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317 - 337, CONSTANTINE II as Caesar, AE3 struck 321 at Londinium (London), EnglandObverse: CONSTANTINVS IVN N C. Radiate and cuirassed bust of Constantine II facing left.
Reverse: BEATA TRANQVILLITAS. Altar, inscribed VOT IS XX in three lines, surmounted by cosmic globe with three stars above; across field, P - A; in exergue, PLON.
Diameter: 20mm | Weight: 2.9gms | Die Axis: 6h
RIC VII : 219
Rare
Ex Killingholme Hoard (1993)
Claudius Constantinus was the eldest son of Constantine and Fausta, he was given the rank of Caesar in A.D.316, at the same time as Crispus and Licinius II.
This coin was struck in connection with the fifteenth anniversary of Constantine II's father, Constantine the great.
THE KILLINGHOLME HOARD
The Killingholme Hoard was discovered in a field between Killingholme and Habrough on the south bank of the Humber Estuary by a pair of metal detectorists in the Autumn of 1993.
The initial coins of the hoard were surface finds, many of which were found before the hoard itself was discovered. In total, there were 1504 coins found in the topsoil, and another 2753 found buried in a single clay pot.
The top of the pot had been cut off by ploughing, which had caused a large number of coins to be scattered around the field. Nevertheless, the remains of the pot were found when the coins packed in it were detected. The pot had a diameter of about 20cm and within it were thousands of coins.
One of the finders reported that the coins appeared to have been carefully arranged inside the pot, and seemed to produce a spiralling pattern. Unfortunately, the coins were emptied into a bath for cleaning so any chance of researching this arrangement was lost forever.
The coins that constituted the hoard were bronze reduced folles, most of which were struck between the 320s and the early 330s, during the time of the emperor Constantine. Though the coins came from several mints in the Western part of the Roman Empire, most of them were from the London mint. It is thought that the hoard was probably deposited around 333/334 AD.
Because, in 1993, base metal coins were not counted as treasure, the coins were returned to the finders who sent the bulk of the coins to be auctioned off by Spink of London. Fortunately, prior to being sold, the coins were recorded by the British Museum which acquired for itself 86 coins from the hoard.
After the recordings were completed, though the finders kept a few coins for themselves, the remainder of the coins were sold off in batches. It has been rumoured that many of these coins went to the Italian luxury goods producer Bulgari, who used them to make jewellery.
Such a process would not be permitted in England today as, following the enactment of the Treasure Act in 1996, the Killingholme Hoard would now fulfil the criteria for "treasure" as outlined by the Act.
CONTEMPORARY PHOTO OF THE KILLINGHOLM HOARD, CLICK ON THUMBNAIL TO ENLARGE IT
 *Alex
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(0098)TRAJAN98 - 117 AD
(111/12 AD)
AE 24 mm, 11.99 g
O: ΣΕΒΑΣΤΟΣ laureate head of Trajan, r.
R: ΑΣΚΑΛΩ Tyche-Astarte standing, l., on prow with standard and aphlaston; in l. field, incense altar; in r. field, dove standing l.; to r., date ƐIC
Judaea, Ascalon
Ref. RPC 3 No. 3987; De Saulcy 9; BMC 145; rarelaney
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(0117) HADRIAN117-138 AD
Æ quadrans 19 mm, 2.93 g
Struck ca. 122-125.
O: Eagle standing left, head right
R: Winged thunderbolt, SC below
Rome, RIC 624laney
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(0117) HADRIAN117 - 138 AD
Struck 126/7
AE obol 18.5 mm; 4.33 g
O: Laureate bust of Hadrian right
R: Panther standing right, head inverted to left; date above.
Egypt, Alexandria; cf. Geissen 974. Kampmann-Ganschow 134, 32.443laney
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(0138) ANTONINUS PIUS138 - 161 AD
Ae 21.3 mm, 8.18 g
O: ΑΥΤ ΚΑΙ ΑΔΡΙ ΑΝΤωΝΙΝΟС bare head of Antoninus Pius, r.
R: ΤΟΜΙΤΩΝ Η ΜΗΤΡΟΠ Tyche standing, l., holding rudder and cornucopia
Moesia Inferior, Tomi; RPC IV Number 4402 (temporary); AMNG 2637 laney
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(0138) ANTONINUS PIUS138-161 AD
Æ 23 mm, 10.53 g,
O: Laureate and draped bust right
R: Tyche seated left on rocks, extending right hand and holding cornucopia; conch shell(?) to right; below, river-god Chrysoroas swimming left.
SYRIA, Coele-Syria. Damascus laney
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(0145) FAUSTINA II147 - 175 AD
Struck ca 161-175 AD
AE 17.5 mm; 4.45 g
O: Draped bust of Faustina Jr. to right
R: Cult Statue of Artemis Ephesia, stag on either side
Phrygia, Ancyra (Ankyra); Cop 142laney
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(0161) LUCIUS VERUS--MT. ARGAEUS161-169
AE 20.5 mm, 7.09 g
O: ΑΥΤΟΚP ΟΥΗΡΟС СƐ[Β] laureate bust of Lucius Verus wearing cuirass and paludamentum, right
R: [ΚΑΙСΑΡƐωΝ Τ] ΠΡ ΑΡΓΑΙω ƐΤΟΒ Mount Argaios with tall conical top
Cappadocia, Caesaria; cf RPC 4 6870 (temp); SNG I 2240laney
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(0177) COMMODUS177 - 192 AD
AE 19 mm; 3.77 g
O: ΑV ΚΑΙ ΚοΜΜοΔοС laureate-headed bust of Commodus wearing cuirass and paludamentum, right; countermark of head lower right
R: ƐΛΑΙΤΩΝ draped bust of Demeter or Persephone (with features of Crispina), r., holding poppy and two ears of corn
Aiolis, Elaea; ref. BMC 48, Cop 199laney
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(0193) JULIA DOMNA(wife of Septimius Severus; mother of emperors Geta and Caracalla)
b. ca. 170, d. 217
struck ca. 193 - 211
AE 21.5 mm 5.16 g
IOVLIA DOMNA C, draped bust right
ODHCEITWN, Demeter, standing right, holding long torch
facing Persephone, standing left, holding two corn ears and torch.
Thrace, Odessos; Varbanov 4358; AMNG 2272.
laney
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(0193) JULIA DOMNA (Dionysopolis)193 - 217 AD
AE 18.5 mm; 3.95 g
O: Laureate, draped bust right
R: Herakles standing facing, head right, resting on club and holding lionskin over arm, B in lower right field.
Moesia Inferior, Dionysopolis mint
Varbanov 470; Moushmov 92
laney
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(0193) SEPTIMIUS SEVERUS 193-211 AD
AE 20 mm, 5.50 g
O: Laureate head right.
R: Cybele seated left on base, resting elbow upon tympanum; lion to left and right.
Thrace, Anchialus laney
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(0193) SEPTIMIUS SEVERUS193-211 AD
AE 20 mm, 5.16 g
O:Laureate head right
R: Herakles standing right, strangling the Nemean lion.
Thrace, Anchialus; cf Mouchmov 2838.laney
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(0193) SEPTIMIUS SEVERUS193 - 211 AD
AE 26 mm, 8.86 g
O: Laureate draped bust right
R: Eagle standing facing on thunderbolt, head left with wreath in its beak
Thrace, Anchialus; Moushmov 2832.laney
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(0193) SEPTIMIUS SEVERUS193-211 AD
AE 26 mm max., 9.16 g
O: AVK L CEP CECHPOC, laureate, draped, cuirassed bust right
R: VP FL OVLPIANOV MARKIANOPOLITWN, Cybele, kalathos on head, holding patera in right hand, resting left elbow on drum and seated left on throne with two uprights, lions beside her to left and right
Moesia Inferior, Markianopolis; AMNG 565laney
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(0193) SEPTIMIUS SEVERUS (Retrograde Reverse Legend)193-211 AD
AE 27 mm, 10.41 g
(struck under governor Aurelius Gallus)
O: [AV KL] CEP - CEVHRO[C P] Laureate draped and cuirassed bust right, seen from behind
R: VP AVR GALL - OV NIKOPOLIT / PROC I (retrograde, beginning at 5 o'clock, counterclockwise)
Dionysos, nude, wearing boots, standing left, resting with raised left hand on thyrsos, lowered right hand holding kantharos and pouring
wine
ref. a) not in AMNG
obv. AMNG I/1, 1304
rev. legend not in AMNG
AMNG I/1, 1306 (depiction)
b) not in Varbanov (engl.)
c) Hristova/Hoeft/Jekov (2015) No. 8.14.8.8
d) Blancon list 43, 2003
Nikocopolis ad Istrum; very rare
(one of the rare coins with retrograde legend)laney
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(0198) CARACALLA198-217 AD
16.2 mm, 2.51 g
O: Laureate bust right
R: Hermes standing facing, head left, holding purse and caduceus
Trajanopolislaney
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(0198) CARACALLA198-217 AD
AE 29 mm, 14.92 g
Obv: AVT M AVPH ANTΩNEINOC.
O: Laureate head right.
R:Hermes standing left, holding purse and caduceus; at feet, cock standing left.
Thrace, Pautalia; c.f. Varbanov 5150.laney
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(0198) CARACALLA198-217 AD
AE 25.4 mm, 10.77 g
O: Laureate draped bust right
R: Hermes standing left, holding purse and caduceus
Moesia Inferior, Nikopolis ad Istrum; cf AMNG 1547
laney
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(0198) CARACALLA(0198) CARACALLA
198 - 217 AD
AE 25 mm; 8.63 g
O: AVT K M AVP CEVHPOC ANTΩNEINOC, laureate head right;
R: OΔHCCEITΩN, Great god of Odessos standing left, wearing kalathos, holding patera over flaming altar and cornucopia
Odessos, Thrace, Moesia Inferior; Varbanov I 4373 ff.laney
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(0198) CARACALLA & JULIA DOMNA198 - 217 AD
struck 211-217 AD
AE 28 mm, 11.60 g
O: Confronting busts of Caracalla and his mother Julia Domna
R: Homonoia standing left, holding cornucopia and sacrifcing from patera over flaming altar
Moesia Inferior, Markianopolis; AMNG 677 v.laney
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(0198) CARACALLA (Pautalia)198 – 217 AD
(struck 202-203 under Governor Sicinnius Clarus)
AE 28 mm, 12.20 g
O: AÎ¥ K M AΥΡ – ANTΩNINOΣ Laureate draped bust right
R: .: HΓ ΣIKINNIO-Υ KΛAΡ OΥ/ΛΠIAΣ / ΠAΥTAΛIAΣ Asklepios with snake-encoiled rod standing in tetrastyle temple; snake in gable, tree in left field
Thrace, Pautalia; Ruzicka, Pautalia ¬; Varbanov, GIC II, 4958 (rare)
laney
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(0198) CARACALLA--Kallatis198 - 217 AD
AE 25.5 mm; 8.80 g
O: AY K M AYP ANTΩNINOC, laureate, draped and cuirassed bust right, from behind;
R: KAΛΛATIANΩN, emperor riding right on horseback, E in exergue
Thrace (Moesia Inferior), Kallatis mint; cf Varbanov I 311 var., AMNG I/I 319 varlaney
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(0198) GETA198 - 209 as Caesar
209-212 AD as Augustus
Struck 209 - 212
AE 27.5 mm; 8.16 g
O: Laureate draped bust right
R: Hermes standing facing, head left, holding purse and caduceus
Nikopolis ad Istrumlaney
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(02) AUGUSTUS27 BC - 14 AD
Struck 12- 14 AD
AE 24 mm; 9.17 g
O: IMP CAESAR AVGVSTVS bare head right
R: COL IVL founder plowing left with yoke of oxen.
Phoenicia, Berytus; RPC 4540
laney
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(0217) DIADUMENIAN (as Caesar)217 - 218 AD (as Caesar)
AE 23 X 24.5 mm; 7.05 g
O: Draped and cuirassed bust right
R: Artemis advancing right, holding bow and drawing arrow from quiver; at feet to right, hound springing right
MOESIA INFERIOR, Marcianopolis. cf AMNG I 786 ff.
laney
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(0217) MACRINUS217 - 218 AD
AE 18.5 mm; 2.69 g
Obv: Laureate, draped and cuirassed bust right.
Rev: AEL MVNICIP COIL. Prow right; cornucopia above.
Thrace, Coela; Varbanov 2923. Rarelaney
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(0218) ELAGABALUS218 - 222 AD
AE 22.5 X 24 mm; 6.56 g
O: Radiate bust right.
R: Turreted Genius standing facing, head left, holding patera and cornucopia, flanked by eagles; humped bull at lower left.
Syria: Seleucis and Pieria-Raphanea; cf SNG Cop. 385laney
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(0218) ELAGABALUS218-222 AD
Struck under Antonius Seleucus
AE 26 mm, 10.49 g
O: AVT KM AVRHLIOC - ANTWNEINOC Draped and cuirassed bust right, seen from behind
R: VP.IOVL.ANT.CEL - EVKOV MARKIANOP / OLITWN Nemesis in long double chiton , standing with facing head left, holding
club in left arm and pulling garment from right shoulder; wheel at her feet, left
Moesia Inferior, Markianopolis
(note column of strange indentations along Nemesis' right leg)
laney
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(0218) ELAGABALUS & JULIA MAESA218 - 225 AD
Æ 5 Assaria. 26 mm; 8.99 g
O: Confronted busts of Elagabalus and Julia Maesa
R: Dionysos standing left, holding thyrsus and pouring wine from kantharos; E in right field
Moesia Inferior, Markianopolis (Marcianopolis)
Varbanov 1623; Pick 953laney
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(0218) ELAGABALUS & Julia Maesa218 – 222 AD
AE 23 mm, 9 g
O: Confronted busts of Elagabalus and Julia Maesa
R: Naked Bonus Eventus standing left holding patera in right hand and two grain ears in left hand; in left field retrograde E /WN in ligature.
Moesia Inferior, Markianopolis (Marcianopolis);
AMNG 949; not in Hristova/Jekov (2014), not in Pfeiffer (2013)
[reverse is described in AMNG 949 as: "Genius (Bonus Eventus")]
laney
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(0218) ELAGABALUS & Julia Maesa218 – 222 AD
AE 28 mm, 13.18 g
O: Confronted busts of Elagabalus and Julia Maesa
R: Naked Bonus Eventus standing left holding patera in right hand and two grain ears in left hand;
Moesia Inferior, Markianopolis (Marcianopolis); ?retrograde E to left?
cf AMNG 949 [reverse is described in AMNG 949 as: "Genius (Bonus Eventus")]laney
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(0218) ELAGABALUS & JULIA MAESA218-222 AD (Antonius Seleucus, consular legate)
AE 29 mm, 11.25 g
O: Laureate, draped, and cuirassed bust of Elagabalus right vis à vis draped bust of Julia Maesa left
R: Hera standing left, holding patera and scepter, E in right field
Moesia Inferior, Markianopolis. cf. Mouchmov 688; Varbanov 1626laney
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(0218) ELAGABALUS (with Julia Maesa)AD 218-222. (Julius Antonius Seleucus, consular legate)
Æ Pentassarion 27 mm; 10.92 g
O: Laureate head of Elagabalus right vis à vis diadmed and draped bust left of Maesa
R: Hygieia (Salus) standing right, feeding serpent held in arms; E (denomination) to left.
MOESIA INFERIOR, Marcianopolis. AMNG I 959; Hristova & Jekov 6.28.21.2; Varbanov 1636laney
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(0218) Elagabalus, with Julia MaesaAD 218-222. (Julius Antonius Seleucus, legatus consularis)
AE Pentassarian 27 mm, 8.95 g
O: Confronted busts of Elagabalus right, laureate, draped, and cuirassed, and Maesa left, draped and wearing stephane
R: Zeus standing left, holding patera and scepter; E (mark of value) to right.
MOESIA INFERIOR, Marcianopolis. ref. a) AMNG I/1, 936
b) Varbanov (engl.) 1642
c) Hristova/Jekov (2013) No. 6.28.1.2 var. (E in right field)
laney
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(0219) JULIA PAULA(0219) JULIA PAULA
First wife of Elagabalus
219-220 AD
AE 24 mm, 9.14 g
O: Bust right
R: Nike holding Kabeiros in right hand and palm branch in left hand
Thessalonika (Macedonia). cf CNG ANS 868, Touratsoglou 171-173 (rare)laney
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(0222) SEVERUS ALEXANDER222-235 AD
Æ 19 mm, 3.28 g
O: Laureate, cuirassed, and draped bust right, seen from behind
R: Prow with three grain ears
Thrace, Coela; BMC -; Varbanov 2929 var. (prow with cornucopia)
(scarce city)laney
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(0222) SEVERUS ALEXANDER222 - 235 AD
AE 27mm max. 7.34 g
O: Laureate head right
R: [ ] MARKIANOPOLIT ; WN (ligate?) in lower left field. Homonoia standing right holding cornucopia and patera
Moesia Inferior, Markianopolis
laney
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(0222) SEVERUS ALEXANDER & JULIA MAESA222-235 AD
(under governor Tiberius Julius Festus)
AE 26 mm max, 7.34 g
O: Confronted busts of Severus Alexander and Julia Mamaea
R: Hera standing head left holding patera and long scepter; E in left field
Moesia Inferior, Markianopolis
laney
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(0222) SEVERUS ALEXANDER AND JULIA MAESA222 - 235 AD
AE PENTASSARION 27.5 mm, 9.38 g
O: CONFRONTED BUSTS OF SEVERUS ALEXANDER AND JULIA MAESA
R: VP TIB IOVL FHCTOV MARKIANOPOLEITWN, "E" IN RIGHT FIELD. HOMONOIA STANDING LEFT HOLDING PATERA AND CORNUCOPIA
Moesia Inferior, MARKIANOPOLIS laney
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(0238) GORDIAN III238 - 244 AD
AE 26 mm; 8.30 g
O: Laureate draped bust right
R: Nemesis standing left, holding rod and bridle; wheel at feet on left
Thrace, Hadrianopolis; Varbanov (engl.) 4066 (cites Jurukova Hadrianopolis 1987, No. 613)laney
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(0238) GORDIAN III238 - 244 AD
AE 27.5 mm, 10.68 g
O: Laureate, draped and cuirassed bust of Gordian right, facing draped bust of Serapis left. (confronted)
R: Athena, helmeted, standing left, holding spear and resting right hand on shield' E in left field, W/N in right
Moesia Inferior, Markianopolis; cf Moushmov 785, Varbanov 1957laney
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(0238) GORDIAN III238 - 244 AD
AE 27 mm, 10.98 g
O: Laureate, draped and cuirassed bust of Gordian III, facing bust of Serapis. (confronted busts)
R: Asklepios standing facing, head left, holding serpent-entwined staff; E in right field
Moesia Inferior, Markianopolis; cf Varbanov 1954 var.laney
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(0238) GORDIAN III238 - 244 AD
AE 28 mm, 10.65 g
O: Laureate, draped and cuirassed bust of Gordian III, facing bust of Serapis. (confronted busts)
R: Asklepios standing facing, head left, holding serpent-entwined staff; E in right field
Moesia Inferior, Markianopolis; cf Varbanov 1954 var.laney
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(0238) GORDIAN IIIGORDIAN III (with Tranquillina)
238 - 244 AD
AE 27 mm, 10.47 g
O: AVT KM ANT GORDIANOC AVG CE (VG ligate); TRANKVK / LEINA in 2 liines in exe, WN legate. Confronted busts of Gordian III and Tranquillina
R:.VP TERTVLLIANOV MARKIANOPO LIT; in right field WN; E in left field. Serapis standing, in kalathos, left hand extended upward, scepter in left hand.
Moesia Inferior, Markianopolis; AMNG I/1 1174. Rare
laney
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(0238) GORDIAN III238 - 244 AD
AE 27.5 mm, 10.22 g
O: Confronted draped busts of Gordian III and Serapis
R: Herakles standing facing, nude, holding club, lion's skin and Apples of the Hesperides. T/W in right field; E in left field.
Moesia, Markianopolis; cf Pick 1151; Varbanov 1987laney
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(0238) GORDIAN III238-244
AE Pentassarion 28 mm, 8.94 g (Tullius Menophilus, legatus consularis)
O: AVT K M ANT ΓOPΔIANOC / AVΓ. Laureate, draped and cuirassed bust of Gordian and draped bust of Serapis, wearing calathus, facing one another.
R: VΠ MINOΦΙΛOV MAPKIANOΠOΛIT / ΩN. Serapis standing facing, head left, raising hand and holding sceptre; E (mark of value) to left.
MOESIA INFERIOR, Marcianopolis. Cf. Varbanov 2011-2.laney
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(0238) GORDIAN III238-244 AD
Struck 241-242 (regnal year III)
AE 30 mm, 20.59 g
O: IMP-CAES-MANT-GORDIANVS-AVG, laureate, draped and cuirassed bust right.
R: PMSC_OL-VIM, female figure (Viminacium or Provincia Moesia) standing, facing left, between bull to left and lion to right; in ex. ANIII
Moesia, Viminacium,laney
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(0238) GORDIAN III238-244 AD
AE 29 mm, 14.89 g
O: [IMPCAESMANT]GORDIANVSAVG, laureate, draped and cuirassed bust right.
R: PMSCOLVIM, female figure (Viminacium or Provincia Moesia) standing, facing left, between bull to left and lion to right
Moesia, Viminacium,laney
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(0238) GORDIAN III--Odessos238 - 244 AD
AE 27 mm, 10.71 g
O: Laureate, draped and cuirassed bust of Gordian right vis-a-vis draped bust of Serapis left, wearing Kalathos and holding cornucopia. (confronted busts)
R: Asklepios standing facing, head left, holding serpent-entwined staff; E in right field.
Moesia Inferior, Odessos mint; Varbanov 4462 var.laney
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(0244) OTACILIA SEVERA(wife of Philip I)
244 - 249 AD--Magistrate Ainius
AE 24 mm, 6.30 g
O: M WTA CEBHRA C, draped bust right, wearing stephane.
R: EP AINIOY MAGNH CIPYL, Kybele, turreted, seated left,
holding patera and resting arm on drum, lion standing left at her side.
Lydia, Magnesia ad Sipylum
SNG Cop 270; BMC 86; SNG Munich 290laney
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(0244) PHILIP I (The Arab)244 - 249 AD
AE 23.5 mm, 8.18 g
Obv: AV K M IOV FILIPPOC, radiate, draped, cuirassed bust right.
Rev: QECCALONEIKEWN N PUQIA, Agonistic table surmounted by vase, prize urn containing palm, and five apples.
Thessalonica, Macedonia.
laney
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(0244) PHILIP I - THE ARAB244-249 AD
AE 27.5 mm, 18.42 g
O: IMP M IVL PHILIPPVS AVG, laureate head right
R: P M S COL VIM, Moesia standing between bull and lion; ANVII in exergue (year 7)
Viminacium, Moesia Superiorlaney
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(0244) PHILIP I -- The Arab(0244) PHILIP I
244 - 249 AD
AE 28.5 mm, 17.91 g
O: IMP M IVL PHILIPPVS AVG, laureate head right
R: P M S COL VIM, Moesia standing between bull and lion; ANVI in exergue (year 6)
Viminacium, Moesia Superiorlaney
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(0244) PHILIP I -- The Arab244 - 249 AD
AE 17.59 mm, 27.5 g
O: IMP M IVL PHILIPPVS AVG, laureate head right
R: P M S COL VIM, Moesia standing between bull and lion; ANVII in exergue (year 7)
Viminacium, Moesia Superiorlaney
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(0244) PHILIP II(Caesar, 244-247 A.D.; Augustus 247-249 A.D.)
Dated year 8 (247-248 A.D.).
AE 26 mm., 8.09 g
O: [IMP MM IVL PHIL]IPPVS AVG, radiate, draped, cuirassed bust
R: P M S C—OL VIM, AN VIII in exergue, Moesia standing, between a bull and a lion.
Viminacium (Moesia Superior)laney
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(0247) PHILIP II (as Caesar)244-247 AD Caesar
247 - 249 Augustus
Æ 8 Assaria 30mm, 18.72g.
O: Bareheaded, draped and cuirassed bust right
R: Turreted, veiled and draped bust of Tyche right; Δ-E/S-C across fields; above, ram leaping right, head left;
Seleucis and Pieria, Antiochlaney
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(0249) TRAJAN DECIUS249 - 251 AD
AE 24.5 mm; 11.90 g
Obv: IMP TRAIANVS DECIVS AV. Laureate and cuirassed bust right.
Rev: P M S COL VIM / AN XII. Moesia standing facing, head left, extending hands to bull and lion standing at feet to either side
MOESIA SUPERIOR, Viminaciumlaney
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(0250) HOSTILIAN250 - 251 AD
struck 251 AD
AE 25.5 mm, 11.50 g
O: C VAL HOST M QVINTVS CAE, bareheaded, draped and cuirassed bust right
R: P M S COL VIM Moesia standing facing, head left, with hands outstretched; to left, bull standing facing right; to right, lion standing facing left; AN XII in exergue (mostly off flan).
Moesia Superior, Viminaciumlaney
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(0270) AURELIAN--ALEXANDRIA270-275 AD.
Dated RY 4 (272/3 AD)
BI Tetradrachm 19 mm, 6.01 g
O: Laureate and cuirassed bust right
R: Eagle standing left, head turned to right, holding wreath in beak, between two standards; L Δ (date) and star above.
EGYPT, Alexandria. cf Köln 3078; Dattari 5495; Milne 4391; Emmett 3926laney
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(0270) AURELIAN--ALEXANDRIA(0270) AURELIAN--ALEXANDRIA
270-275 AD.
Dated RY 4 (272/3 AD)
BI Tetradrachm 20 mm, 6.99 g
O: Laureate and cuirassed bust right
R: Eagle standing left, head turned to right, holding wreath in beak, between two standards;
EGYPT, Alexandria. laney
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(0284) DIOCLETIAN--ALEXANDRIA284 - 305 AD
Struck Year 4 = 287/288
BI Potin Tetradrachm 18 mm, 8.23 g
O: Laureate, cuirassed bust right
R: LD in left (Year 4) field. Athena standing left. holding Nike in right hand and resting on shield with left.
Alexandria, Roman Provincial Egyptlaney
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(0284) DIOCLETIAN--ALEXANDRIA284-305 AD
BI Potin Tetradrachm 17.5 mm, 7.78 g
O: Laureate draped bust of Diocletian right
R: Eagle standing right holding wreath in beak, palm branch over shoulder, star behind, [L-]ε (year 5 date) in fields
Alexandria, Roman Egyptlaney
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(0286) MAXIMIANUS286-305
Struck year 4 (288/9)
BI Tetradrachm 18 mm, 6.31 g
O: Laureate, draped and cuirassed bust right
R: Alexandria standing facing, head left with double line of drapery, holding bust of Serapis and sceptre; L/D
Egypt, Alexandria; cf Emmett 4093, Giessen 3300laney
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(03) TIBERIUS (as Caesar)Tiberius
12 - 14 AD
AE Semis 20 mm; 3.46 g
O: [T]I CAESAR AVGVST [F IMPERAT VII], laureate head right
R: ROM ET AVG below front elevation of the Altar of Lugdunum.
Lugdunum mint; ref. Cohen 38. laney
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(06) NERO54-68 AD
AE 16.5 mm; 3.88 g
O:Draped bust right.
R: Hekate standing facing, wearing polos and holding long torch in each hand.
Lydia, Philadelphia; RPC 3041.
laney
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(12) DOMITIAN81 - 96 AD
AE 20 mm, 4.67 g
O: Laureate head right
R: TO-MI-TW-N in two lines to left and right of tetrastyle temple on podium; star (left) and cap of Dioscuri (right) at sides of gable
Moesia Inferior, Thrace, Tomis mint; RPC II 81, 404. AMNG I, 2, p. 679, 2595.laney
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03 01 Tiberius RIC 4Tiberius 14-37 A.D. AR Denarius. Lugdunum Mint, 15-16 A.D. (3.74g, 17.6mm, 6h). Obv: TI CAESAR DIVI AVG F AVGVSTVS, laureate head right. Rev: [TR POT X]VII. IMP [VII] in exergue, Tiberius, laur. And cloaked, stg. In slow Quadriga r., holding laurel branch and eagle tipped scepter. RIC I 4 (R2), BMC 7, RSC 48.
For an emperor with relatively long reign, Tiberius’ silver coinage was remarkably unvaried with the ubiquitous “tribute penny” making up the bulk of his denarii. This is a decent example of, perhaps, the second most common silver coin. Although the reverse legends are largely off the flan, the obverse has a decent portrait and legend.Lucas H
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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.
Cleisthenes
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201. Septimus Severus;,Augusta TraianaLooks like Varbanov (engl.) 999 (private collection, unpublished var.). Referring to Varbanov the coin in Schonert-Geiss #170 has 'bust draped and cuirassed, laureate, r.' whereas your obv. is 'head, laureate, r.'
ex - CNG; bulk lot
ecoli
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2nd Century Bearded Broad Axe. Found in germany.2nd Century Bearded Broad Axe. Found in Germany.
Sold as a 'Battle’ axe. Possibly used as such.
Pictures from left to right tell a story.
# Left picture - whole axe weighs 465g, Making it quite light for its type.
# 2nd from the left shows clearly where the high grade iron (steel) has been forged to the Low grade Iron that makes up the bulk of the axe. The high grade steel on the cutting edge would stay sharper for longer, but was expensive and time consuming to make.
# 3rd from the left picture shows the axe bends to the left (rear to front view). This tells me the owner was right handed and the axe has bent this way through right handed working.
# The last picture is interesting. the cut marks have been made by something (a sword or another axe, maybe) hitting it from the side. These marks are typical of steel to steel blows.
The axe was found somewhere in southern Germany, but I cannot confirm exact location.
X-ray and radio carbon dating will be conducted on all of my axes as money permits.lorry66
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Aiolis, TemnosAiolis, Temnos, 350-300 B.C.
Obv: Head of Dionysos right, head wreathed with ivy.
Rx: T - A to left and right of bunch of grapes on tendrilled vine.
Cf. SG 4230
CNG Bulk Lotecoli
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Alexander IIIAlexander III AR Tetradrachm. ‘Amphipolis’ mint. Struck under Kassander, circa 316-314 BC. Head of Herakles right, wearing lion skin headdress / Zeus Aëtophoros seated left; shield in left field, pellet-in-Î below throne. 17.1 g.
Price 136; Troxell, Studies, issue L8.
Thanks for the atribution Lloyd!
Most lifetime issues of Alexander the Great were usualy bulky/thick, which did not alow for the entire design of the die to imprint on the coin. IMO looked better then the wide thin flan. (edit: though this one is Struck under Kassander)
The coin was hand stuck with a die/avil. Dies were usually made of Bronze because it was sofeter and easier to work with then iron, (though some were made of iron as well) then the was anealed to make it stronger and less brittle.
The planchets were made by pouring molten metal into a mold and saved until needed. When it was ready to be used, they heated it just below melting point and placed it between the dies and the punch die was struck with a hammer.
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"Building upon his father's success in Greece, Alexander III (Alexander the Great, reigned 336-323 BC) set about the conquest of the Achaemenid Persian Empire. By the time of his death at the age of 31, he ruled most of the known world from Greece to Afghanistan. Initially Alexander continued to mint Philip's gold and silver coins. Soon, however, the need for a silver coinage that could be widely used in Greece caused him to begin a new coinage on the Athenian weight-standard. His new silver coins, with the head of Herakles on one side and a seated figure of Zeus on the other, also became one of the staple coinages of the Greek world. They were widely imitated within the empire he had forged."
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"......Alexander seems to have liked Amphipolis, because one of his last plans was to spend no less than 315 ton silver for a splendid new temple in the city that was to be dedicated to Artemis Tauropolus. It was never built, but after Alexander's death on 11 June 323 in Babylon, his wife queen Roxane settled in Amphipolis, which appears to have become one of the residences of the Macedonian royals. In 179, king Philip V died in the town."
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Amphipolis , ancient city of Macedonia, on the Strymon (Struma) River near the sea and NE of later Thessaloníki. The place was known as Ennea Hodoi [nine ways] before it was settled and was of interest because of the gold and silver and timber of Mt. Pangaeus (Pangaion), to which it gave access. Athenian colonists were driven out (c.464 BC) by Thracians, but a colony was established in 437 BC Amphipolis became one of the major Greek cities on the N Aegean. This colony was captured by Sparta, and Brasidas and Cleon were both killed in a battle there in 422 BC After it was returned to Athens in 421 BC, it actually had virtual independence until captured (357 BC) by Philip II of Macedon. He had promised to restore it to Athens, and his retention of Amphipolis was a major cause of the war with Athens. In 148 BC it became the capital of the Roman province of Macedonia. Paul, Silas, and Timothy passed through Amphipolis (Acts 17.1). Nearby is the modern Greek village of Amfípolis."
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"A quick look at the WildWinds database( http://www.wildwinds.com/coins/greece/macedonia/kings/alexander_III/t.html ) indicates that the style and monograms are consistent with an Amphipolis issue, with perhaps a little less care than usual in the engraving of the reverse. The closest I could locate with a quick look is Price 133 (variant), although yours appears to have a shield rather than dolphin in the left field reverse."
Randygeki(h2)
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Best of a Bad LotI did something that I keep telling myself not to do and that is buy bulk lots of fleabay.
Anyhow out of the 100 I bought only 10% were any good and I use that term loosely
Still lots of cleaning to go, but some of these can not be saved, they are as good as they are going to getJames b4
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Carabela Santa MariaBulkhead
Windlass
Waist hatchway
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China: Han Interregnum, Usurper Wang Mang, 7-22 A.D.China: Han Interregnum, Usurper Wang Mang, 7-22 A.D. AE24 mm, Cash. Obv: Huo Chuan. Schjoth-165.
"As soon as his [Wang Mang's] power was sufficiently consolidated, 3 years after his return to court, lists of his political opponents were drawn up, and hundreds were executed. Shortly after this he established a new penal colony in Tibet in the far West, a sort of ancient gulag. Unfortunately we have no direct account as to the nature of the crimes of those exiled to Tibet. In 6 AD the reins of power were still more firmly in his grasp, and Mang ordered his first reform of the coinage. Fundamentally this was a stratagem to nationalize the gold stocks, and put the empire back on a copper standard. Gold was requisitioned and exchanged against very high value bronze tokens. Two years later the tokens were demonetized. The cash assets of the aristocracy and the wealthy merchants must have been largely wiped out overnight. It is in the first couple of years of Mang's independent reign that the astonishing breadth of his reform proposals appear. His reforms include:
1) the abolition of slavery.
2) the nationalization of land.
3) standard plots of arable land for all adult males who wished to work them.
4) farming families grouped in hamlets of 6 or 8, with a common tax assessment.
5) a national bank offering fair rates of interest to all.
6) government market activity to counteract cornering and monopolization.
7) a new currency system in 15 denominations - circulating by government fiat.
8) defeat of the Huns
His new taxes include
taxes to be paid in cash or kind on cultivated land (one tenth)
triple rates to be paid on uncultivated land (parks and gardens etc.)
c) all self-employed or professional people outside farming shall register for income tax, which will be universally levied at 10% per annum. Those avoiding registration, or submitting false accounts to be sentenced to one years hard labour.
d) the state monopolies on iron, salt, silk, cloth and coinage to be retained
e) a new state monopoly on wine to be introduced.
Discussion of the proposals
1) Events in his private life show Mang's abhorrence of slavery. He vilified the political system of the legalists, established in the Chin dynasty (221-206 BC) specifically by alluding to the manner in which they established market places for male and female slaves, "putting human beings in auction pens as if they were cattle."
Reforms 2, 3, 5 & 6) The nationalization of land and its distribution amongst the peasant farmers themselves is of course one solution to the central economic problem in all pre-modern civilizations, (which presumably finds its roots in the bronze age and persisting right down to the machine age). Peasants must have security of tenure and just returns for their labour, otherwise they will not be encouraged to work effectively - and the state and all within it will thereby be impoverished. However if they are made private landowners then clever, unscrupulous, hard-working individuals within and outwith the peasantry will begin to gain land at the expense of their neighbours. The chief mechanisms of this gradual monopolization of the land by a class of people distinguished by their wealth are:
Preying upon private 'misfortune', (illness, death, and marriage expenses) by loansharking.
Preying upon public misfortunes (bad harvests) by loansharking.
Creating shortages by rigging the markets, exacerbating private and public misfortunes, and then loansharking.
Unfairly biasing tax assessments, creating and exacerbating private and public misfortunes, and then loansharking.
The end result of this tendency is likely to be that the bulk of farmers lack security of tenure and or just returns, and cease to work effectively, to the impoverishment of all. Reforms 2, 3 & 5 bear on this problem in an obvious way.
Reform 6 - the "Five Equalizations" is a little more complicated, so I shall explain it at greater length. Fundamentally it required the installation of government officials at the five important markets of the empire who would "buy things when they were cheap and sell them when they were dear." In more detail: "The superintendent of the market, in the second month of each of the four seasons, shall determine the true price of the articles under their responsibility, and shall establish high, middle and low prices for each type of item. When there are unsold goods on the market, the superintendent shall buy them up at the cost (low?) price. When goods become expensive (ie exceed the high price?) the superintendent shall intervene to sell goods from the official store (and thereby reduce the price)." The regulation thus allows markets to operate, but provides for state intervention to stop speculation . . . Mang's regulations allow for a review and revision of the trading bands four times a year.
4). In resettling the people securely on the land, Mang choose to group them into "chings" of 6 or 8 families - attempting to restore the traditional "well field" system. This provided for the regular exchange of land between the families, to give all a go at the best ground, and for joint responsibility for a common tax demand. The ching system was believed, by the Confucian party in the 1st century BC at least, to have been destroyed by the growth of mercantilist exploitation under the Chin legalists. There are hints that the state went on to use the ching structure in crime prevention measures, by making all members of the ching culpable for the unreported crime of any single member. The installation of a land nationalization scheme under the banner of a return to the ancient Chou system of 'chings' had a great deal of propaganda value amongst the Confucian elite which surrounded Mang. A sentimental view of rural working class life seems to be a common weakness amongst aristocratic and middle class intellectuals of all periods. Mang's own observations of the labouring poor would necessarily have been made at a distance - perhaps he too shared in this sentimental myopia. The evidence suggests that the peasantry did not welcome this aspect of the reforms
7) Food was the first concern of Confucian government, but coinage was the second. Only fair prices could encourage the farmers. Only markets could create fair prices. Only with coins could markets exist. Mang introduced a rational set of 15 denominations of coin, valued from 1 to 1,000 cash and circulated by government fiat. Mang did not invent the idea of fiat or fiduciary currency, a brief attempt had been made to circulate one in China a century earlier. However Mang was the first to systematically think through the matter in a practical context, and to apply it over a protracted period. Future successful ancient and medieval experiments with fiat currency, first in China, then in Japan and Central Asia, and unsuccessful ones in medieval India and Persia all looked back - directly or indirectly - to Mang. The first successful fully fiduciary currencies in Europe are products of the 20th century, more than 700 years after Europeans became aware of Chinese practices. (I am neglecting a great deal of late Roman copper coin here of course. I am by no means knowledgeable on such coins, but my understanding is that in principle, if not in practice, Rome was generally on the silver or the gold standard, and copper was exchangeable on demand.) On my own reading of the text, Mang's main concern is to get gold and silver off the market, so they could not be used to bid his tokens down - his coinage was intended to replace gold coinage, not supplement it."--Robert Tye
For a more complete study of Wang Mang, see Robert Tye's compositon about this enigmatic leader at http://www.anythinganywhere.com/info/tye/Wang%20Mang.htmCleisthenes
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Euboia, Hisiaia.Sear 2496, BCD Euboia 378-424, BMC 24 ff.
AR tetrobol, 12-13 mm, 3rd-2nd centuries B.C.
Obv: Wreathed head of nymph Histiaia with her hair rolled facing right.
Rev: ΙΣΤ--AIEΩN; nymph Histiaia seated right on stern of galley, wing on side of galley,control symbol(s), if any, below (off flan).
Histiaia, named after its patron nymph, commanded a strategic position overlooking the narrows leading to the North Euboian Gulf. In the Illiad, Homer describes the surrounding plain as “rich in vines.” In 480 B.C. the city was overrun by the Persians. After the Persian Wars it became a member of the Delian Confederacy. In 446 the Euboians revolted, seized an Athenian ship and murdered its crew. They were promptly reduced by Athens. Perikles exiled the population to Macedonia and replaced them with Athenians. The exiled population probably returned at the end of the Peloponnesian War in 404; thereafter they seem to have been largely under the control of Sparta until they joined the Second Athenian Confederacy in 376-375. The city appears to have become a member (for the first time) of the reconstituted league of Euboian cities in 340, but its allegiance during most of the 4th century seems to have vacillated between Athens and Macedonia. It was pro-Macedonian during the 3rd century, for which it was attacked in 208 and captured in 199 by a Roman-Pergamene force. The Roman garrison was removed in 194. To judge from the wide distribution of its coinage, Histiaia continued to prosper. Little is known of its later history, but finds at the site indicate it continued to be inhabited in Roman, Byzantine, and later times. (per NumisWiki)
The date of this extensive coinage is difficult to determine and is the subject of controversy. The bulk of it would appear to belong to the latter part of the third century B.C., and it may have commenced with the cessation of silver issues for the Euboian League circa 267 B.C. There are numerous imitations, of poor style and rough execution, which would seem to have been produced in Macedon just prior to the Roman victory over Perseus in 168 B.C. (per Sear)
Ref: Numismatik Lanz. Münzen von Euboia: Sammlung BCD. Auction 111 (November 25, 2002). Munich.Stkp
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Hadrian, RIC 859, Sestertius of AD 134-138Æ Sestertius (23,65g, Ø33mm, 12h). Rome mint. Struck AD 134-138.
Obv.: HADRIANVS AVG COS III P P, draped bare-headed bust left.
Rev.: MAVRETANIA around, S C in field, Mauretania, in short tunic, standing in front of a horse pacing left, holding it by the reins and holding a javelin pointing downwards in left hand.
RIC 859 (S); BMCRE 1763; Cohen 957; Strack 721
Ex Gorny & Mosch Auction 176, lot 2287 (march 2009).
Mauretania (modern Morocco and NW Algeria) was home to the Numidians or Mauri (the "Moors"), the ancestors of today's Berber people. Since the annexation of Mauretania by Claudius in AD 44, light cavalry (equites Maurorum or Numidarum) were recruited into the regular Auxilia. These dreaded Mauri horsemen had been involved in many Roman wars, and from the Second Punic War until the 3rd century AD, the bulk of Rome's light cavalry (apart from mounted archers from Syria) consisted of Mauri horsemen. On Trajan's Column, they are depicted with long hair in dreadlocks, riding small horses bare-back and unbridled, with a simple braided rope round their mount's neck for control. They wear no body or head armour, carrying only a small, round leather shield. Their weaponry consisted of several short javelins. Numidian cavalry would harass the enemy by hit-and-run attacks, riding up and loosing volleys of javelins, then scattering faster than any opposing cavalry could pursue. Charles S
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Hartill 16.114, Schjoth --Northern Song Dynasty: Emperor Ren Zong (1022-1063), Reign Title Huang Song (1039-1054)
1 cash (cast bronze), 2.94 g., 25.30 mm.
Obv: Huang Song tong bao (all characters regular script; dot in tong not distinct)
Rev: Blank
Hartill rarity 15
ex Forvm Ancient Coins (bulk lot)Stkp
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Hartill 16.153, Schjöth --, Fisher's Ding 936Northern Song Dynasty: Emperor Ren Zong (1022-1063), Reign Title Jia You (1056-1063)
1 cash (cast bronze), 3.37 g., 24.45 mm.
Obv: Jia You tong bao (Li script)
Rev: Blank
Hartill rarity 14
ex Forvm Ancient Coins (bulk lot)Stkp
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Hartill 16.167, Schjöth 526, Fisher's Ding 942Northern Song Dynasty: Emperor Ying Zong (1064-1067), Reign Title Zhi Ping (1064-1067)
1 cash (cast bronze), 2.82 g., 25.54 mm.
Obv: Zhi Ping tong bao (Li script)
Rev: Blank
Hartill rarity 15
ex Forvm Ancient Coins (bulk lot)Stkp
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Hartill 16.211, Schjöth 545, Fisher’s Ding 964, Gorny NS 27.aHartill 16.211, Schjöth 545, Fisher’s Ding 964, Gorny NS 27.a
Northern Song Dynasty: Emperor Shenzong (1067-1085), Reign Title Yuanfeng (1078-1085)
1 cash/wen (cast bronze), 1068-1077 A.D.; 4.55 g., 24.39 mm. max.
Obv.: Yuan Feng 元豐 Tong Bao 通寶, seal script
Rev.: Blank
Hartill rarity 15
ex Forum Ancient Coins (from bulk lot)Stkp
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Hartill 16.291, Schjoth 585 var., Fisher's Ding 990 var.Northern Song Dynasty: Emperor Zhe Zong (1086-1100), Reign Title Shao Sheng (1094-1097)
1 cash (cast bronze), 3.35 g., 23.87 mm.
Obv: Shao Sheng yuan bao (clockwise; seal script; small bao)
Rev: Blank
Hartill rarity 15
ex Forvm Ancient Coins (bulk lot)Stkp
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Hartill 16.377, Schjoth 609Northern Song Dynasty: Emperor Hui Zong (1101-1125), Reign Title Sheng Song (1101-1106)
1 cash (cast bronze), 3.45 g., 23.78 mm.
Obv: Sheng Song yuan bao (clockwise; running script; spread feet bao)
Rev: Blank
Hartill rarity 15
ex Forvm Ancient Coins (bulk lot)Stkp
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Hartill 16.380, Schjoth 609 var.Northern Song Dynasty: Emperor Hui Zong (1101-1125), Reign Title Sheng Song (1101-1106)
1 cash (cast bronze), 3.89 g., 23.94 mm.
Obv: Sheng Song yuan bao (clockwise; running script; knotted style Sheng)
Rev: Blank
Hartill rarity 12
ex Forvm Ancient Coins (bulk lot)Stkp
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Hartill 16.441, Schjoth 635, Fisher's Ding 1071Northern Song Dynasty: Emperor Hui Zong (1101-1125), Reign Title Zheng He (1111-1117)
1 cash (cast bronze), 3.71 g., 25.43 mm.
Obv: Zheng He tong bao (Li script; head of tong merged with the body, large characters)
Rev: Blank
Hartill rarity 15
ex Forvm Ancient Coins (bulk lot)Stkp
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Hartill 16.68, Schjoth 480, Fisher's Ding 893Northern Song Dynasty: Emperor Zhen Zong (998-1022), Reign Title Tian Xi (1017-1022)
1 cash (cast bronze), 3.56 g., 25.66 mm.
Obv: Tian Xi tong bao (clockwise; regular script; feet of bao spread, one dot tong)
Rev: Blank
Hartill rarity 15
ex Forvm Ancient Coins (bulk lot)Stkp
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