloved by the people, popular with the senate, and well able to further his own interests in winning affection. Never did he seem backward in letters or slow in deeds of kindness, never niggardly in largess or tardy in forgiving at least while under his parents. . . . All this, however, was in his boyhood. For when
he passed beyond the age of a boy, either by his father's advice or through a natural cunning, or because he thought that he must imitate Alexander of Macedonia,he became more reserved and stern and even somewhat savage in expression. . . .

After his father's death he went to the Praetorian Camp and complained there to the soldiers that his brother was forming a conspiracy against him. And so he had his brother slain in the Palace. . . . After this he committed many further murders in the city, causing many persons far and wide to be seized by soldier sand killed, as though he were punishing a rebellion. . . . After doing all this he set out for Gaul and immediately upon his arrival there killed the proconsul of Narbonensis. . . . Then he made ready for a journey to the Orient, but interrupted his march and stopped in Dacia. . . . Then he journeyed through Thrace accompanied by the prefect of the guard. . . . After this, turning to the war with the Armenians and Parthians, he appointed as military commander a man whose character resembled his own. . . . Then he betook himself to Alexandria. . . . [H]e issued an order to his soldiers to slay their hosts and thus caused great slaughter at Alexandria. . . . Next he advanced through the lands of the Cadusii and the Babylonians and waged a guerilla-warfare with the Parthian satraps, in which wild beasts were even let loose against the enemy. He then sent a letter to the senate as though he had won a real victory and thereupon was given the name Parthicus. . . .

After this he wintered at Edessa with the intention of renewing the war against the Parthians. During this time, on the eighth day before the Ides of April, the feast of the Megalensia and his own birthday, while on a journey to Carrhae to do honor to the god Lunus, he stepped aside to satisfy the needs of nature and was thereupon assassinated by the treachery of Macrinus the prefect of the guard, who after his death seized the imperial power.1 commentsBlindado

1cc Conquests of Trajan: ParthiaTrajan
98-117

Sestertius

Laureate & draped bust right
REX PARTHIS DATVS, Trajan seated left on platform presenting Parthamaspates to kneeling Parthian, SC in ex

Trajan waged the Parthian War from 114 to 117. Roman victory brings Armenia, Mesopotamia and Assyria as new provinces into the Empire.

RIC 667Blindado

1cd Conquests of Trajan: Armenia and MesopotamiaTrajan
98-117

Sestertius

Portrait, right, IMP CAES NER TRAIANO OPTI]MO AVG GER DAC PARTHICO PM [TR P COS VI PP]
Armenia in attitude of mourning at Trajan's feet right, Euphrates and Tigris reclining, SC

RIC 642Blindado

1dv Galerius305-311

Quarter Follis

Laureate head, right, MAXIMIANVS AVG
Genius standing left, modius on head, holding cornucopia & patera, SIS in ex., GENIO POPVLI ROMANI

RIC 169b

Eutropius tells us: Diocletian promoted MAXIMIAN HERCULIUS from the dignity of Caesar to that of emperor, and created Constantius and Maximian Galerius Caesars, of whom Constantius is said to have been the grand-nephew of Claudius by a daughter, and Maximian Galerius to have been born in Dacia not far from Sardica. . . . Galerius married Valeria, the daughter of Diocletian. . . .

Galerius Maximian, in acting against Narseus, fought, on the first occasion, a battle far from successful, meeting him between Callinicus and Carrae, and engaging in the combat rather with rashness than want of courage; for he contended with a small army against a very numerous enemy. Being in consequence defeated, and going to join Diocletian, he was received by him, when he met him on the road, with such extreme haughtiness, that he is said to have run by his chariot for several miles in his scarlet robes.

But having soon after collected forces in Illyricum and Moesia, he fought a second time with Narseus (the grandfather of Hormisdas and Sapor), in Greater Armenia, with extraordinary success, and with no less caution and spirit, for he undertook, with one or two of the cavalry, the office of a speculator. After putting Narseus to flight, he captured his wives, sisters, and children, with a vast number of the Persian nobility besides, and a great quantity of treasure; the king himself he forced to take refuge in the remotest deserts in his dominions. Returning therefore in triumph to Diocletian, who was then encamped with some troops in Mesopotamia, he was welcomed by him with great honour. Subsequently, they conducted several wars both in conjunction and separately, subduing the Carpi and Bastarnae, and defeating the Sarmatians, from which nations he settled a great number of captives in the Roman territories. . . .

Galerius, a man of excellent moral character, and skilful in military affairs, finding that Italy, by Constantius's permission, was put under his government, created two Caesars, MAXIMIN, whom he appointed over the east, and SEVERUS, to whom he committed Italy. He himself resided in Illyricum. Blindado

1eo Jovian363-364

AE 3, Heraclea

Diademed bust left, draped & cuirassed, D N IOVIANVS P F AVG
VOT V MVLT X in wreath, Mintmark HERACA

RIC 110A

Zosimus recorded: A meeting of the officers and soldiers was afterwards convened, in order to appoint a successor to the empire : since it would be impossible for them without a ruler to avoid the dangers to which they were exposed in the midst of an enemy's country. The general voice was in favour of Jovianus, the son of Varronianus, tribune of the domestic forces. When Jovian had assumed the purple and the diadem, he directed his course homewards with all possible speed. . . . They then marched forward four days, continually harassed by the enemy, who followed them when they were proceeding, but fled when the Romans offered any resistance. At length, having gained some distance of the enemy, they resolved to crops the Tigris. For this purpose they fastened skins together, and floated over. When the greater part had gained the opposite bank, the commanders crossed over in safety with the remainder. The Persians, however, still accompanied them, and followed them with a large army so assiduously, that the Romans were in perpetual danger, both from the unfavourable circumstances in which they were placed, and from the want, of provisions. Although the Roman army was in this condition, the Persians were willing to treat for peace, and for that purpose sent Surenas with other |90 officers to the Roman camp. Jovian, upon hearing this, sent to them Sallustius, prefect of the court, together with Aristaeus, who, after some discussion, agreed on a truce for thirty years. The conditions were, that the Romans should give up to the Persians the country of the Rabdiceni, and that of the Candueni, Rhemeni, and Zaleni, besides fifteen castles in those provinces, with the inhabitants, lands, cattle, and all their property ; that Nisibis should be surrendered without its inhabitants, who were to be transplanted into whatever colony the Remans pleased. The Persians also deprived the Romans of great part of Armenia, leaving them but a very small part of it. The truce having been concluded on these conditions, and ratified on both sides, the Romans had an opportunity of returning home unmolested, neither party offering or sustaining any injury, either by open force; or secret machination.

Jovian marched through all the towns in great speed, because they were so filled with grief [because they were being given over to Persian rule], that the inhabitants could not look patiently on him; such being the custom and disposition of those countries. Taking with him the imperial guard, he proceeded to Antioch. . . . Jovian now turning his attention to the affairs of government, made various arrangements, and sent Lucilianus his father-in-law, Procopius, and Valentinian, who was afterwards emperor, to the armic.s in Pannoriia, to inform them of the death of Julian, and of his being chosen emperor. The Bavarians who were at Sirmium, and were left there for its protection, as soon as they received the news, put to death Lucilianus who brought such unwelcome intelligence, without regard to his relationship to the emperor. Such was the respect they had to Jovian's relations, that Valentinian himself only escaped from the death they intended to inflict on him. Jovianus proceeding from Antioch towards Constantinople, suddenly fell sick at Dadostana in Bithynia, and died after a reign of eight months, in which short time he had not been able to render the public any essential service.
Blindado

2023-LEV Armenian 1oz Silver Noah's ArkArmenia, 1oz Silver Noah's Ark, 500 Dram, 2023-LEV, SCWC KM 196.1, UNC, edge milled, weight 31.21g (ASW 1oz), composition 0.999 Ag, diameter 38.6mm, thickness 2.8mm, die axis 0°, Leipziger Edelmetallverarbeitung (Leipzig Precious Metals Factory) mint, 2023; obverse ՀԱՅԱՍՏԱՆԻ ՀԱՆՐԱՊԵՏՈՒԹՅՈՒՆ (Republic of Armenia) arcing above and • REPUBLIC OF ARMENIA • arcing below around inner linear circle, Coat of Arms of the Republic of Armenia: lion passant facing right with cross on back and lion passant guardant holding long cross in front with right forepaw (for the Bagratuni and Rubenid Dynasties) in left diagonally ruled first and fourth quarters, double-headed eagle and roundel charged with octofoil between two eagles trussed regardant and addorsed (for the Artaxiad and Arsacid Dynasties) in right diagonally ruled second and third, inescutcheon with Noah's Ark atop Mt. Ararat over two waves, supported by eagle to left and lion to right, heads turned left and right, sword, broken chain, bundle of wheat flowers, feather and ribbon under shield, mint mark LEV to lower left, 1 Oz/Ag 999 in two lines to lower right, 500/ԴՐԱՄ (Dram)•DRAM/2023 in three lines below arms, raised border surrounding; reverse • ՆՈՅՅԱՆ ՏԱՊԱՆ (Noah's Ark) arcing above and • NOAH'S ARK • arcing right around inner linear circle, dove soaring right, wings spread, with olive branch in beak in foreground to left, Noah's Ark moving left on waves to right, sixty-rayed sun rising over twin peaks of Mt. Ararat in background, engraved by Eduard Kurghinyan, raised border surrounding; from the Roger Belmar Collection; ex Atkinsons (10 Jul 2023); £32.77.Serendipity

308. Valerian IRIC 209 Valerian I 253-260 AD AR Antoninianus of Moesia. Radiate draped bust/Aequitas standing holding balance and cornucopia.

Publius Licinius Valerianus (ca. 200-260), known in English as Valerian, was Roman emperor from 253 to 260. His full Latin title was IMPERATOR · CAESAR · PVBLIVS · LICINIVS · VALERIANVS · PIVS FELIX · INVICTVS · AVGVSTVS — in English, "Emperor Caesar Publius Licinus Valerianus Pious Lucky Undefeated Augustus."

Unlike the majority of the usurpers of the crisis of the third century, Valerian was of a noble and traditional Senatorial family. Details of his early life are elusive, but his marriage to Egnatia Mariniana who gave him two sons: Publius Licinius Egnatius Gallienus and Valerianus Minor is known.

In 238 he was princeps senatus, and Gordian I negotiated through him for Senatorial acknowledgement for his claim as Emperor. In 251, when Decius revived the censorship with legislative and executive powers so extensive that it practically embraced the civil authority of the Emperor, Valerian was chosen censor by the Senate. Under Decius he was nominated governor of the Rhine provinces of Noricum and Raetia and retained the confidence of his successor, Trebonianus Gallus, who asked him for reinforcements to quell the rebellion of Aemilianus in 253. Valerian headed south, but was too late: Gallus' own troops killed him and joined Aemilianus before his arrival. The Raetian soldiers then proclaimed Valerian emperor and continued their march towards Rome. At the time of his arrival in September, Aemilianus' legions defected, killing him and proclaiming Valerian emperor. In Rome, the Senate quickly acknowledged him, not only for fear of reprisals, but also because he was one of their own.

Valerian's first act as emperor was to make his son Gallienus colleague. In the beginning of his reign the affairs in Europe went from bad to worse and the whole West fell into disorder. In the East, Antioch had fallen into the hands of a Persian vassal, Armenia was occupied by Shapur I (Sapor). Valerian and Gallienus split the problems of the Empire between the two, with the son taking the West and the father heading East to face the Persian threat.

By 257, Valerian had already recovered Antioch and returned the Syrian province to Roman control but in the following year, the Goths ravaged Asia Minor. Later in 259, he moved to Edessa, but an outbreak of plague killed a critical number of legionaries, weakening the Roman position. Valerian was then forced to seek terms with Shapur I. Sometime towards the end of 259, or at the beginning of 260, Valerian was defeated and made prisoner by the Persians (making him the only Roman Emperor taken captive). It is said that he was subjected to the greatest insults by his captors, such as being used as a human stepladder by Shapur when mounting his horse. After his death in captivity, his skin was stuffed with straw and preserved as a trophy in the chief Persian temple. Only after Persian defeat in last Persia-Roman war three and a half centuries later was his skin destroyed.ecoli

3209 CILICIA, Germanicopolis. Hadrian Zeus Reference.
RPC III, 3209; SNG France 756 = Waddington 4735.

Obv: ΑΥΤΟΚΡΑΤωΡ ΚΑΙСΑΡ ΑΔΡΙΑΝΟС.
Laureate and cuirassed bust of Hadrian, r., with paludamentum.

Rev: ΑΔΡΙΑΝΗ ΓΕΡΜΑΝΙΚΟΠ.
Zeus standing left, holding patera and sceptre; to left, eagle standing left, head right, with wreath in beak.

6.17 gr
23 mm
3h

Note.
Ex Dr. P. Vogl collection

The city of Germanicopolis was founded by the Graeco-Armenian King Antiochios IV of Commagene in honor of his Roman patron Germanicus. Its only coinage dates to the time of Hadrian, whose name it bore as an epithet.1 commentsokidoki

33 - 04 - MARCO AURELIO (161 - 180 D.C.)Falsificación Anciana.
AR Denario 18 mm 2.3 gr.

Anv: "ANTONINVS AVG ARMENIACVS" - Cabeza laureada a derecha.
Rev: "CONCORD AVG TR P XVIII", "COS III" en exergo - Emperador estante a Izquierda ?.

Acuñada: Posterior a Dic.163 D.C. donde utiliza el título de Armeniacus.
Ceca: Incierta No Oficial

Referencias: mdelvalle

402. MaximianusMarcus Aurelius Valerius Maximianus Herculius (c. 250 - July, 310), known in English as Maximian, was Roman Emperor (together with Diocletian) from March 1, 286 to 305.

Born to a poor family near Sirmium (city in Pannonia), Maximian made a career in the army until 285, when the new emperor Diocletian, a friend of his, made him caesar (sub-emperor) and the ruler of the western part of the empire. The next year Maximian became augustus next to Diocletian, and in 293, when Diocletian introduced the Tetrarchy, Constantius Chlorus became Maximian's caesar and married Maximian's daughter Flavia Maximiana Theodora.

During his reign, Maximianus had several military successes, against the Alemanni and Burgundians in northern Germany, against the Carpi on the Danube frontier and against Carausius, who had rebelled in Britain and declared himself emperor there. He also strengthened the frontier defenses in Africa.

On May 1, 305, Diocletian and Maximian retired together; it is clear that this was not a voluntary act of Maximian's, but that he was forced to do so by Diocletian. Galerius and Constantius Chlorus became the new emperors; Flavius Valerius Severus and Maximinus Daia became their caesars. When Constantius died the next year, Maximian's son Maxentius took the western emperorship, and named Maximian to be his augustus. Maximian resolved the conflicts around this emperorship by defeating Severus and Galerius in battle and bringing Constantius' son Constantine on his side by having Constantine marry his daughter Fausta.

However, in 308 Maximian rebelled against his own son, and marched upon Rome, but was beaten and forced to find refuge with Constantine in Gaul. In 310 he declared himself emperor for the third time, but was unable to defend himself against Constantine, who forced him to commit suicide.

For his own and his colleagues' victories, Maximian received the titles Germanicus Maximus V, Sarmaticus Maximus III, Armeniacus Maximus, Medicus Maximus, Adiabenicus Maximus, Persicus Maximus II, Carpicus Maximus, Britannicus Maximus.

Maximianus 286-305, Reform Follis - Siscia Mint
9.16g
Obv: Bust of Maximianus right "IMP MAXIMIANVS PF AVG"
Rev: Moneta standing left holding a scale and cornucopiae "SACRA MONET AVGG E CAESS NOSTR" "SIS" in the exergue.
RIC 134becoli

409. Maximinus II DazaCaius Valerius Galerius Maximinus, more commonly known as Maximinus Daia or Daza, was from Illyricum and was of peasant origin. He was born 20 November perhaps in the year 270. Daia was the son of Galerius' sister and had served in the army as a scutarius, Protector, and tribunus. He had been adopted by Galerius ; his name had been Daia even before that time. He had a wife and daughter, whose names are unknown, while his son's name was Maximus. When Diocletian and Maximianus Herculius resigned their posts of emperor on 1 May 305, they were succeeded by Constantius I Chlorus and Galerius as Augusti; their new Caesars were Severus and Maximinus Daia respectively. Constantius and Severus ruled in the West, whereas Galerius and Daia served in the East. Specifically, Daia's realm included the Middle East and the southern part of Asia Minor.[[1]]

Immediately after his appointment to the rank of Caesar, he went east and spent his first several years at Caesarea in Palestine. Events of the last quarter of 306 had a profound effect on the Emperor Galerius and his Caesar Daia. When Constantius I Chlorus died in July 306, the eastern emperor was forced by the course of events to accept Constantius' son Constantine as Caesar in the West; on 28 October of the same year, Maxentius , with the apparent backing of his father Maximianus Herculius, was acclaimed princeps. Both the attempt to dislodge Maxentius by Severus, who had been appointed Augustus of the West by Galerius after the death of Constantius in late 306 or early 307, and the subsequent campaign of Galerius himself in the summer of 307 failed. Because of the escalating nature of this chain of events, a Conference was called at Carnuntum in October and November 308; Licinius was appointed Augustus in Severus's place and Daia and Constantine were denoted filii Augustorum. Daia, however, unsatisfied with this sop tossed to him by Galerius, started calling himself Augustus in the spring of 310 when he seems to have campaigned against the Persians.[[2]] Although, as Caesar, he proved to be a trusted servant of Galerius until the latter died in 311, he subsequently seized the late emperor's domains. During the early summer of that year, he met with Licinius at the Bosporus; they concluded a treaty and divided Galerius' realm between them. Several yea rs later, after the death of Daia, Licinius obtained control of his domain. Like his mentor the late emperor, Daia had engaged in persecution of the Christians in his realm.[[3]]

In the autumn of 312, while Constantine was engaged against Maxentius, Daia appears to have been campaigning against the Armenians. In any case, he was back in Syria by February 313 when he seems to have learned about the marital alliance which had been forged by Constantine and Licinius. Disturbed by this course of events and the death of Maxentius, who had been his ally, Daia left Syria and reached Bythinia, although the harsh weather had seriously weakened his army. In April 313, he crossed the Bosporus and went to Byzantium, garrisoned by Licinius' troops; when the city refused to surrender, he took it after an eleven day siege. He moved to Heraclea, which he captured after a short siege; he then moved his forces to the first posting station. With only a small contingent of men, Licinius arrived at Adrianople while Daia was besieging Heraclea. On 30 April 313 the two armies clashed on the Campus Ergenus; in the ensuing battle Daia's forces were routed. Divesting himself of the purple and dressing like a slave, Daia fled to Nicomdeia. Subsequently, Daia attempted to stop the advance of Licinius at the Cilician Gates by establishing fortifications there; Licinius' army succeeded in breaking through, and Daia fled to Tarsus where he was hard pressed on land and sea. Daia died, probably in July or August 313, and was buried near Tarsus. Subsequently, the victorious emperor put Daia's wife and children to death.

Maximinus II Daza. 309-313 AD. ? Follis. Laureate head right / Genius standing left holding cornucopiae. ecoli

5. Marcus Aurelius 161-180 ADMARCUS AURELIUS. 161-180 AD. AR Denarius (18mm, 3.11 gm, 7h). Struck circa 166 AD. M ANTONINVS AVG ARMENIACVS, laureate head right / PAX AVG TR P XX COS III, Pax standing left, holding branch and cornucopiae. RIC III 146; MIR 18, 132-4/30 corr. (obv. legend); BMCRE 395; RSC 437.2 commentsb70

501d. HanniballianusHanniballianus. A.D. 335-337.

Dalmatius's second son, Hannibalianus, was appointed Governor of Pontus, as well as Cappadocia and Lesser or Roman Armenia. Hannibalianus also received the title Rex Regum, which some scholars believe suggests that Constantine intended to install him as a client king over Persia once his contemplated campaign against Rome’s eastern enemy was brought to a successful conclusion. In a further gesture of reconciliation between the two branches of the imperial family, Hannibalianus was married to Constantia, one of Constantine's daughters.

Æ 15 mm (1.20 g). Constantinople, as Rex Regum, A.D. 336-337. FL HANNIBALLIANO REG[I], bare-headed, draped and cuirassed bust right / [SE]CVRITAS PVBLIC[A], river-god Euphrates reclining right, beside urn and reed; [CONSS]. RIC 147; LRBC 1034. Near VF/VF, attractive dark green patina with earthen highlights.1 commentsecoli

509. Jovian09. Jovian39 viewsJovian was born at Singidunum in A.D. 330, the son of the commander of Constantius II's imperial bodyguards. He also joined the guards and by A.D. 363 had risen to the post that his father had once held. He accompanied the Roman Emperor Julian on the disastrous Mesopotamian campain of the same year against Shapur II, the Sassanid king. After a small but decisive engagement the Roman army was forced to retreat from the numerically superior Persian force. Julian had been mortally wounded during the retreat and Jovian seized his chance. Some accounts have it that on Julian's death Jovian's soldiers called out "Jovianus!" The cry was mistaken for "Julianus", and the army cheered Jovian, briefly under the illusion that the slain Emperor had recovered from his wound.

Shapur pressed his advantage and Jovian, deep inside Sassanid territory, was forced to sue for peace on very unfavourable terms. In exchange for safety he agreed to withdraw from the provinces east of the Tigris that Diocletian had annexed and allow the Persians to occupy the fortresses of Nisbis, Castra Maurorum and Singara. the King of Armenia, Arsaces, was to stay neutral in future conflicts between the two empires, and was forced to cede some of his kingdom to Shapur. The treaty was seen as a disgrace and Jovian rapidly lost popularity.

After arriving at Antioch Jovian decided to hurry to Constantinople to consolidate his position.

Jovian was a Christian, in contrast to his predecessor Julian the Apostate, who had attempted a revival of paganism. He died on February 17, 364 after a reign of eight months.

Jovian AE3. D N IOVIA NVS P F AVG, diademed, draped & cuirassed bust right / VOT V MVLT X inside wreathecoli

512. ProcopiusProcopius (326 - May 27, 366), was a Roman usurper against Valentinian I, and member of the Constantinian dynasty.

According to Ammianus Marcellinus, Procopius was a native of Cilicia. On his mother's side, Procopius was cousin of Emperor Julian.

Procopius took part in the emperor Julian's campaign against the Persian Empire in 363. He was entrusted of leading 30,000 men towards Armenia, joining King Arsaces, and later return to Julian camp. At the time of Julian's death, there were rumors that he had intended Procopius to be his successor, but when Jovian was elected emperor by the Roman army, Procopius went into hiding to preserve his life. The ancient historians differ on the exact details of Procopius' life in hiding, but agree that he returned to public knowledge at Chalcedon before the house of the senator Strategius suffering from starvation and ignorant of current affairs.

By that time, Jovianus was dead, and Valentinian I shared the purple with his brother Valens. Procopius immediately moved to declare himself emperor. He bribed two legions that were resting at Constantinople to support his efforts, and took control of the imperial city. Shortly after this he proclaimed himself Emperor on September 28, 365, and quickly took control of the provinces of Thrace, and later Bithynia.

Valens was left with the task of dealing with this rebel, and over the next months struggled with both cities and units that wavered in their allegiance. Eventually their armies met at the Battle of Thyatira, and Procopius' forces were defeated. He fled the battlefield, but was betrayed to Valens by two of his remaining followers. Valens had all three executed May 27, 366.

Procopius - Usurper in the east, 365-6 , AE-3, Nicomedia mint

2.90g

Obv: Bust of Procopius, beared left "DN PROCOPIVS PF AVG"

Rev: Procopius standing head right, foot resting on a prow and leaning on a shield. "REPARATIO FEL TEMP" "SMNG" in the exergue.

RIC 10
ecoli

601. EudoxiaAelia Eudoxia (d. 6 October 404) was the wife of the Eastern Roman emperor Arcadius.

The daughter of a certain Bauto, a Frankish magister militum serving in the Western Roman army during the 380s, Eudoxia owed her marriage to the youthful Emperor Arcadius on 27 April 395 to the intrigues of the eunuch of the palace, Eutropius. She had very considerable influence over her husband, who was of rather weak character and who was more interested in Christian piety than imperial politics.

In 399 she succeeded, with help from the leader of the Empire's Gothic mercenaries, in deposing her erstwhile benefactor Eutropius, who was later executed over the protests of John Chrysostom, the Patriarch of Constantinople.

John Chrysostom was already becoming unpopular at court due to his efforts at reforming the Church, and in 403 Eudoxia and Theophilus, Patriarch of Alexandria, succeeded in having the outspoken Patriarch condemned by a synod and then deposed. He was exiled to Armenia the next year after a brief return to power resulting from popular disgust at his fall and an earthquake which reinforced those feelings.

Eudoxia had a total of seven pregnancies, five of which were successful. Her final pregnancy ended in a miscarriage which led to her death on October 6, 404. One of her children was the future emperor Theodosius II.

In 403, Simplicius, Prefect of Constantinople, erected a statue dedicated to her on a column of porphyry. Arcadius renamed the town of Selymbria (Silivri) Eudoxiopolis after her, though this name did not survive.

Bronze AE 4, RIC 102, S 4241, VM 6, VF, 2.14g, 17.0mm, 180o, Nikomedia mint, 401-403 A.D.; obverse AEL EVDOXIA AVG, diademed and draped bust right with hand of God holding wreath over her head; reverse SALVS REIPVBLICAE, Victory seated on cuirass inscribing Christogram on shield, SMNA in ex; softly struck reverse; rareecoli

603. MarcianMarcian was born in Thrace or Illyria. He spent his early life as an obscure soldier. He subsequently served for nineteen years under Ardaburius and Aspar, and took part in the wars against the Persians and Vandals. In 431, Marcian was taken prisoner by the Vandals in the fighting near Hippo Regius; brought before the Vandal king Geiseric, he was released on his oath never to take up arms against the Vandals.

Through the influence of these generals he became a captain of the guards, and was later raised to the rank of tribune and senator. On the death of Theodosius II he was chosen as consort by the latter's sister and successor, Pulcheria, and called upon to govern an empire greatly humbled and impoverished by the ravages of the Huns.

Upon becoming Emperor, Marcian repudiated the embarrassing payments of tribute to Attila the Hun, which the latter had been accustomed to receiving from Theodosius in order to refrain from attacks on the eastern empire. Aware that he could never capture the eastern capital of Constantinople, Attila turned to the west and waged his famous campaigns in Gaul 451 and Italy (452) while leaving Marcian's dominions alone.

He reformed the finances, checked extravagance, and repopulated the devastated districts. He repelled attacks upon Syria and Egypt (452), and quelled disturbances on the Armenian frontier (456). The other notable event of his reign is the Council of Chalcedon (451), in which Marcian endeavoured to mediate between the rival schools of theology.

Marcian generally ignored the affairs of the western Roman Empire, leaving that tottering half of the empire to its fate. He did nothing to aid the west during Attila's campaigns, and, living up to his promise, ignored the depredations of Geiseric even when the Vandals sacked Rome in 455. It has recently been argued, however, that Marcian was more actively involved in aiding the western Empire than historians had previously believed and that Marcian's fingerprints can be discerned in the events leading up to, and including, Attila's death. (See Michael A. Babcock, "The Night Attila Died: Solving the Murder of Attila the Hun," Berkley Books, 2005.)

Shortly before Attila's death in 453, conflict had begun again between him and Marcian. However, the powerful Hun king died before all-out war broke out. In a dream, Marcian claimed he saw Attila's bow broken before him, and a few days later, he got word that his great enemy was dead.

Marcian died in 457 of disease, possibly gangrene contracted during a long religious journey.

Despite his short reign and his writing off of the west Marcian is considered one of the best of the early "Byzantine" emperors. The Eastern Orthodox Church recognizes him and his wife Pulcheria as saints, with their feast day on February 17.

Marcian AE4.9mm (1.30 grams) D N MARCIANVS P F AV, diademed & draped bust right / Monogram of Marcian inside wreath, * aboveecoli

63.0 Marcus Aurelius Denarius; Captive ArmeniaSilver Denarius
Rome Mint, AD 164
obv. ANTONINVS AVG ARMENICVS
rev. IMP TR P XVIII IMP II COS III
ARMEN in ex.
seated, mourning Armenia, surrounded by arms
Commemorates capture of ArmeniaEcgþeow

704a, Caligula, 16 March 37 - 24 January 41 A.D.Caligula, 37 - 41 AD, Ionia, Smyrna. AE 17mm. Klose, Smyrna 27a. RPC 2473. 2.89 gm. Fine. Menophanes, Aviola, Procos, 37-38 AD. Obverse: AION, laureate head right; Reverse: Nike holding wreath right. Ex Tom Vossen.

De Imperatoribus Romanis: An Online Encyclopedia of Roman Rulers and their Families

GAIUS (CALIGULA) (A.D. 37-41)

Garrett G. Fagan
Pennsylvania State University

Gaius Caesar Augustus Germanicus (Caligula) was born on 31 August, A.D. 12, probably at the Julio-Claudian resort of Antium (modern Anzio), the third of six children born to Augustus's adopted grandson, Germanicus, and Augustus's granddaughter, Agrippina. Caligula was the Roman Emperor between A.D. 37-41). Unfortunately, his is the most poorly documented reign of the Julio-Claudian dynasty. The literary sources for these four years are meager, frequently anecdotal, and universally hostile.[[1]] As a result, not only are many of the events of the reign unclear, but Gaius himself appears more as a caricature than a real person, a crazed megalomaniac given to capricious cruelty. Although some headway can be made in disentangling truth from embellishment, the true character of the youthful emperor will forever elude us.

As a baby he accompanied his parents on military campaigns in the north and was shown to the troops wearing a miniature soldier's outfit, including the hob-nailed sandal called caliga, whence the nickname by which posterity remembers him. His childhood was not a happy one, spent amid an atmosphere of paranoia, suspicion, and murder. Instability within the Julio-Claudian house, generated by uncertainty over the succession, led to a series of personal tragedies.

When Tiberius died on 16 March A.D. 37, Gaius was in a perfect position to assume power, despite the obstacle of Tiberius's will, which named him and his cousin Tiberius Gemellus joint heirs. (Gemellus's life was shortened considerably by this bequest, since Gaius ordered him killed within a matter of months.) Backed by the Praetorian Prefect Q. Sutorius Macro, Gaius asserted his dominance. He had Tiberius's will declared null and void on grounds of insanity, accepted the powers of the Principate as conferred by the Senate, and entered Rome on 28 March amid scenes of wild rejoicing. His first acts were generous in spirit: he paid Tiberius's bequests and gave a cash bonus to the Praetorian Guard, the first recorded donativum to troops in imperial history.

The ancient sources are practically unanimous as to the cause of Gaius's downfall: he was insane. The writers differ as to how this condition came about, but all agree that after his good start Gaius began to behave in an openly autocratic manner, even a crazed one. The sources describe his incestuous relations with his sisters, laughable military campaigns in the north, the building of a pontoon bridge across the Bay at Baiae, and the plan to make his horse a consul. Their unanimous hostility renders their testimony suspect, especially since Gaius's reported behavior fits remarkably well with that of the ancient tyrant, a literary type enshrined in Greco-Roman tradition centuries before his reign. Further, the only eye-witness account of Gaius's behavior, Philo's Embassy to Gaius, offers little evidence of outright insanity, despite the antagonism of the author, whom Gaius treated with the utmost disrespect.

The conspiracy that ended Gaius's life was hatched among the officers of the Praetorian Guard, apparently for purely personal reasons. It appears also to have had the support of some senators and an imperial freedman. As with conspiracies in general, there are suspicions that the plot was more broad-based than the sources intimate, and it may even have enjoyed the support of the next emperor Claudius, but these propositions are not provable on available evidence. On 24 January A.D. 41 the praetorian tribune Cassius Chaerea and other guardsmen caught Gaius alone in a secluded palace corridor and cut him down. He was 28 years old and had ruled three years and ten months.

Whatever damage Tiberius's later years had done to the carefully crafted political edifice created by Augustus, Gaius multiplied it a hundredfold. When he came to power in A.D. 37 Gaius had no administrative experience beyond his honorary quaestorship, and had spent an unhappy early life far from the public eye. He appears, once in power, to have realized the boundless scope of his authority and acted accordingly. For the elite, this situation proved intolerable and ensured the blackening of Caligula's name in the historical record they would dictate. The sensational and hostile nature of that record, however, should in no way trivialize Gaius's importance. His reign highlighted an inherent weakness in the Augustan Principate, now openly revealed for what it was -- a raw monarchy in which only the self-discipline of the incumbent acted as a restraint on his behavior. That the only means of retiring the wayward princes was murder marked another important revelation: Roman emperors could not relinquish their powers without simultaneously relinquishing their lives.

Copyright © 1997, Garrett G. Fagan.
Published: De Imperatoribus Romanis: An Online Encyclopedia of Roman Rulers and their Families http://www.roman-emperors.org/startup.htm. Used by permission.

Ancient Smyrna

The 5,000 year-old city of Izmir is one of the oldest cities of the Mediterranean basin. The original city was established in the third millennium BC (at present day BayraklÄ±), at which time it shared with Troy the most advanced culture in Anatolia.

Greek settlement is attested by the presence of pottery dating from about 1000 BC. In the first millennium BC Izmir, then known as Smyrna, ranked as one of the most important cities of the Ionian Federation. During this period, it is believed that the epic poet Homer resided here.

Lydian conquest of the city around 600 BC brought this golden age to an end. Smyrna was little more than a village throughout the Lydian and subsequent sixth century BC Persian rule. In the fourth century BC a new city was built on the slopes of Mt. Pagos (Kadifekale) during the reign of Alexander the Great. Smyrna's Roman period, beginning in the first century BC, was its second great era.

In the first century AD, Smyrna became one of the earliest centers of Christianity and it was one of the Seven Churches of Revelation. Both Revelation and the Martyrdom of Polycarp indicate the existence of a Jewish community in Smyrna as early as the 1st and 2nd centuries AD. The letter to the church at Smyrna in Revelation indicates that the Christians were spiritually "rich" and apparently in conflict with the Jews (2:9).

The origins of the Christian community there, which was established in the 1st century, are unknown. Ignatius of Antioch stopped at Smyrna on his way to martyrdom in Rome in 107 AD, and he sent a letter back to the Christians there from later in his journey. Smyrna's bishop, Polycarp, was burned at the stake in Smyrna's stadium around 156 AD.

Byzantine rule came in the fourth century and lasted until the Seljuk conquest in 11th century. In 1415, under Sultan Mehmed Çelebi, Smyrna became part of the Ottoman Empire.

The city earned its fame as one of the most important port cities of the world during the 17th to 19th centuries. The majority of its population were Greek but merchants of various origins (especially Greek, French, Italian, Dutch, Armenian, Sephardi and Jewish) transformed the city into a cosmopolitan portal of trade. During this period, the city was famous for its own brand of music (Smyrneika) as well as its wide range of products it exported to Europe (Smyrna/Sultana raisins, dried figs, carpets, etc.).

Today, Izmir is Turkey's third largest city and is nicknamed "the pearl of Aegean." It is widely regarded as the most Westernized city of Turkey in terms of values, ideology, gender roles, and lifestyle.
© 2005-08 Sacred Destinations. All rights reserved.
http://www.sacred-destinations.com/turkey/izmir-history.htm

Edited by J. P. Fitzgerald, Jr.Cleisthenes

A127-05 - Hanibaliano Rey de Armenia, el Ponto y Capadocia (335 - 337 D.C.) AE4 Centenional reducido 16 mm 1.6 gr.
Sobrino de Constantino I.

Anv: "FL HANNIBALLIANO REGI" - Busto a cabeza desnuda, con coraza y Paludamentum (capote militar) sobre ella, viendo a derecha.
Rev: "SEC-VRITAS PVBLICA" - El Dios del río Eufrates recostado en el suelo a derecha, sosteniendo un cetro con ambas manos a su derecha. A su derecha un ánfora volcada de la que fluye agua y detrás cañas. "CONSS" en exergo.

Acuñada 336/7 D.C.
Ceca: Constantinopla (Off.3ra.)
Rareza: R5

Referencias: RIC Vol.VII (Constantinople) #148 Pag.590 - Cohen Vol.VII #68 Pag.345 - DVM #2 Pag.294 - Salgado MRBI Vol.III #8498 Pag.196 - Sear RCTV (1988) #3935 - LRBC #1034mdelvalle

Antoninus Pius, RIC 619, Sestertius of AD 143-144 (Armenian king)Æ sestertius (23.57g, 31mm, 11h). Rome mint. Struck AD 143-144.
Obv.: ANTONINVS AVG PIVS P P TR P COS III laureate head of Antoninus Pius facing right.
Rev.: REX ARMENIIS DATVS [around] S C [in ex.] Antoninus Pius, togate, standing facing, head turned left, placing a tiara on the head of the Armenian king, standing left, wearing short tunica and cloak, his right hand raised and holding a roll in his left.
RIC 619 [R]; BMC 1272; Cohen 686; Strack 851; Banti 322 (22 spec.); Foss (Roman Historical Coins) 126:42; Sear (Roman Coins & Their Values II) 4209.
ex The New York Sale XX jan 2009; ex Gorny & Mosch, Auction 147 lot 2159, March 2006

In A.D. 143, Antoninus Pius appointed kings for the Armenians and the Quadi and dedicated a separate issue for both events. Charles S

Antoninus Pius, RIC 620, Sestertius of AD 143-144 (king of the Quadi)Æ sestertius (22.4g, 31mm, 6h). Rome mint. Struck AD 143-144.
Obv.: ANTONINVS AVG PIVS P P TR P COS III, laureate and draped bust of Antoninus Pius facing right.
Rev.: REX QVADIS DATVS [around] S C [in ex.] Antoninus Pius, togate, standing left, placing a diadem in the hand of the king of the Quadi, standing right.
RIC 620 [R2]; BMC 1275; Cohen 688; Strack 852; Banti 323 (2 spec.); Foss (Roman Historical Coins) 126:42; Sear (Roman Coins & Their Values II) 4210
ex Cayón Numismática Live Auct.15.

In A.D. 143, Antoninus Pius appointed kings for the Armenians and the Quadi and dedicated separate issues for both events. Charles S

Ariobarzanes I Philoromaios of Cappodocia, AR DrachmHead of Ariobarzanes diademed right,

Athena standing left. with Nike on right hand and spear in left,

ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ ΑΡΙΟΒΑΡΖΑΝΟΥ ΦΙ- ΛΟΡΩΜΑΙΟΥ

M/I monogram left field.

Other issues with this monogram appear with the date "ΘΚ", that is regnal year 29 or 67BC, so it seems reasonable to date this issue to 67BC, even though the date for this coin is off-flan.

Ariobarzanes I Philoromaios, lover of Rome, was King of Cappodocia between 96-63 B.C. He supported Rome against Pontus and Armenia. He abdicated in favour of his son Ariobarzanes II Philopator, in 62 or 63BC.

Ex - Edinburgh Coin Shop.Will Hooton

ArmeniaKm51 - 10 Luma - 1994
Km52 - 20 Luma - 1994
Km53 - 50 Luma - 1994
Km54 - 1 Dram - 1994
Km55 - 3 Drams - 1994
Km56 - 5 Drams - 1994
Km58 - 10 Drams - 1994Daniel F

Armenia , Cilicia / Levon I.King Levon I. Born 1150 – Died 2 May 1219.
AE Tank.
King facing / Patriarchal cross.
a VG. 6.82 Gr.Sam

Armenia - Levon IV silver TakvorinSis mint 1320 - 1342
Obverse, crowned equestrian king, advancing right. Sceptre with fleur de lis
field mark to rear of king.
Reverse; Lion advancing right. Cross in background.

My attribution is based on what I think is this same coin on page 55 of David Rucksers' work at
http://www.numismatas.com/Forum/Pdf/David%20Ruckser/Coins%20of%20Cilician%20Armenia.pdf

Banjaxed

Armenia, Levon III. (1301-1307 A.D.), AE Kardez, Cilician Armenia, Bed., 1838., Cross, #1Armenia, Levon III. (1301-1307 A.D.), AE Kardez, Cilician Armenia, Bed., 1838., Cross, #1
avers: ✠ԼԵՒՆ ԹԱԳԱՒՈՐ ՀԱՅ (Levon, Takavor Hayots = Levon, King of the Armenians)], Levon seated facing in oriental fashion, holding cross and staff.
reverse: ✠ՇԻՆԵԱԼ Ի ՔԱՂԱՔ Ի Ս , Cross potent.
exergue: -/-//--, diameter: 19,5-20,5mm, weight: 3,11g, axis: 2h,
mint: Cilician Armenia, date: 1301-1307 A.D., ref: Bed., 1838.,
Q-001quadrans

Armenia, Levon III. (1303/5-1307), AR Takvorin, Cilician Armenia, Nercessian, Armenian Coins 421, Levon riding right, #1Armenia, Levon III. (1303/5-1307), AR Takvorin, Cilician Armenia, Nercessian, Armenian Coins 421, Levon riding right, #1
avers: ✠ՇԻՆԵԱԼ Ի ՔԱՂԱՔՆ ՍԻ (Shineal I Kaghakn I Sis = Struck in the City of Sis), Lion prancing right, long cross behind, dot in the left field.
reverse: ✠ԼԵՒՈՆ ԹԱԳԱՒՈՐ ՀԱՅՈՑ (Levon, Takavor Hayots = Levon, King of the Armenians), Levon, with head facing and holding cruciform staff, on horse prancing right, cluster of pellets to right, Armenian letter below in front.
exergue:-/-//--, diameter: 20,0-21,5mm, weight: 4,41g, axis: 6h,
mint: Cilician Armenia, date: 1303-1307 A.D., ref: Armenian Coin type 421; cf. CCA 1753.,
Q-001quadrans

Armenian Kingdom of Sophene: Arsames II (ca. 230BC) One Chalcus (Nercessian Sophene-19b)This is a fairly recently published coin. It is similar to Nercessian-9, but the bust is facing left as opposed to right. It is mentioned in the following publication (it is in Armenian, but you can see the plates):

Nercessian, Y. T. “Coinage of the Armenian Kingdom of Sophene (ca. 260-70 B.C.)” in Armenian Numismatic Journal 37.3 (September 2011).

Obv: Head of Arsames facing left wearing tiara with flat top like a cap; a diadem encircles the head, ends in a bow, and hangs down neck. Border of dots
Rev: Caps of Dioscuri. Legend to the right, downward ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ; to left downward ΑΡΣΑΜΟΥ
Quant.Geek

Armenian Kingdom of Sophene: Arsames II (ca. 230BC) One Chalcus (Nercessian-8 ; Nercessian Sophene-7)See the following article for more information:

Nercessian, Y. T. “Coinage of the Armenian Kingdom of Sophene (ca. 260-70 B.C.)” in Armenian Numismatic Journal 37.3 (September 2011).

Obv: Head of Arsames facing right wearing tiara with flat top like a cap; a diadem encircles the head, ends in bow, and hangs down from the neck. Border of dots
Rev: Eagle standing right holding thunderbolt. Legend to the right, downward Î’Î‘Î£Î™Î›Î•Î©Î£; to left downward Î‘Î¡Î£Î‘ÎœÎŸÎ¥
Quant.Geek

Armenian Kingdom of Sophene: Arsames II (ca. 230BC) Two Chalci (Nercessian-7; Nercessian Sophene-11ա)See the following article for more information:

Nercessian, Y. T. “Coinage of the Armenian Kingdom of Sophene (ca. 260-70 B.C.)” in Armenian Numismatic Journal 37.3 (September 2011).

Obv: Head of Arsames facing right wearing tiara with flat top like a cap; a diadem encircles the head, ends in bow, and hangs down from the neck. Border of dots
Rev: Nude figure standing and facing , right arm extending from elbow and left arm holding long club. Legend to the right, downward Î’Î‘Î£Î™Î›Î•Î©Î£; to left downward Î‘Î¡Î£Î‘ÎœÎŸÎ¥Quant.Geek

ARMENIAN KINGDOM--TIGRANES II (THE GREAT)Kings of Armenia
95 - 58 BC
AE 13 mm, 2.25 g
O: Draped bust of Tigranes, right, wearing tiara
R: BASILEWS-BASILEWN/TIGRANO[Y] Grain ear
ref. Bedoukian 107laney

Artaxiads of Armenia: Tigranes IV (8-5 BC) AE Two Chalci (Nercessian-171)Obv: Head of heavily bearded Tigranes facing right. The tiara seems to have three or four peaks and is surrounded with dotted pearls. Armenian tiara is adorned with a star and two eagles. The king has refined features.
Rev: Elephant walking right with truck up. Legend above ΒΑCΙΛΕΩC / ΤΙΓΡΑΝΟΥ; Below to right ΜΕΓΑΛΟΥQuant.Geek

As; Liberalitas, RIC 1417Lucius Verus, AE As. 11,2g, 25mm. L VERVS AVG ARMENIACVS, laureate head right / LIBERAL AVG TR P V IMP II COS II S-C, Liberalitas standing left holding coin counter & cornucopiae. RIC 1417, Cohen 120, BMC 1269. Podiceps

Augustus, 27 BC - 14 ADObv: No legend, laureate head of Augustus facing right.

Rev: A square altar inscribed FORT RED / CAES AVG / S P Q R.

Note: Refers to the altar to Neptune erected by the Senate near Rome's gates to commemorate Augustus' safe return from Armenia in 19 BC.

Plated Denarius, Illegal mint after Patricia or Nemausus, c. 19 - 18 BC

2.9 grams, 18.6 mm, 165°

RIC I 54a, RSC 104, S1608 (var.), VM 58

Ex: FORVM1 commentsMatt Inglima

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