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JUSTINIAN I, AE Follis (40 Nummi), struck 545/546 at CyzicusObverse: D N IVSTINIANVS P P AVG. Helmeted and cuirassed facing bust of Justinian I holding globus cruciger in his right hand and shield, adorned with rider galloping right spearing a fallen enemy, in his left; cross in right field.
Reverse: Large M, cross above and officina letter below (B = 2nd Officina), A/N/N/O in field to left of M and regnal year X/ЧI/II/I in field to right; in exergue, :K•YZ
Diameter: 34mm | Weight: 19.22gms | Die Axis: 6
SBCV: 207 | DOC: 171b.3

Justinian I introduced the system of dating on the Byzantine bronze coinage in the 12th year of his reign (Regnal year 538/39).

546: On December 17th of this year the Ostrogoths under King Totila plundered Rome and destroyed its fortifications. The city fell after almost a year's siege due to the capture, near the mouth of the Tiber, of a grain fleet sent by Pope Vigilius and the failure of the troops sent by the Byzantine Empire under Belisarius to relieve the city. After sacking Rome the Ostrogoths withdrew to Apulia in southern Italy.2 comments*Alex

(0270) AURELIAN270 - 275 AD
AE 21 mm, 4.02 g
O: IMP AVRELIANVS AVG radiate cuirassed bust right
R: ORIENS AVG, Sol walking right with laurel branch and bow, trampling enemy, H in left field; XXIR in exe
Rome mint
laney

051 Caracalla (196-198 A.D. Caesar, 198-217 A.D. Augustus ), Rome, RIC IV-I 113, AR-Denarius, PONTIF TR P XII COS III, Emperor riding left over enemy, Scarce! #1051 Caracalla (196-198 A.D. Caesar, 198-217 A.D. Augustus ), Rome, RIC IV-I 113, AR-Denarius, PONTIF TR P XII COS III, Emperor riding left over enemy, Scarce! #1
avers: ANTONINVS PIVS AVG, Laureate head right.
reverse: PONTIF TR P XII COS III, Caracalla, in military attire, on horse galloping left, spearing foe on the ground before him.
exergue: -/-//--, diameter: 18,5-19,0 mm, weight: 3,41g, axis: 6h,
mint: Rome, date: 209 A.D.,
ref: RIC IV-I 113, p-, RSC 468, Scarce !
Q-001quadrans

051 Caracalla (196-198 A.D. Caesar, 198-217 A.D. Augustus ), Rome, RIC IV-I 118b, AR-Denarius, PONTIF TR P XIII COS III, Emperor riding left over enemy, Scarce! #1051 Caracalla (196-198 A.D. Caesar, 198-217 A.D. Augustus ), Rome, RIC IV-I 118b, AR-Denarius, PONTIF TR P XIII COS III, Emperor riding left over enemy, Scarce! #1
avers: ANTONINVS PIVS AVG, Laureate head right.
reverse: PONTIF TR P XIII COS III, Caracalla, in military attire, on horse galloping left, spearing foe on the ground before him.
exergue: -/-//--, diameter: 17,5-19,0 mm, weight: 3,42g, axis: 0h,
mint: Rome, date: 210 A.D.,
ref: RIC IV-I 118b, p-, RSC 487, Scarce !
Q-0011 commentsquadrans

060a03. AurelianAntoninianus. Rome mint. 274-275 AD. Obv: IMP AVRELIANVS AVG, radiate, cuirassed bust right. Rev: ORIENS AVG, Sol, walking right, holding laurel branch and bow, treading down an enemy, Delta in left field. Mintmark XXIR. RIC 54, Sear 11569.
lawrence c

0aa Defeat of Hannibal on Sicily, 222 BCCn. Lentulus, moneyer
90-85 BC

Quinarius

Laureled head of Jupiter, right
Victory crowning trophy, CN LENT in ex

Seaby, Cornelia 51

Possibly a reference to this event: [Q. Fabius Maximus, afterwards called Cunctator] broke up his camp at Suessula and decided to begin by an attack on Arpi. . . . Now at last the enemy was roused; there was a lull in the storm and daylight was approaching. Hannibal's garrison in the city amounted to about 5000 men, and the citizens themselves had raised a force of 3000. These the Carthaginians put in front to meet the enemy, that there might be no attempt at treachery in their rear. The fighting began in the dark in the narrow streets, the Romans having occupied not only the streets near the gate but the houses also, that they might not be assailed from the roofs. Gradually as it grew light some of the citizen troops and some of the Romans recognised one another, and entered into conversation. The Roman soldiers asked what it was that the Arpinians wanted, what wrong had Rome done them, what good service had Carthage rendered them that they, Italians-bred and born, should fight against their old friends the Romans on behalf of foreigners and barbarians, and wish to make Italy a tributary province of Africa. The people of Arpi urged in their excuse that they knew nothing of what was going on, they had in fact been sold by their leaders to the Carthaginians, they had been victimised and enslaved by a small oligarchy. When a beginning had been once made the conversations became more and more general; at last the praetor of Arpi was conducted by his friends to the consul, and after they had given each other mutual assurances, surrounded by the troops under their standards, the citizens suddenly turned against the Carthaginians and fought for the Romans. A body of Spaniards also, numbering something less than a thousand, transferred their services to the consul upon the sole condition that the Carthaginian garrison should be allowed to depart uninjured. The gates were opened for them and they were dismissed, according to the stipulation, in perfect safety, and went to Hannibal at Salapia. Thus Arpi was restored to the Romans without the loss of a single life, except in the case of one man who had long ago been a traitor and had recently deserted. The Spaniards were ordered to receive double rations, and the republic availed itself on very many occasions of their courage and fidelity.

Livy, History of Rome, 24.46-47Blindado

112 Probus (276-282 A.D.), AE-Antoninianus, RIC V-II 877, Serdica, VIRTVS PROBI AVG, Bust-C, (Bust-C Not in RIC), -/-//KA•Γ•, Emperor riding right, #1112 Probus (276-282 A.D.), AE-Antoninianus, RIC V-II 877, Serdica, VIRTVS PROBI AVG, Bust-C, (Bust-C Not in RIC), -/-//KA•Γ•, Emperor riding right, #1
avers:- IMP-C-M-AVR-PROBVS-P-F-AVG, Radiate draped and cuirassed bust right.(C)
revers:- VIRTVS-PROBI-AVG, Emperor riding right, spearing enemy, shield beneth the horse.
exergo:-/-//KA•Γ•, diameter: 21,5-23,5mm, weight: 3,54g, axes:11h
mint: Serdica, 4th emission, date: 281 A.D., ref: RIC-V-II-877 (Bust-C Not in RIC), p-114,
Q-001quadrans

112 Probus (276-282 A.D.), AE-Antoninianus, RIC V-II 877, Serdica, VIRTVS PROBI AVG, Bust-C, -/-//KA•Δ•, Emperor riding right, 112 Probus (276-282 A.D.), AE-Antoninianus, RIC V-II 877, Serdica, VIRTVS PROBI AVG, Bust-C, -/-//KA•Δ•, Emperor riding right,
avers: IMP-C-M-AVR-PROBVS-P-F-AVG, Radiate, draped and cuirassed bust right, seen from back. (C)
revers: VIRTVS-PROBI-AVG, Emperor riding right, spearing enemy, shield beneth the horse.
exergo: -/-//KA•Δ•,, diameter: 22,5-24,5mm, weight: 3,89g, axes:0h,
mint: Serdica 4ht emission, date: 277 A.D.,(80-81 A.D.), ref: RIC-V-II-877, p-113,
Q-0011 commentsquadrans

112 Probus (276-282 A.D.), AE-Antoninianus, RIC V-II 877, Serdica, VIRTVS PROBI AVG, Bust-F, -/-//KA•Δ•, Emperor riding right, #1112 Probus (276-282 A.D.), AE-Antoninianus, RIC V-II 877, Serdica, VIRTVS PROBI AVG, Bust-F, -/-//KA•Δ•, Emperor riding right, #1
avers:- IMP-C-M-AVR-PROBVS-P-F-AVG, Radiate, cuirassed bust right. (F)
revers:- VIRTVS-PROBI-AVG, Emperor riding right, spearing enemy, shield beneth the horse.
exergo: -/-//KA•Δ•,, diameter: 22,5-23,5mm, weight: 3,58g, axes:5h,
mint: Serdica 4ht emission, date: 277 A.D.,(80-81 A.D.), ref: RIC-V-II-877, p-113,
Q-001quadrans

112 Probus (276-282 A.D.), AE-Antoninianus, RIC V-II 877, Serdica, VIRTVS PROBI AVG, Bust-G, -/-//KA•Γ•, Emperor riding right, #1112 Probus (276-282 A.D.), AE-Antoninianus, RIC V-II 877, Serdica, VIRTVS PROBI AVG, Bust-G, -/-//KA•Γ•, Emperor riding right, #1
avers:- IMP-C-M-AVR-PROBVS-P-F-AVG, Radiate, helmeted, cuirassed bust left, holding spear and shield. (G)
revers:- VIRTVS-PROBI-AVG, Emperor riding right, spearing enemy, shield beneth the horse.
exergo: -/-//KA•Γ•, no exergual line, diameter: 22-22,5mm, weight: 3,66g, axes:5h,
mint: Serdica 4ht emission, date: 277 A.D.,(80-81 A.D.), ref: RIC-V-II-877, p-113,
Q-001quadrans

112 Probus (276-282 A.D.), AE-Antoninianus, RIC V-II 877, Serdica, VIRTVS PROBI AVG, Bust-H, (Bust-H Not in RIC), -/-//KA•Γ•, Emperor riding right, #1112 Probus (276-282 A.D.), AE-Antoninianus, RIC V-II 877, Serdica, VIRTVS PROBI AVG, Bust-H, (Bust-H Not in RIC), -/-//KA•Γ•, Emperor riding right, #1
avers:- IMP-C-M-AVR-PROBVS-P-F-AVG, Radiate bust left in imperial mantle, holding sceptre surmounted by eagle. (H)
revers:- VIRTVS-PROBI-AVG, Emperor riding right, spearing enemy, shield beneth the horse.
exergo:-/-//KA•Γ•, diameter: mm, weight: g, axes:h
mint: Serdica, date: 277 A.D., ref: RIC-V-II-877 (Bust-H Not in RIC), p-113,
Q-001quadrans

112 Probus (276-282 A.D.), AE-Antoninianus, RIC V-II 877var. Serdica, VIRTVS PROBI AVG, Bust-H, (Tis officina "KAA" and Bust-H Not in RIC), -/-//KAA, Emperor riding right, Rare, #1112 Probus (276-282 A.D.), AE-Antoninianus, RIC V-II 877var. Serdica, VIRTVS PROBI AVG, Bust-H, (Tis officina "KAA" and Bust-H Not in RIC), -/-//KAA, Emperor riding right, Rare, #1
avers:- IMP-C-M-AVR-PROBVS-P-F-AVG, Radiate bust left in imperial mantle, holding sceptre surmounted by eagle. (H)
revers:- VIRTVS-PROBI-AVG, Emperor riding right, spearing enemy, shield beneth the horse.
exergo:-/-//KAA, diameter: 22,5-23,5mm, weight: 4,05g, axes:0h
mint: Serdica, date: 277 A.D., ref: RIC-V-II-877var. (Tis officina "KAA" and Bust-H Not in RIC), p-113,
Q-001quadrans

112 Probus (276-282 A.D.), AE-Antoninianus, RIC V-II 878, Serdica, VIRTVS PROBI AVG, Bust-G, -/-//KAB, Emperor riding right, #1112 Probus (276-282 A.D.), AE-Antoninianus, RIC V-II 878, Serdica, VIRTVS PROBI AVG, Bust-G, -/-//KAB, Emperor riding right, #1
avers:- IMP-C-M-AVR-PROBVS-AVG, Radiate, helmeted, cuirassed bust left, holding spear and shield. (G)
revers:- VIRTVS-PROBI-AVG, Emperor riding right, spearing enemy, shield beneth the horse.
exergo: -/-//KAB, no exergual line, diameter: 22-22,5mm, weight: 4,02g, axes:5h,
mint: Serdica 4ht emission, date: 277 A.D.,(80-81 A.D.), ref: RIC-V-II-878, p-114,
Q-001quadrans

112 Probus (276-282 A.D.), AE-Antoninianus, RIC V-II 878, Serdica, VIRTVS PROBI AVG, Bust-G, -/-//KAB, Emperor riding right, #2112 Probus (276-282 A.D.), AE-Antoninianus, RIC V-II 878, Serdica, VIRTVS PROBI AVG, Bust-G, -/-//KAB, Emperor riding right, #2
avers: IMP-C-M-AVR-PROBVS-AVG, Radiate, helmeted, cuirassed bust left, holding spear and shield. (G)
revers: VIRTVS-PROBI-AVG, Emperor riding right, spearing enemy, shield beneth the horse.
exergo: -/-//KAB, diameter: 23,5mm, weight: 3,85g, axes:0 h,
mint: Serdica 4ht emission, date: 277 A.D.,(80-81 A.D.), ref: RIC-V-II-878, p-114,
Q-001quadrans

112 Probus (276-282 A.D.), AE-Antoninianus, RIC V-II 878, Serdica, VIRTVS PROBI AVG, Bust-G, -/-//KA•A•, Emperor riding right, #1112 Probus (276-282 A.D.), AE-Antoninianus, RIC V-II 878, Serdica, VIRTVS PROBI AVG, Bust-G, -/-//KA•A•, Emperor riding right, #1
avers:- IMP-C-M-AVR-PROBVS-AVG, Radiate, helmeted, cuirassed bust left, holding spear and shield. (G)
revers:- VIRTVS-PROBI-AVG, Emperor riding right, spearing enemy, shield beneth the horse.
exergo:-/-//KA•A•, diameter: 23,5mm, weight: 3,85g, axes:1h
mint: Serdica 4ht emission, date: 277 A.D., ref: RIC-V-II-878, p-114,
Q-001quadrans

112 Probus (276-282 A.D.), AE-Antoninianus, RIC V-II 880v, Serdica, VIRTVS PROBI AVG, Bust-F, -/-//KA•A•, Emperor riding right,112 Probus (276-282 A.D.), AE-Antoninianus, RIC V-II 880v, Serdica, VIRTVS PROBI AVG, Bust-F, -/-//KA•A•, Emperor riding right,
avers:- IMP-C-M-AVR-PROBVS-P-AVG, Radiate, cuirassed bust right, seen from front. (F)
revers:- VIRTVS-PROBI-AVG, Emperor riding right, spearing enemy, shield beneth the horse.
exergo: -/-//KA•A•, diameter: 22-22,5mm, weight: 3,81g, axes:6 h
mint: Serdica 4ht emission, date: 280-81 A.D., ref: RIC-V-II-880v, p-114, Not in RIC this officina!!!
Q-001quadrans

112 Probus (276-282 A.D.), AE-Antoninianus, RIC V-II 880v., Serdica, VIRTVS PROBI AVG, Bust-C, -/-//KA•B•, Emperor riding right, Scarce!112 Probus (276-282 A.D.), AE-Antoninianus, RIC V-II 880v., Serdica, VIRTVS PROBI AVG, Bust-C, -/-//KA•B•, Emperor riding right, Scarce!
avers:- IMP-C-M-AVR-PROBVS-P-AVG, Radiate, draped and cuirassed bust right, seen from back. (C)
revers:- VIRTVS-PROBI-AV, Emperor riding right, spearing enemy, shield beneth the horse.
exergo: -/-//KA•B•, diameter: 21,5-23,7mm, weight: 4,15g, axes:0h
mint: Serdica 4ht emission, date: 277 A.D., ref: RIC-V-II-880v., p-114, Scarce,
Q-0012 commentsquadrans

112 Probus (276-282 A.D.), AE-Antoninianus, RIC V-II 880var, Serdica, VIRTVS PROBI AVG, Bust-Η, -/-//KA•Δ•, Emperor riding right, Rare!112 Probus (276-282 A.D.), AE-Antoninianus, RIC V-II 880var, Serdica, VIRTVS PROBI AVG, Bust-Η, -/-//KA•Δ•, Emperor riding right, Rare!
avers: IMP-C-M-AVR-PROBVS-PIVS-AVG, Radiate bust left in imperial mantle, holding sceptre surmounted by eagle. (Η)
revers: VIRTVS-PROBI-AVG, Emperor riding right, spearing enemy, shield beneth the horse.
exergo: -/-//KA•Δ•, diameter: 23mm, weight: 4,4g, axes:11h
mint: Serdica 4ht emission, date: 277 A.D., ref: RIC-V-II-880 var., p-114, Rare,
Q-001quadrans

112 Probus (276-282 A.D.), AE-Antoninianus, RIC V-II 880var, Serdica, VIRTVS PROBI AVG, Bust-Fvar, -/-//KA•A•, Emperor riding right, Rare!112 Probus (276-282 A.D.), AE-Antoninianus, RIC V-II 880var, Serdica, VIRTVS PROBI AVG, Bust-Fvar, -/-//KA•A•, Emperor riding right, Rare!
avers:- IMP-C-M-AVR-PROBVS-PIVS-AVG, Radiate, cuirassed bust right, seen from front. (Fvar)
revers:- VIRTVS-PROBI-AV-G, Emperor riding right, spearing enemy, shield beneth the horse.
exergo: -/-//KA•A•, diameter: 23mm, weight: 4,4g, axes:11h
mint: Serdica 4ht emission, date: 277 A.D., ref: RIC-V-II-880 var., p-114, Rare,
Q-0011 commentsquadrans

112 Probus (276-282 A.D.), AE-Antoninianus, RIC V-II 880var, Serdica, VIRTVS PROBI AVG, Bust-Fvar, -/-//KAB, Emperor riding right, Rare!112 Probus (276-282 A.D.), AE-Antoninianus, RIC V-II 880var, Serdica, VIRTVS PROBI AVG, Bust-Fvar, -/-//KAB, Emperor riding right, Rare!
avers: IMP-C-M-AVR-PROBVS-PIVS-AVG, Radiate, cuirassed bust right, seen from front. (Fvar)
revers: VIRTVS-PROBI-AV-G, Emperor riding right, spearing enemy, shield beneth the horse.
exergo: -/-//KAB, diameter: 23mm, weight: 3,33g, axes:0 h
mint: Serdica 4ht emission, date: 277 A.D., ref: RIC-V-II-880 var., p-114, Rare,
Q-001quadrans

112 Probus (276-282 A.D.), AE-Antoninianus, RIC V-II ???, Serdica, VIRTVS PROBI AVG, Bust-H, -/-//KA•Γ•, Emperor riding right, Rare !!!112 Probus (276-282 A.D.), AE-Antoninianus, RIC V-II ???, Serdica, VIRTVS PROBI AVG, Bust-H, -/-//KA•Γ•, Emperor riding right, Rare !!!
avers:- DEO-ET-DOMINO-PROBO-INVICTO-AVG, Radiate bust left in imperial mantle, holding sceptre surmounted by eagle. (H)
revers:- VIRTVS-PROBI-AVG, Emperor riding right, spearing enemy, shield beneth the horse.
exergo: -/-//KA•Γ•, diameter: 22-24mm, weight: 2,99g, axes:6h,
mint: Serdica ? ht emission, date: A.D., ref: RIC-V-II-???, p-,
Q-0011 commentsquadrans

112 Probus (276-282 A.D.), AE-Antoninianus, RIC V-II ???, Serdica, VIRTVS PROBI AVG, Bust-H, -/-//KA•A•, Emperor riding right, Rare !!!112 Probus (276-282 A.D.), AE-Antoninianus, RIC V-II ???, Serdica, VIRTVS PROBI AVG, Bust-H, -/-//KA•A•, Emperor riding right, Rare !!!
avers:- BONO-IMP-PROBO-INVICTO-AVG, Radiate bust left in imperial mantle, holding sceptre surmounted by eagle. (H)
revers:- VIRTVS-PROBI-AVG, Emperor riding right, spearing enemy, shield beneth the horse.
exergo: -/-//KA•A•, diameter: 21,5-22,5mm, weight: 3,06g, axes:7h,
mint: Serdica ? ht emission, date: A.D., ref: RIC-V-II-???, p-,
Q-0011 commentsquadrans

112 Probus (276-282 A.D.), AE-Antoninianus, RIC V-II Not in , Serdica, VIRTVS PROBI AVG, Bust-A, -/-//KA•Γ•, Emperor riding right, IMP DEO ET DOMINO PROBO AVG, Extr. rare.!112 Probus (276-282 A.D.), AE-Antoninianus, RIC V-II Not in , Serdica, VIRTVS PROBI AVG, Bust-A, -/-//KA•Γ•, Emperor riding right, IMP DEO ET DOMINO PROBO AVG, Extr. rare.!
Probus (276-282) AE Antoninianus VIRTVS PROBI AVG, Serdica,
"This is a rare coin. I know only 2 other similar coins, both in private hands, none in public collections. One belongs to Philippe Gysen's collection, the other is CNG MBS 69, 8/6/2005, 1699 (the one which appears on Grzegorz's Probus site http://bkgk.powweb.com/probvs/rev-reverses.html ). The three coins appear to share the same pair of dies." by S. Estiot. Many thanks S. Estiot
avers:- IMP-DEO-ET-DOMINO-PROBO-AVG, Radiate, draped and cuirassed bust right, seen from back.
revers:- VIRTVS-PROBI-AVG, Emperor riding right, spearing enemy, shield beneth the horse.
exergo: -/-//KA•Γ•, diameter: 24mm, weight: 3,56g, axes:6h,
mint: Serdica 4ht emission, date: 279 A.D., ref: Not in RIC !!! extr. rare,
Q-0011 commentsquadrans

112 Probus (276-282 A.D.), Siscia, Alföldi 0093.0002, -/-//XXIϛ, Bust-E1/G, RIC V-II 809.3.6.E1.A., AE-Antoninianus, VIRTVS AVGVSTI N, Emperor riding right, spearing enemy, Very Rare!!!, #1112 Probus (276-282 A.D.), Siscia, Alföldi 0093.0002, -/-//XXIϛ, Bust-E1/G, RIC V-II 809.3.6.E1.A., AE-Antoninianus, VIRTVS AVGVSTI N, Emperor riding right, spearing enemy, Very Rare!!!, #1
avers: VIRTVS PROBI AVG, Radiate, helmeted, cuirassed bust left, holding spear and shield. The shield is decorated with a scene of the emperor on horse riding right in front of soldiers carrying shields. (E1/G)
reverse: VIRTVS AVGVSTI N, Emperor galloping right, spearing enemy.
exergue: -/-//XXIϛ, diameter: 21,0-21,5mm, weight: 3,56g, axis: 6h,
mint: Siscia, 3rd. emission, off. 6th., date: 277 A.D.,
ref: RIC V-II 809.3.6.E1.A., Alf-093, No-002, Very Rare!!!
Q-001
Note: Ex Savoca1 commentsquadrans

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

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rever:- FEL TEMP REPARATIO, Soldier spearing falling enemy horseman who wears Phrygian helmet and is reaching backwards; shield on ground to right .
exergo: -/-//ASIS, diameter: 19mm, weight: 2,59g, axis: 0h,
mint: Siscia, date: 351-55 A.D., ref: RIC-VIII-350, p-375,
Q-001quadrans

147 Constantius II. (324-337 A.D. Caesar, 337-361 A.D. Augustus), Thessalonica, RIC VIII 189, AE-3 Follis, A/-//SMTS, FELTEMP REPARATIO, Soldier spearing falling enemy, Error-coin !!147 Constantius II. (324-337 A.D. Caesar, 337-361 A.D. Augustus), Thessalonica, RIC VIII 189, AE-3 Follis, A/-//SMTS, FELTEMP REPARATIO, Soldier spearing falling enemy, Error-coin !!
avers:- D N CONSTAN TIVS P F AVG, Pearl-diademed, draped and cuirassed bust right.
rever:- FEL TEMP REPARATIO, Soldier spearing falling enemy horseman who wears Phrygian helmet and is reaching backwards; shield on ground to right .
exergo: A/-//SMTS, diameter: 17,0-19,0mm, weight: 2,77g, axis: 11h,
mint: Thessalonica, date: A.D., ref: RIC VIII Thessalonica 189., p-419,
Q-001quadrans

161-180 AD - MARCUS AURELIUS AE sestertius - struck 173 ADobv: M ANTONINVS AVG TR P XXVII (laureated bearded head right)
rev: [RESTITVTORI ITALIAE IMP VI COS III S C] (Aurelius standing left holding sceptre and raising kneeling figure of Italia who holds a globe)
ref: RIC 1077 (S), Cohen 538 (10frcs), BMC 1449
21.80gms, 29mm,
Rare

Aurelius is here portrayed as the Restorer of Italy. Although this type is normally used to refer to a defeated enemy, in this instance what Aurelius is restoring is the security of the homeland by defeating the Germanic tribes threatening Italy.
berserker

1701a, Saladin, 1169-1193AYYUBID: Saladin, 1169-1193, AR dirham (2.92g), Halab, AH580, A-788, lovely struck, well-centered & bold, Extremely Fine, Scarce.

His name in Arabic, in full, is SALAH AD-DIN YUSUF IBN AYYUB ("Righteousness of the Faith, Joseph, Son of Job"), also called AL-MALIK AN-NASIR SALAH AD-DIN YUSUF I (b. 1137/38, Tikrit, Mesopotamia--d. March 4, 1193, Damascus), Muslim sultan of Egypt, Syria, Yemen, and Palestine, founder of the Ayyubid dynasty, and the most famous of Muslim heroes.

In wars against the Christian crusaders, he achieved final success with the disciplined capture of Jerusalem (Oct. 2, 1187), ending its 88-year occupation by the Franks. The great Christian counterattack of the Third Crusade was then stalemated by Saladin's military genius.

Saladin was born into a prominent Kurdish family. On the night of his birth, his father, Najm ad-Din Ayyub, gathered his family and moved to Aleppo, there entering the service of 'Imad ad-Din Zangi ibn Aq Sonqur, the powerful Turkish governor in northern Syria. Growing up in Ba'lbek and Damascus, Saladin was apparently an undistinguished youth, with a greater taste for religious studies than military training.
His formal career began when he joined the staff of his uncle Asad ad-Din Shirkuh, an important military commander under the amir Nureddin, son and successor of Zangi. During three military expeditions led by Shirkuh into Egypt to prevent its falling to the Latin-Christian (Frankish) rulers of the states established by the First Crusade, a complex, three-way struggle developed between Amalric I, the Latin king of Jerusalem, Shawar, the powerful vizier of the Egyptian Fatimid caliph, and Shirkuh. After Shirkuh's death and after ordering Shawar's assassination, Saladin, in 1169 at the age of 31, was appointed both commander of the Syrian troops and vizier of Egypt.

His relatively quick rise to power must be attributed not only to the clannish nepotism of his Kurdish family but also to his own emerging talents. As vizier of Egypt, he received the title king (malik), although he was generally known as the sultan. Saladin's position was further enhanced when, in 1171, he abolished the Shi'i Fatimid caliphate, proclaimed a return to Sunnah in Egypt, and consequently became its sole ruler.

Although he remained for a time theoretically a vassal of Nureddin, that relationship ended with the Syrian emir's death in 1174. Using his rich agricultural possessions in Egypt as a financial base, Saladin soon moved into Syria with a small but strictly disciplined army to claim the regency on behalf of the young son of his former suzerain.
Soon, however, he abandoned this claim, and from 1174 until 1186 he zealously pursued a goal of uniting, under his own standard, all the Muslim territories of Syria, northern Mesopotamia, Palestine, and Egypt.

This he accomplished by skillful diplomacy backed when necessary by the swift and resolute use of military force. Gradually, his reputation grew as a generous and virtuous but firm ruler, devoid of pretense, licentiousness, and cruelty. In contrast to the bitter dissension and intense rivalry that had up to then hampered the Muslims in their resistance to the crusaders, Saladin's singleness of purpose induced them to rearm both physically and spiritually.

Saladin's every act was inspired by an intense and unwavering devotion to the idea of jihad ("holy war")-the Muslim equivalent of the Christian crusade. It was an essential part of his policy to encourage the growth and spread of Muslim religious institutions.

He courted its scholars and preachers, founded colleges and mosques for their use, and commissioned them to write edifying works especially on the jihad itself. Through moral regeneration, which was a genuine part of his own way of life, he tried to re-create in his own realm some of the same zeal and enthusiasm that had proved so valuable to the first generations of Muslims when, five centuries before, they had conquered half the known world.

Saladin also succeeded in turning the military balance of power in his favour-more by uniting and disciplining a great number of unruly forces than by employing new or improved military techniques. When at last, in 1187, he was able to throw his full strength into the struggle with the Latin crusader kingdoms, his armies were their equals. On July 4, 1187, aided by his own military good sense and by a phenomenal lack of it on the part of his enemy, Saladin trapped and destroyed in one blow an exhausted and thirst-crazed army of crusaders at Hattin, near Tiberias in northern Palestine.

So great were the losses in the ranks of the crusaders in this one battle that the Muslims were quickly able to overrun nearly the entire Kingdom of Jerusalem. Acre, Toron, Beirut, Sidon, Nazareth, Caesarea, Nabulus, Jaffa (Yafo), and Ascalon (Ashqelon) fell within three months.

But Saladin's crowning achievement and the most disastrous blow to the whole crusading movement came on Oct. 2, 1187, when Jerusalem, holy to both Muslim and Christian alike, surrendered to the Sultan's army after 88 years in the hands of the Franks. In stark contrast to the city's conquest by the Christians, when blood flowed freely during the barbaric slaughter of its inhabitants, the Muslim reconquest was marked by the civilized and courteous behaviour of Saladin and his troops. His sudden success, which in 1189 saw the crusaders reduced to the occupation of only three cities, was, however, marred by his failure to capture Tyre, an almost impregnable coastal fortress to which the scattered Christian survivors of the recent battles flocked. It was to be the rallying point of the Latin counterattack.

Most probably, Saladin did not anticipate the European reaction to his capture of Jerusalem, an event that deeply shocked the West and to which it responded with a new call for a crusade. In addition to many great nobles and famous knights, this crusade, the third, brought the kings of three countries into the struggle.

The magnitude of the Christian effort and the lasting impression it made on contemporaries gave the name of Saladin, as their gallant and chivalrous enemy, an added lustre that his military victories alone could never confer on him.

The Crusade itself was long and exhausting, and, despite the obvious, though at times impulsive, military genius of Richard I the Lion-Heart, it achieved almost nothing. Therein lies the greatest-but often unrecognized--achievement of Saladin. With tired and unwilling feudal levies, committed to fight only a limited season each year, his indomitable will enabled him to fight the greatest champions of Christendom to a draw. The crusaders retained little more than a precarious foothold on the Levantine coast, and when King Richard set sail from the Orient in October 1192, the battle was over.

Saladin withdrew to his capital at Damascus. Soon, the long campaigning seasons and the endless hours in the saddle caught up with him, and he died. While his relatives were already scrambling for pieces of the empire, his friends found that the most powerful and most generous ruler in the Muslim world had not left enough money to pay for his own grave.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
H.A.R. Gibb, "The Arabic Sources for the Life of Saladin," Speculum, 25:58-72 (1950). C.W. Wilson's English translation of one of the most important Arabic works, The Life of Saladin (1897), was reprinted in 1971. The best biography to date is Stanley Lane-Poole, Saladin and the Fall of the Kingdom of Jerusalem, new ed. (1926, reprinted 1964), although it does not take account of all the sources.1 commentsCleisthenes

1ai Augustus27 BC-14 AD

Denarius
Laureate head left, AVGVSTVS DIVI F
Apollo stg. Right, IMP XII

Van Meter notes that after about 15 BC, Augustus moved the production of gold and silver to Lugdunum and underscored the end of the moneyer issues by using "IMP" on the reverse.

RIC 180

Suetonius summarized Augusts' life in these words: He lost his father at the age of five (58BC). At twelve he delivered a funeral oration in honour of his grandmother Julia, Julius Caesar’s sister (51BC). At sixteen, having assumed the toga, he was decorated by Caesar during the African triumph (46BC) even though he had been too young to fight. When Caesar went to conquer Pompey’s sons in Spain (in 46BC), Augustus followed, despite still being weak from severe illness, and despite being shipwrecked on the way, with a minimal escort, over roads menaced by the enemy, so endearing himself greatly to Caesar, who quickly formed a high opinion of Augustus’ character, beyond merely his energetic pursuit of the journey.
After recovering the Spanish provinces, Caesar planned an expedition against the Dacians, to be followed by an attack on Parthia, and sent Augustus ahead (in 45BC) to Apollonia in Illyria, where he spent his time studying. When news came of Caesar’s assassination (in 44BC), and that the will named him as the main heir, Augustus considered seeking protection from the legions quartered there. However he decided it would be rash and premature, and chose to return to Rome, and enter on his inheritance, despite the doubts expressed by his mother, and strong opposition from his stepfather, the ex-consul Marcius Philippus.

Augustus went on to levy armies and rule the State; firstly for a twelve-year period (from 43BC to 30BC), initially with Mark Antony and Lepidus and then (from 33BC) with Antony alone; and later by himself for a further forty-four years (to his death in AD14).

In his youth he was betrothed to Servilia, the daughter of Publius Servilius Vatia Isauricus, but on his reconciliation with Mark Antony following their first dispute, the troops begged them to become allied by some tie of kinship, and he married (in 43BC) Claudia, Antony’s stepdaughter, born to Fulvia and Publius Clodius Pulcher, even though Claudia was barely of marriageable age. However he quarrelled with Fulvia, and divorced Claudia before the marriage had been consummated.

Not long afterwards (in 40BC), he married Scribonia, whose previous husbands had been ex-consuls, and to one of whom she had borne a child. He divorced her also ‘tired’, he wrote, ‘of her shrewish ways,’ and immediately took Livia Drusilla from her husband Tiberius Nero though she was pregnant at the time (38BC), loving and esteeming her alone to the end.Blindado

1bd Mark Antony Battles OctavianMark Antony
32-31 BC

Denarius

Galley, ANT AVG III VIR R P C, counter-marked
Legionary eagle between two standards, counter-marked

Seaby, Mark Antony 26ff

Plutarch described the outbreak of the conflict thusly: That night Antony had a very unlucky dream, fancying that his right hand was thunderstruck. And, some few days after, he was informed that Caesar was plotting to take his life. Caesar explained, but was not believed, so that the breach was now made as wide as ever; each of them hurried about all through Italy to engage, by great offers, the old soldiers that lay scattered in their settlements, and to be the first to secure the troops that still remained undischarged. Cicero was at this time the man of greatest influence in Rome. He made use of all his art to exasperate the people against Antony, and at length persuaded the senate to declare him a public enemy, to send Caesar the rods and axes and other marks of honour usually given to proctors, and to issue orders to Hirtius and Pansa, who were the consuls, to drive Antony out of Italy.Blindado

1bs Septimius Severus193-211

Denarius

Laureate head, right, SEVERVS PIVS AVG
Septimius, togate and veiled, standing left holding olive branch, FVNDATOR PACIS

RIC 265

According to the Historia Augusta: After the murder of Didius Julianus, Severus, a native of Africa, gained the empire. His home town was Lepcis Magna, his father was Geta and his ancestors had been Roman knights before citizenship had been given to all. . . . He himself was born on the third day before the Ides of April, when Erucius Clarus, for the second time, and Severus were the consuls [11 April A.D.146]. . . .

After his departure to Germany he conducted himself in such a way in his governorship as to increase his reputation, which had already become noteworthy. Up to this point his military activity was as a private citizen. But then, after it had been learned that Commodus had been murdered and, moreover, that Julianus held the empire amid universal hatred, he was proclaimed emperor by the German legions at Carnuntum, on the Ides of August, although he did put up some resistance to the many who urged him on. He gave the soldiers . . . sesterces each. Then, after strengthening the provinces which he was leaving in his rear, he marched on Rome. All yielded to him wherever he went, while the armies of Illyricum and Gaul, under the pressure of their generals, had already sworn allegiance to him - for he was received by everyone as the avenger of Pertinax. At the same time, on the instigation of Julianus, Septimius Severus was declared a public enemy, and envoys were sent to the army who were to order the soldiers to desert him, on the instructions of the Senate. At first, when Severus heard that the envoys had been sent by authority of a senatorial decree, he was very frightened. Afterwards, by bribing the envoys, he ensured that they spoke in his favour before the army and crossed to his side. Having learned this, Julianus caused a decree ofthe Senate to be passed regarding his sharing of the empire with Severus. It is uncertain whether or not he did this as a trick, since he had already, before this, dispatched certain men, well known for their assassinations of generals, who were to kill Severus. Similarly he had sent men to assassinate Pescennius Niger, who had also assumed the position of emperor in opposition to him, on the instigation of the Syrian armies. But Severus escaped the hands of those that Julianus had sent to murder him and sent a letter to the praetorian guard, giving them the signal either to desertJulianus or to kill him. He was obeyed at once; Julianus was killed in the palace and Severus was invited to Rome. Thus Severus became the victor merely at will - something that had never happened to anyone - and hastened to Rome under arms. . . .

The same emperor, although implacable towards offences, likewise displayed singular judiciousness in encouraging all hard-working persons. He was quite interested in philosophy and the practice of rhetoric, and enthusiastic about learning in general. He took some measures against brigands everywhere. He composed a convincing autobiography dealing with both his private and his public life, making excuses only for the vice of cruelty. With regard to this, the Senate pronounced that either he ought not to have been born or that he ought not to die, since he appeared to be both excessively cruel and excessively useful to the republic. . . . . He died at Eboracum [York] in Britain, having subdued the tribes which appeared hostile to Britain, in the eighteeneh year of his reign, stricken by a very grave illness, now an old man. . . .

This emperor wore such meagre clothing that even his tunic scarcely had any purple, while he covered his shoulders with a shaggy cloak. He ate sparingly, being very addicted to his native vegetable, sometimes fond of wine, often abstaining from meat. His person was handsome, he was of huge size,(Dio Cassius, who knew Severus personally, says that he was small) with a long beard and curly white hair. His face inspired reverence, his voice was resonant but with a trace of an African accent right up to his old age. He was equally beloved after his death, when envy, or the fear of his cruelty, had disappeared.Blindado

1cx Valerian253-260

Antoninianus

Radiate draped and cuirassed bust, right, IMP C P LIC VALERIANVS AVG
Victory standing left, holding wreath and palm, VICTORIA AVGG

RIC 125

Persians surrounded Valerian's army in the East in 260 and took the emperor prisoner. He died on an unknown date in captivity.

Zosimus noted: The nations subject to the Romans being unable to endure [Maximinus'] monstrous cruelty, and greatly distressed by the ravages he committed, the Africans proclaimed Gordianus and his son, of the same name, emperors, and sent ambassadors to Rome, one of whom was Valerianus, a man of consular rank, who afterwards himself became emperor. . . .

Aemilianus advanced with great speed into Italy, and the armies were very near to each other, when the soldiers of Gallus, reflecting that his force was much inferior to the enemy both in number and strength, and likewise that he was a negligent indolent man, put him and his son to death, and going over to the party of Aemilianus, appeared to establish his authority. But Valerianus brought into Italy from beyond the Alps a vast army, with which he deemed himself secure of conquering Aemilianus. The soldiers of Aemilianus, who saw that his conduct was more like that of a private sentinel than of an emperor, now put him to death as a person unfit for so weighty a charge.

By these means Valerianus became emperor with universal consent, and employed himself in the regulation of affairs. But the excursions of the Scythians, and of the Marcomanni, who made an inroad into all the countries adjacent to the empire, reduced Thessalonica to extreme danger; and though they were with muct difficulty compelled to raise the siege by the brave defence of those within, yet all Greece was in alarm. The Athenians repaired their walls, which they had never thought worth their care since Sylla threw them down. The Peloponnesians likewise fortified the Isthmus, and all Greece put itself upon its guard for the general security.

Valerianus, perceiving the empire in danger on every side, associated his son Gallienus with himself in the government! and went himself into the east to oppose the Persians. He entrusted to his son the care of the forces in Europe, thus leaving him to resist the Barbarians who poured in upon him in every direction. . . .

Valerianus had by this time heard of the disturbances in Bithynia, but his district would not allow him to confide the defence of it to any of his generals. He therefore sent Felix to Byzantium, and went in person from Antioch into Cappadocia, and after he had done some injury to every city by which he passed, he returned homeward. But the plague then attacked his troops, and destroyed most of them, at the time when Sapor made an attempt upon the east, and reduced most of it into subjection. In the mean time, Valerianus became so effeminate and indolent, that he dispaired of ever recovering from the present ill state of affairs, and would have concluded the war by a present of money; had not Sapor sent back the ambasadors who were sent to him with that proposal, without their errand, desiring the emperor to come and speak with him in person concerning the affairs he wished to adjust; To which he most imprudently consented, and going without consideration to Sapor with a small retinue, to treat for a peace, was presently laid hold of by the enemy, and so ended his days in the capacity of a slave among the Persians, to the disgrace of the Roman name in all future times.Blindado

1cz SaloninaWife of Gallienus and mother of Valerian II and Saloninus.

Antoninianus

Diademed and draped bust, right on crescent, right, CORN SALONINA AVG
Vesta standing left holding sceptre and patera, VESTA

RIC 39[j]

Zonaras relates this anecdote: While Galienus was making sorties against some of the enemy, the empress was on one occasion exposed to danger. For she was present with him. For as the sovereign had sallied forth with the majority of his troops, very few were stationed about his camp. The enemy, when they noticed this, attacked the sovereign’s tent, intending to snatch the empress. One of the soldiers who had been left behind had seated himself in front of the tent, removed one of his shoes from his foot, and was mending it. Then, as he saw the enemy attacking, he grabbed a shield and dagger and bravely rushed against them. He struck one and a second and blocked the remainder, who had shied away before his charge. And so, when more soldiers had raced to the spot, the sovereign’s wife was saved.Blindado

1dk Aurelian270-275

Radiate, cuirassed bust, right, IMP AVRELIANVS AVG
Aurelian & Severina or priest standing facing each other, each holding short sceptre, sacrificing at altar between them, S in ex, PIETAS AVG

Zosimus recorded: Aurelianus, having regulated the empire, went from Rome to Aquileia, and from thence into Pannonia, which he was informed the Scythians were preparing to invade. For this reason he sent orders to the inhabitants of that country to carry into the towns all their corn and cattle, and every thing that could be of use to the enemy, in order to distress them with famine, with which they were already afflicted. The Barbarians having crossed the river into Pannonia had an engagement, the result of which was nearly equal. But the same night, the Barbarians recrossed the river, and as soon as day appeared, sent ambassadors to treat for peace. |25

The Emperor, hearing that the Alemanni and the neighbouring nations intended to over-run Italy, was with just reason more concerned for Rome and the adjacent places, than for the more remote. Having therefore ordered a sufficient force to remain for the defence of Pannonia, he marched towards Italy, and on his route, on the borders of that country, near the Ister, slew many thousands of the Barbarians in one battle. Several members of the senate being at this time accused of conspiring against the emperor were put to death ; and Rome, which before had no walls, was now surrounded with them. This work was begun in the reign of Aurelianus, and was finished by Probus. At the same time Epitimius, Urbanus, and Domitianus, were likewise suspected as innovators, and were immediately apprehended and punished. During these occurrences in Italy and Pannonia, the emperor prepared to march against the Palmyrenians, who had subdued all Egypt, and the east, as far as Ancyra in Galatia, and would have acquired Bithynia even as far as Chalcedon, if the inhabitants of that country had not learned that Aurelianus was made emperor, and so shook off the Palmyrenian yoke. As soon as the emperor was on his march thither, Ancyra submitted to the Romans, and afterwards Tuana, and all the cities between that and Antioch. There finding Zenobia with a large army ready to engage, as he himself also was, he met and engaged her as honour obliged him [an defeated the enemy. . . .

[Having crushed Palmyra and razed it] He then entered Rome in triumph, where he was most magnificiently received by the senate and people. At this period also be erected that sumptuous temple of the sun, which he ornamented with all the sacred spoils that he brought from Palmyra; placing in it the statues of the sun and Belus. After this he easily reduced Tatricus with his rebellious accomplices, whom he brought to signal punishment. He likewise called in all the counterfeit money, and issued new, to avoid confusion in trade. Besides which he bestowed on the people a gift of bread, as a mark of his favour; and having arranged all affairs set out on a journey from Rome. . . .

During his stay at Perinthus, now called Heraclea, a conspiracy was thus formed against him. There was in the court a man named Eros, whose office was to carry out the answers of the emperor. This man had been for some fault threatened by the emperor, and put in great fear. Dreading therefore lest the emperor should realize his menaces by actions, he went to some of the guard, whom he knew to be the boldest men in the court; be told them a plausible story, and shewed them a letter of his own writing, in the character of the emperor (which he had long before learned to counterfeit), and persuading them first that they themselves were to be put to death, [h]e endeavoured to prevail on them to murder the emperor. The deception answered. Observing Aurelianus to go out of the city with a small retinue, they ran out upon him and murdered him.

RIC 138Blindado

1ds Diocletian284-305

AE antoninianus

Radiate, draped, cuirassed bust, right, IMP C C VAL DIOCLETIANVS P F AVG
Zeus and Diocletian, CONCORDIA MILITVM

RIC 284B

According to the Historia Augusta, after the death of Numerian: Then a huge assembly was held and a tribunal, too, was constructed. And when the question was asked who would be the most lawful avenger of Numerian and who could be given to the commonwealth as a good emperor, then all, with a heaven-sent unanimity, conferred the title of Augustus on Diocletian. . . . He was at this time in command of the household-troops, an outstanding man and wise, devoted to the commonwealth, devoted to his kindred, duly prepared to face whatever the occasion demanded, forming plans that were always deep though sometimes over-bold, and one who could by prudence and exceeding firmness hold in check the impulses of a restless spirit. This man, then, having ascended the tribunal was hailed as Augustus, and when someone asked how Numerian had been slain, he drew his sword and pointing to Aper, the prefect of the guard, he drove it through him, saying as he did so, "It is he who contrived Numerian's death.''

Eutropius summarized a long and important reign: DIOCLETIAN, a native of Dalmatia, [was] of such extremely obscure birth, that he is said by most writers to have been the son of a clerk, but by some to have been a freedman of a senator named Anulinus. . . . He soon after overthrew Carinus, who was living under the utmost hatred and detestation, in a great battle at Margum, Carinus being betrayed by his own troops, for though he had a greater number of men than the enemy, he was altogether abandoned by them between Viminacium and mount Aureus. He thus became master of the Roman empire; and when the peasants in Gaul made an insurrection, giving their faction the name of Bagaudae, and having for leaders Amandus and Aelianus, he despatched Maximian Herculius, with the authority of Caesar, to suppress them. Maximian, in a few battles of little importance, subdued the rustic multitude, and restored peace to Gaul. . . .

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. That he might also unite them by affinity, Constantius married Theodora the step-daughter of Herculius, by whom he had afterwards six children, brothers to Constantine; while Galerius married Valeria, the daughter of Diocletian; both being obliged to divorce the wives that they had before. . . .

Diocletian, meanwhile, besieging Achilleus in Alexandria, obliged him to surrender about eight months after, and put him to death. He used his victory, indeed, cruelly, and distressed all Egypt with severe proscriptions and massacres. Yet at the same time he made many judicious arrangements and regulations, which continue to our own days. . . .

Diocletian was of a crafty disposition, with much sagacity, and keen penetration. He was willing to gratify his own disposition to cruelty in such a way as to throw the odium upon others; he was however a very active and able prince. He was the first that introduced into the Roman empire a ceremony suited rather to royal usages than to Roman liberty, giving orders that he should be adored, whereas all emperors before him were only saluted. He put ornaments of precious stones on his dress and shoes, when the imperial distinction had previously been only in the purple robe, the rest of the habit being the same as that of other men. . . .

But when Diocletian, as age bore heavily upon him, felt himself unable to sustain the government of the empire, he suggested to Herculius that they should both retire into private life, and commit the duty of upholding the state to more vigorous and youthful hands. With this suggestion his colleague reluctantly complied. Both of them, in the same day, exchanged the robe of empire for an ordinary dress, Diocletian at Nicomedia, Herculius at Milan, soon after a magnificent triumph which they celebrated at Rome over several nations, with a noble succession of pictures, and in which the wives, sisters, and children of Narseus were led before their chariots. The one then retired to Salonae, and the other into Lucania.

Diocletian lived to an old age in a private station, at a villa which is not far from Salonae, in honourable retirement, exercising extraordinary philosophy, inasmuch as he alone of all men, since the foundation of the Roman empire, voluntarily returned from so high a dignity to the condition of private life, and to an equality with the other citizens. That happened to him, therefore, which had happened to no one since men were created, that, though he died in a private condition, he was enrolled among the gods. Blindado

1ea Licinius308-324

Follis

Laureate head, right, IMP LIC LICINIVS P F AVG
Jupiter standing left with thunderbolt and sceptre, eagle at foot with wreath in its beak, A over μ (Mu) over dot in right field, dot SIS dot in ex, IOVI CONSERVATORI

RIC 225a var

According to Zonaras: Maximinus took as colleague in his rule Licinius, who derived his lineage from the Dacians and was the brother-in-law of Constantine the Great. After he had made him colleague in his sovereignty and left him in Illyricum to defend the Thracians, who were being plundered by barbarians, he himself proceeded to Rome, to battle against Maxentius. Then, being suspicious of his own soldiers and fearing lest they desert to the enemy, he desisted from battle and departed. He regretted his appointment of Licinius, first plotted secretly against him, and then openly joined battle with him. He attacked him, was repulsed, defeated, and fled, and in his flight did away with himself. . . .

Eutropius adds: CONSTANTINE, being a man of great energy, bent upon effecting whatever he had settled in his mind, and aspiring to the sovereignty of the whole world, proceeded to make war on Licinius, although he had formed a connexion with him by marriage, for his sister Constantia was married to Licinius. And first of all be overthrew him, by a sudden attack, at Cibalae in Pannonia, where he was making vast preparations for war; and after becoming master of Dardania, Maesia, and Macedonia, took possession also of several other provinces.

There were then various contests between them, and peace made and broken. At last Licinius, defeated in a battle at Nicomedia by sea and land, surrendered himself, and, in violation of an oath taken by Constantine, was put to death, after being divested of the purple, at Thessalonica. 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

270-275 AD - AURELIAN silvered AE antoninianusobv: IMP.AVRELIANVS.AVG (radiate & cuirassed bust right)
rev: ORIENS.AVG (Sol walking right with laurel-branch & bow, treading down an enemy, officina letter (B) to left), XXIR in ex.
ref: RIC64, C.159, S.3262
mint: Rome
2nd officina, 11th issue. struck January-September 275 ADberserker

69-79 AD - VESPASIAN - AR denarius - struck 73 ADobv: IMP CAES VESP AVG CEN (laureate head right)
rev: SPQR in oak wreath
ref: RIC II 66, C.516 (6frcs)
mint: Rome
Scarce

'...as the usual appointed time when he must distribute subsistence money to the soldiers was now come, he [Titus] gave orders that the commanders should put the army into battle-array, in the face of the enemy, and then give every one of the soldiers their pay. So the soldiers, according to custom, opened the cases wherein their arms before lay covered, and marched with their breastplates on, as did the horsemen lead their horses in their fine trappings. Then did the places that were before the city shine very splendidly for a great way; nor was there any thing so grateful to Titus's own men, or so terrible to the enemy, as that sight.' Flavius Josephus: The wars of the Jews; book V berserker

Antigonos II Gonatas. 277-239 BC. AR Tetradrachm of Amphipolis Macedon, Antigonos II Gonatas. 277-239 BC. AR Tetradrachm (17.03 gm, 31mm, 12h) of Amphipolis 274-255 BC. Macedonian shield w/ horned head of Pan l. & lagoblon at center and stars in double crescents. / Athena Alkidemos advancing r. brandishing thunderbolt & holding shield decorated w/ aegis. ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ ΑΝΤΙΓΟΝΟΥ. Kalanthos to l. & AV monogram to r. gVF. CNG 63 #207. "Exceptional for issue. Very rare with the right-facing Athena, only 14 specimens recorded by Mathisen!" HGC 3.1 #1043; Mathisen ANSMN 26 [1981] plate 22 #39 = SNG Cop 2 #1198 (same dies); SNG Alpha Bank - ; SNG Ashmolean 3257 (same dies); SNG Berry - .
Mathisen contends that the fighting Athena was a traditional symbol of Pyrrhos, Antigonos' vanquished enemy, and Pan symbolizes Antigonos' victory over the Gauls, whose invasions had terrorized Macedon and Thrace for decades. Anaximander

Aquilea, RIC VIII 113, 147 Constantius II. (324-337 A.D. Caesar, 337-361 A.D. Augustus), AE-2 Follis, A/-//AQT•, FEL TEMP REPARATIO, Soldier spearing falling enemy,Aquilea, RIC VIII 113, 147 Constantius II. (324-337 A.D. Caesar, 337-361 A.D. Augustus), AE-2 Follis, A/-//AQT•, FEL TEMP REPARATIO, Soldier spearing falling enemy,
avers: D N CONSTAN TIVS P F AVG, Cs1, D3, Pearl-diademed, draped and cuirassed bust right, "A" behind the bust
Reverse: FEL TEMP RE PARATIO, Helmeted soldier to left shield on left arm, spearing falling horseman, shield on the ground at right, Horseman wears a Phrygian helmet and sits to right and raises both hands.
exergue: A/-//--;A/-//AQT•, diameter: 24-26mm, weight:4,74g, axis:5h,
mint: Aquilea, date: 348-50 A.D., ref: RIC-VIII-113, p-324,
Q-0012 commentsquadrans

Aurelian (RIC 64, COin #12)RIC 64 (C), AE3, Rome, 274 - 275 AD.
OBV: IMP AVRELIANVS AVG; Radiate and cuirassed bust right.
REV: ORIENS AVG (XXIR); Sol walking right with laurel branch and bow, treding down an enemy, A in left field.
SIZE: 21.3mm 3.16gMaynardGee

Aurelian (RIC64 var, Coin #90)RIC64 var, AE Antoninianus, Rome, 274-275 AD.
Obv: IMP AVRELIANVS AVG Radiate & cuirassed bust right.
Rev: ORIENS AVG (XXIR) Sol walking right with laurel branch and bow, treding down an enemy, Z in left field.
Size: 22.1mm 4.36gmMaynardGee

Aurelian - antoninianus RIC 64Aurelian. Antoninianus, Rome mint, 274-275 AD; 3.65g; obv. IMP AVRELIANVS AVG, radiate & cuirassed bust right; rev. ORIENS AVG, Sol walking right with laurel-branch & bow, treading down an enemy, officina letter or star to left, XXIR in ex. RIC 54.

Ex Martin Griffiths (Maridvnvm) collection1 commentsBartosz A

Aurelian AE Antoninianus. Rome mint, 274-275 AD. Aurelian AE Antoninianus. Rome mint, 274-275 AD. IMP AVRELIANVS AVG, radiate, cuirassed bust right / ORIENS AVG, Sol walking right, holding laurel branch and bow, treading down an enemy, B in left field, mintmark XXIR. RIC 54, Cohen 159, Sear 11569. RIC 64, BBritanikus

Aurelian Silvered AE Antoninianus Obverse - IMP AVRELIANVS AVG, Radiate & cuirassed bust right
Reverse - Oriens avg, Sol walking right with laurel branch and bow, treading down an enemy, officina letter E left.
XXIR in ex. RIC 64 Rome mint, 274-275 C.E. NORMAN K

Caracalla (Augustus) Coin: Bronze ASANTONINVS PIVS AVG - Laureate head right.
PONTIF TR P XII COS III - Caracalla on horseback left, holding javelin and riding down enemy, SC below horse, PROF AVGG in ex.
Exergue: PROF AVGG

Mint: Rome (209 AD)
Wt./Size/Axis: 7.66g / 25mm / 12h
Rarity: Rare
References:
RIC IV 449a
Acquisition/Sale: discountcoin eBay $0.00
Notes: Oct 20, 19 - The Gary R. Wilson Collection.

Scarce denomination for the reign and period.GRWilson

Crawford 460/2, ROMAN IMPERATORIAL, Q. Metellus Pius Scipio & P. Licinius Crassus Junianus, AR DenariusRome, The Imperators.
Q. Metellus Pius Scipio and P. Licinius Crassus Junianus, 47-46 BCE
AR Denarius (3.74g; 19mm; 3h).
African mint, 47-46 BCE.

Obverse: METEL• PI[VS] - SCIP• IMP; Bust of Jupiter, facing right; eagle and scepter below.

Reverse: CRASS• I[VN] - [LEG•P]RO• P[R]; Curule chair; scales and cornucopia above; corn-ear on left; carnyx (or dragon head?) below.

References: Crawford 460/2: HCRI 41; Sydenham 1048 (R6); BMCRR (Africa) 4; Caecilia 49.

Provenance: Ex DNW Auction (13 Apr 2022) Lot 1339; purchased from Associated Arts Co., July 1969

This scarce type was struck for Q. Metellus Pius Scipio by his legate, P. Licinius Crassus Junianus, possibly in a mint at or near Utica. A descendent of the great Scipio Africanus, Metellus Scipio inherited little of his famous ancestor’s military talent or character. In the civil war against Caesar, he was a supporter of Pompey with whom he shared the consulship in 52 BCE. He was also Pompey’s father-in-law, through his daughter, Cornelia. After Pompey’s murder in Egypt, Scipio commanded Pompey’s remaining troops at Thapsus (in modern Tunisia) where he was defeated by Caesar. Later cornered by the enemy, Scipio took his own life and his legate, Crassus probably shared the same suicidal fate.

The obverse bust of Jupiter (confirmed by his attributes of eagle and scepter) is of similar style to the terminal bust shown on Pompey’s denarius issue [see my example here: https://www.forumancientcoins.com/gallery/displayimage.php?pid=166939]. Sear and Grueber think the ear of corn and cornucopia refer to Africa’s grain production fertility; and the curule chair likely refers to the imperium of Scipio’s shared consulship with Pompey. Sear thinks the dragon head may be in rebuttal to Caesar’s trampling elephant coinage [see my example here: https://www.forumancientcoins.com/gallery/displayimage.php?pid=148765], although Grueber thinks the device is a carnyx head, possibly referring to the Scipiones’ successes in past Spanish campaigns.
Carausius

Crusader States, Normans of Sicily, William II, AD 1166-1189, AE Trifollaro, Spahr 117.Crusader States, Sicily, William II, AD 1166-1189, AE Trifollaro (24-25 mm), 8,82 g.
Obv.: Facing head of lioness within circle of dots.
Re.: Palm tree with five branches and two bunches of dates, within circle of dots.
Biaggi 1231, Spahr 117 ; Grie 210 (Roger II); Thom 2480 .

William II of Sicily (1153-1189), called the Good, was king of Sicily and Naples from 1166 to 1189.
William was only thirteen years old at the death of his father William I, when he was placed under the regency of his mother, Margaret of Navarre.
Until the king came of age in 1171 the government was controlled first by the chancellor Stephen du Perche, cousin of Margaret (1166-1168), and then by Walter Ophamil, archbishop of Palermo, and Matthew of Ajello, the vice-chancellor.
William's character is very indistinct. Lacking in military enterprise, secluded and pleasure-loving, he seldom emerged from his palace life at Palermo. Yet his reign is marked by an ambitious foreign policy and a vigorous diplomacy. Champion of the papacy and in secret league with the Lombard cities he was able to defy the common enemy, Frederick I Barbarossa. In 1174 and 1175 he made treaties with Genoa and Venice and his marriage in February 1177 with Joan, daughter of Henry II of England and Eleanor of Aquitaine, marks his high position in European politics.
In July 1177, he sent a delegation of Archbishop Romuald of Salerno and Count Roger of Andria to sign the Treaty of Venice with the emperor. To secure the peace, he sanctioned the marriage of his aunt Constance, daughter of Roger II, with Frederick's son Henry, afterwards the emperor Henry VI, causing a general oath to be taken to her as his successor in case of his death without heirs. This step, fatal to the Norman kingdom, was possibly taken that William might devote himself to foreign conquests.
Unable to revive the African dominion, William directed his attack on Egypt, from which Saladin threatened the Latin kingdom of Jerusalem. In July 1174, 50,000 men were landed before Alexandria, but Saladin's arrival forced the Sicilians to re-embark in disorder. A better prospect opened in the confusion in Byzantine affairs which followed the death of Manuel Comnenus (1180), and William took up the old design and feud against Constantinople. Durazzo was captured (June 11, 1185). Afterwards while the army marched upon Thessalonica, the fleet sailed towards the same target capturing on their way the Ionian islands of Corfu, Cephalonia,Ithaca and Zakynthos. In August Thessalonica surrendered to the joint attack of the Sicilian fleet and army.
The troops then marched upon the capital, but the troop of the emperor Isaac Angelus overthrew the invaders on the banks of the Strymon (September 7, 1185). Thessalonica was at once abandoned and in 1189 William made peace with Isaac, abandoning all the conquests. He was now planning to induce the crusading armies of the West to pass through his territories, and seemed about to play a leading part in the Third Crusade. His admiral Margarito, a naval genius equal to George of Antioch, with 60 vessels kept the eastern Mediterranean open for the Franks, and forced the all-victorious Saladin to retire from before Tripoli in the spring of 1188.
In November 1189 William died, leaving no children. Though Orderic Vitalis records a (presumably short-lived) son in 1181: Bohemond, Duke of Apulia. His title of "the Good" is due perhaps less to his character than to the cessation of internal troubles in his reign. The "Voyage" of Ibn Jubair, a traveller in Sicily in 1183-1185, shows William surrounded by Muslim women and eunuchs, speaking and reading Arabic and living like "a Moslem king."

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

my ancient coin database
1 commentsArminius

EB0855 Aurelian / SkeletonAurelian 270-275, tinned AE Antoninianus, Rome mint, 274-275 AD.
Obverse: IMP AVRELIANVS AVG, radiate, cuirassed bust right.
Reverse: Skeleton looming over terrified trick-or-treater (erroneously listed in the references as ORIENS AVG, Sol walking right, holding laurel branch and bow, treading down an enemy, B in left field, mintmark XXIR).
References: RIC 54, Cohen 159, Sear 11569.
Diameter: 23mm, Weight: 4.444g.1 commentsEB

Gallienus - AR antoninianusColonia Agrippina
258-259 AD
radiate and cuirassed bust left holding spear and shield
GALLIENVS·P·F·AVG
Gallienus advancing right treading down enemy, holding spear and shield
VIRT GALLIENI AVG
RIC V 054 (Lugdunum mint), Göbl MIR 0890i
3,3g 21mm
ex SavocaJ. B.

Gallienus AR AntoninianusObv: GALLIENVS P F AVG - Radiate bust right.
Rev: VICT GERMANICA - Victory running left, treading down enemy, and holding wreath and palm.
Mint: Lugdunum
Ref: RIC Va 45 (joint reign)oa

Gallienus, AntoninianusMint of Milan.
GALLIENVS.P.F.AVG - radiate & cuirassed bust right
VIRT GALLIENI AVG - Emperor walking right, holding transverse sceptre (point forwards) & small round shield, treading down fallen enemy, lying on ground, one arm raised.

258-259 AD.

Ref:RIC 54 F (J) byzancia

IMP CAES M ANT GORDIANVS AVG / P M S COL VIM / Ӕ30 (239-240 AD)IMP CAES M ANT GORDIANVS AVG, laureate, draped, cuirassed bust right / P M S CO - L VIM, personification of Moesia standing facing, head left, arms outstretched over a lion (right) and a bull (left). AN • I • in exergue.

Ó”, 29-30+mm, 16.75g, die axis 1h (slightly turned medal alignment), material: looks like red copper.

IMP CAES M ANT GORDIANVS AVG = Imperator Caesar Marcus Antonius Gordianus Augustus, P M S COL VIM = Provinciae Moesiae Superioris Colonia Viminacium = Colony of Viminacium, in the province of Upper Moesia, AN•I• = the first year. 238 AD was the infamous "year of the 6 emperors", so 239-240 was the first sole ruling year of Gordian III. The bull is the symbol of Legio VII Claudia, based in the capital of Moesia Superior, Viminacium itself, and the lion is the symbol of Legio IV Flavia Felix based in another city of Moesia Superior, Singidunum (modern Belgrade). Due to size this is most probably a sestertius, but large dupondius is another possibility, since it is clearly made of red copper and sestertii were typically made of expensive "gold-like" orichalcum, a kind of brass (but in this time of civil strife they could have used a cheaper replacement). Literature fails to clearly identify the denomination of this type.

A straightforward ID due to size and clear legends, this is AMNG 71; Martin 1.01.1 minted in Viminacium, Moesia Superior (Kostolac, Serbia).

Gordian III was Roman Emperor from 238 AD to 244 AD. At the age of 13, he became the youngest sole legal Roman emperor throughout the existence of the united Roman Empire. Gordian was the son of Antonia Gordiana and an unnamed Roman Senator who died before 238. Antonia Gordiana was the daughter of Emperor Gordian I and younger sister of Emperor Gordian II. Very little is known of his early life before his acclamation. Gordian had assumed the name of his maternal grandfather in 238 AD.

In 235, following the murder of Emperor Alexander Severus, Maximinus Thrax was acclaimed Emperor. In the following years, there was a growing opposition against Maximinus in the Roman senate and amongst the majority of the population of Rome. In 238 (to become infamous as "the year of six emperors") a rebellion broke out in the Africa Province, where Gordian's grandfather and uncle, Gordian I and II, were proclaimed joint emperors. This revolt was suppressed within a month by Cappellianus, governor of Numidia and a loyal supporter of Maximinus Thrax. The elder Gordians died, but public opinion cherished their memory as peace-loving and literate men, victims of Maximinus' oppression.

Meanwhile, Maximinus was on the verge of marching on Rome and the Senate elected Pupienus and Balbinus as joint emperors. These senators were not popular and the population of Rome was still shocked by the elder Gordians' fate, so the Senate decided to take the teenage Gordian, rename him Marcus Antonius Gordianus like his grandfather, and raise him to the rank of Caesar and imperial heir. Pupienus and Balbinus defeated Maximinus, mainly due to the defection of several legions, particularly the II Parthica, who assassinated Maximinus. However, their joint reign was doomed from the start with popular riots, military discontent and an enormous fire that consumed Rome in June 238. On July 29, Pupienus and Balbinus were killed by the Praetorian Guard and Gordian proclaimed sole emperor.

Due to Gordian's age, the imperial government was surrendered to the aristocratic families, who controlled the affairs of Rome through the Senate. In 240, Sabinianus revolted in the African province, but the situation was quickly brought under control. In 241, Gordian was married to Furia Sabinia Tranquillina, daughter of the newly appointed praetorian prefect, Timesitheus. As chief of the Praetorian Guard and father in law of the Emperor, Timesitheus quickly became the de facto ruler of the Roman Empire.

In the 3rd century, the Roman frontiers weakened against the Germanic tribes across the Rhine and Danube, and the Sassanid Empire across the Euphrates increased its own attacks. When the Persians under Shapur I invaded Mesopotamia, the young emperor opened the doors of the Temple of Janus for the last time in Roman history, and sent a large army to the East. The Sassanids were driven back over the Euphrates and defeated in the Battle of Resaena (243). The campaign was a success and Gordian, who had joined the army, was planning an invasion of the enemy's territory, when his father-in-law died in unclear circumstances. Without Timesitheus, the campaign, and the Emperor's security, were at risk.

Gaius Julius Priscus and, later on, his own brother Marcus Julius Philippus, also known as Philip the Arab, stepped in at this moment as the new Praetorian Prefects and the campaign proceeded. Around February 244, the Persians fought back fiercely to halt the Roman advance to Ctesiphon. Persian sources claim that a battle occurred (Battle of Misiche) near modern Fallujah (Iraq) and resulted in a major Roman defeat and the death of Gordian III. Roman sources do not mention this battle and suggest that Gordian died far away from Misiche, at Zaitha (Qalat es Salihiyah) in northern Mesopotamia. Modern scholarship does not unanimously accept this course of the events. One view holds that Gordian died at Zaitha, murdered by his frustrated army, while the role of Philip is unknown. Other scholars have concluded that Gordian died in battle against the Sassanids.
Philip transferred the body of the deceased emperor to Rome and arranged for his deification. Gordian's youth and good nature, along with the deaths of his grandfather and uncle and his own tragic fate at the hands of the enemy, earned him the lasting esteem of the Romans.Yurii P

Kings of Paeonia, PatraosAR Tetradrachm 340--315 B.C.

Obv. Laureate head of Apollo right, with short hair; a test cut in the fourth quadrant

Rev. Armed warrior on a horse prancing right, spearing a fallen enemy, who holds a shield and a spear(Pi)ATPAOY.

12.64 g., 25 mm. SG 1520. Slightly double-struck. EF
1 commentsLordBest

MAGNENTIUSAE centenionalis. Arelate, 350-351 AD. 4.84 grs. Bare-headed,draped and cuirassed bust rigtht. D N MAGNENTIVS P F AVG. A behind. / Magnentius on horseback galloping right,spearing enemy,broken spear and shield below horse. Star above. GLORIA ROMANORVM In exergue SAR.
RIC VIII 150 (var); Bastien 240/3.
CNG 99. Lot 166.benito

Magnentius RIC VII Lugdunum 115AE (21mm-4.47g)
obv. D N MAGNEN-TIVS P F AVG
bare headed, draped and cuirassed bust right, A left;
rev. GLORIA ROMANORVM
Magnentius riding right, spearing enemy, shield and broken spear on the ground,
ex. RSLG
Lugdunum mintHolgerG

Mark Antony Legionary Denarius LEG XIANT AVG III VIR R P C
galley r. mast with banners at prow

Rev LEG XI legionary eagle between two standards

Patrae mint 32-31BC

ex-Arcade Coins

An Antonian legion which was disbanded or lost its separate identity after the battle of Actium.

The two centurions Titus Pullo and Lucius Vorenus were from Legio XI (not XIII as the series Rome would have us believe). Pullo and Vorenus were fierce rivals for promotion to primus pilus, the most senior centurion in a legion. Both distinguished themselves in 54 BC when the Nervii attacked the legion under Quintus Cicero in their winter quarters in Nervian territory. In an effort to outdo Vorenus, Pullo charged out of the fortified camp and attacked the enemy, but was soon wounded and surrounded. Vorenus followed and engaged his attackers in hand-to-hand combat, killing one and driving the rest back, but lost his footing and was himself soon surrounded. Pullo in turn rescued Vorenus, and after killing several of the enemy, the pair returned to camp amid applause from their comrades.

In the Civil War of 49 BC, Pullo was assigned to the XXIV Victrix Rapax, a new Italian legion commanded by the legate Gaius Antonius. In 48 BC, Antonius was blockaded on an island and forced to surrender. Pullo was apparently responsible for most of his soldiers switching sides to fight for Pompey. Later that year, he is recorded bravely defending Pompey's camp in Greece from Caesar's attack shortly before the Battle of Pharsalus.

Jay GT4

Maximinus II, AE Follis, Aquileia mint, (305-306 AD)Roman Imperial, Maximinus II, AE Follis, Aquileia mint, (305-306 AD)

Obverse: MAXIMINVS NOB CAES, Laureate, helmeted, cuirassed bust left, holding sceptre over right shoulder and decorated shield on left arm.

Reverse: VIRTVS AVGG ET CAESS NN, Prince on horseback, shield on left arm, galloping right and spearing kneeling enemy, second enemy prostrate on ground. Mintmark AQ

Reference: RIC 68b; Sear IV 14778
Gil-galad

Maximus / PrincepsMaximus (Caesar, 235/6-238). AR Denarius Rome mint, 236-7.
O: MAXIMVS CAES GERM; Bareheaded and draped bust right
R: PRINC IVVENTVTIS; Maximus standing left, holding baton and spear; two signa to right
- RIC IV 3; RSC 10

Gaius Julius Verus Maximus (Maximvs Caesar) was the son of Maximinus I Thrax. Maximus was most likely given the rank of Caesar at the same time or shortly after his father assumed the rank of Augustus. He was reportedly a very handsome youth. Maximvs Caesar was loyal to his father and remained by his side during his campaign on the Danube. He was also present at the disastrous siege of Aquileia in 238 AD.

After the revolt of Gordian I and Gordian II and ascension of Balbinus and Pupienus, Maximinus and Maximus marched on Rome. They first reached the city of Aquileia, expecting an easy victory as the city's walls had long been in disrepair. However, under the leadership of senators Rutilius Pudens Crispinus and Tullus Menophilus, the walls had been repaired and the city rallied to defend itself in a siege. The Aquileians had plenty of food and good morale.

According to Herodian of Antioch, "The army of Maximinus grew depressed and, cheated in its expectations, fell into despair when the soldiers found that those whom they had not expected to hold out against a single assault were not only offering stout resistance but were even beating them back. The Aquileians, on the other hand, were greatly encouraged and highly enthusiastic, and, as the battle continued, their skill and daring increased. Contemptuous of the soldiers now, they hurled taunts at them. As Maximinus rode about, they shouted insults and indecent blasphemies at him and his son. The emperor became increasingly angry because he was powerless to retaliate. Unable to vent his wrath upon the enemy, he was enraged at most of his troop commanders because they were pressing the siege in cowardly and halfhearted fashion. Consequently, the hatred of his supporters increased, and his enemies grew more contemptuous of him each day."

Condemned by the Senate, Maximus and his father were murdered by their own troops just outside Aquileia on June 24th, 238 AD.2 commentsNemonater

Mount error, 147 Constantius II. (324-337 A.D. Caesar, 337-361 A.D. Augustus), Thessalonica, RIC VIII 189, AE-3 Follis, A/-//SMTS, FELTEMP REPARATIO, Soldier spearing falling enemy, Error-coin!, #1Mount error, 147 Constantius II. (324-337 A.D. Caesar, 337-361 A.D. Augustus), Thessalonica, RIC VIII 189, AE-3 Follis, A/-//SMTS, FELTEMP REPARATIO, Soldier spearing falling enemy, Error-coin!, #1
avers: D N CONSTAN TIVS P F AVG, Pearl-diademed, draped, and cuirassed bust right.
rever: FEL TEMP REPARATIO, Soldier spearing falling enemy horseman who wears a Phrygian helmet and is reaching backward, shield on the ground to right.
exergue: A/-//SMTS, diameter: 17,0-19,0mm, weight: 2,77g, axis: 11h,
mint: Thessalonica, date: A.D.,
ref: RIC VIII Thessalonica 189., p-419,
Q-0011 commentsquadrans

Nicomedia, RIC VIII 084, 147 Constantius II. (324-337 A.D. Caesar, 337-361 A.D. Augustus), AE-2 Follis, Γ/-//SMNA, FELTEMP REPARATIO, Soldier spearing falling enemy, #1Nicomedia, RIC VIII 084, 147 Constantius II. (324-337 A.D. Caesar, 337-361 A.D. Augustus), AE-2 Follis, Γ/-//SMNA, FELTEMP REPARATIO, Soldier spearing falling enemy, #1
avers: D N CONSTAN-TIVS P F AVG, (Cs1, D3), Pearl-diademed, draped and cuirassed bust right.
reverse: FEL TEMP RE-PARATIO, Soldier spearing falling enemy horseman who wears a Phrygian helmet and is reaching backward; shield on the ground to right.
exergue: Γ/-//SMNA, diameter: 21,5-24,0mm, weight: 5,11g, axis: 0h,
mint: Nicomedia, date: 351-355 A.D.,
ref: RIC VIII 084, p-478,
Q-0011 commentsquadrans

Nicomedia, RIC VIII 084, 147 Constantius II. (324-337 A.D. Caesar, 337-361 A.D. Augustus), AE-2 Follis, Γ/-//SMNA, FELTEMP REPARATIO, Soldier spearing falling enemy, #2Nicomedia, RIC VIII 084, 147 Constantius II. (324-337 A.D. Caesar, 337-361 A.D. Augustus), AE-2 Follis, Γ/-//SMNA, FELTEMP REPARATIO, Soldier spearing falling enemy, #2
avers: D N CONSTAN-TIVS P F AVG, (Cs1, D3), Pearl-diademed, draped and cuirassed bust right.
reverse: FEL TEMP RE-PARATIO, Soldier spearing falling enemy horseman who wears a Phrygian helmet and is reaching backwards; shield on the ground to right.
exergue: Γ/-//SMNA, diameter: 21,0-22,5mm, weight: 4,70g, axis: 0h,
mint: Nicomedia, date: 351-355 A.D.,
ref: RIC VIII 084, p-478,
Q-002quadrans

Probus - Virtus ProbiIMP CM AVR PROBVS PF AVG
Bust type G, left, helmetted, cuirassed, spear left, shield right
VIRTVS PROBI AVG
Virtus/Probus on horseback, right, spearing fallen enemy, shield beneath
Ex. KAdotAdot
Serdica, 1st officina
RIC 877, unlisted, this officina not listed with this bust type or obverse legend 1 commentswhitetd49

RIC 880Antoninianus
Serdica Mint, 2nd officina, 276 AD
Obv. Diad & dr bust r, IMP C M AVR PROBVS PF AVG round
Rev. Emperor riding r, horse trampling enemy, VIRTVS PROBI AVG round, KAB in ex.
3.3 gm, 23 mm

RIC 885uc2Not listed in RIC, close to RIC 885, Nº 2; Serdica. Bust type G variant. Denomination: Antoninianus.
Obverse legend not listed in RIC; legends of type BONO not listed with this reverse.

OBV.: BONO IMP PROBO INVICT AVG
Radiate, helmeted, cuirassed bust left, holding spear and buckler.
REV.: VIRTVS PROBI AVG
Emperor galloping right, riding down enemy, whose shield lies beneath horse.

Mintmark: // KA•Î”•

Weight: 3.64 g.
Die axis: ?
Diameter: 23 mm.vrtsprb

Roman Empire, Constantius II. (324-337 A.D. Caesar, 337-361 A.D. Augustus), Nicomedia, RIC VIII 084, AE-2 Follis, Γ/-//SMNA, FELTEMP REPARATIO, Soldier spearing falling enemy,147 Constantius-II. (324-337 A.D. Caesar, 337-361 A.D. Augustus), Nicomedia, RIC VIII 084, AE-2 Follis, Γ/-//SMNA, FELTEMP REPARATIO, Soldier spearing falling enemy,
avers:- DN-CONSTAN-TIVS-PF-AVG, Cs1, D3, Pearl-diademed, draped and cuirassed bust right.
rever:- FEL-TEMP-RE-PARATIO, Soldier spearing falling enemy horseman who wears Phrygian helmet and is reaching backwards; shield on ground to right .
exergo: Γ/-//SMNA, diameter: 21,5-24mm, weight: 5,11g, axis: 6h,
mint: Nicomedia, date: 351-55 A.D., ref: RIC-VIII-084, p-478,
Q-0014 commentsquadrans

Roman Empire, MAGNENTIUSAE centenionalis. Arelate, 350-351 AD. 4.84 grs. Bare-headed,draped and cuirassed bust rigtht. D N MAGNENTIVS P F AVG. A behind. / Magnentius on horseback galloping right,spearing enemy,broken spear and shield below horse. Star above. GLORIA ROMANORVM In exergue SAR.
Not in RIC,Cohen,BMC.3 commentsbenito

Roman Empire, Magnentius, The horseman attack the soldierAE centenionalis
Ares
350-351 AD.
22mm
Bare-headed,draped and cuirassed bust rigtht. D N MAGNEN TIVS PF AVG. A behind. / Magnentius on horseback galloping right,spearing enemy,broken spear and shield below horse. Star above. GLORIA ROMANORVM
In exergue SAR[dot]
Not in RIC,Cohen,BMC.
Ex lucernae 20144 commentsXLi

Roman Empire, Probus (276-282 A.D.), AE-Antoninianus, RIC V-II 877, Serdica, VIRTVS PROBI AVG, Bust-G, -/-//KA•Γ•, Emperor riding right, #1112 Probus (276-282 A.D.), AE-Antoninianus, RIC V-II 877, Serdica, VIRTVS PROBI AVG, Bust-G, -/-//KA•Î“•, Emperor riding right, #1
avers:- IMP-C-M-AVR-PROBVS-P-F-AVG, Radiate, cuirassed bust right, seen from front. (G)
revers:- VIRTVS-PROBI-AVG, Emperor riding right, spearing enemy, shield beneth the horse.
exergo: -/-//KA•Î“•, no exergual line, diameter: 22-22,5mm, weight: 3,66g, axes:5h,
mint: Serdica 4ht emission, date: 277 A.D.,(80-81 A.D.), ref: RIC-V-II-877, p-113,
Q-001quadrans

Roman Empire, Probus (276-282 A.D.), AE-Antoninianus, RIC V-II 878, Serdica, VIRTVS PROBI AVG, Bust-G, -/-//KAB, Emperor riding right,112 Probus (276-282 A.D.), AE-Antoninianus, RIC V-II 878, Serdica, VIRTVS PROBI AVG, Bust-G, -/-//KAB, Emperor riding right,
avers:- IMP-C-M-AVR-PROBVS-AVG, Radiate, helmeted, cuirassed bust left, holding spear and shield. (G)
revers:- VIRTVS-PROBI-AVG, Emperor riding right, spearing enemy, shield beneth the horse.
exergo: KA B , diameter: 23,5mm, weight: 3,85g, axes:0 h,
mint: Serdica 4ht emission, date: 277 A.D.,(80-81 A.D.), ref: RIC-V-II-878, p-114,
Q-001quadrans

Roman Empire, Probus (276-282 A.D.), AE-Antoninianus, RIC V-II 878, Serdica, VIRTVS PROBI AVG, Bust-G, -/-//KA•Δ•, Emperor riding right, #1112 Probus (276-282 A.D.), AE-Antoninianus, RIC V-II 878, Serdica, VIRTVS PROBI AVG, Bust-G, -/-//KA•A•, Emperor riding right, #1
avers:- IMP-C-M-AVR-PROBVS-AVG, Radiate, helmeted, cuirassed bust left, holding spear and shield. (G)
revers:- VIRTVS-PROBI-AVG, Emperor riding right, spearing enemy, shield beneth the horse.
exergo:-/-//KA•A•, diameter: 23,5mm, weight: 3,85g, axes:1h
mint: Serdica 4ht emission, date: 277 A.D., ref: RIC-V-II-878, p-114,
Q-001

1 commentsquadrans

Salah ad-Din Yusuf Ibn AyyubHis name in Arabic, in full, is SALAH AD-DIN YUSUF IBN AYYUB ("Righteousness of the Faith, Joseph, Son of Job"), also called AL-MALIK AN-NASIR SALAH AD-DIN YUSUF I (b. 1137/38, Tikrit, Mesopotamia--d. March 4, 1193, Damascus), Muslim sultan of Egypt, Syria, Yemen, and Palestine, founder of the Ayyubid dynasty, and the most famous of Muslim heroes.

In wars against the Christian crusaders, he achieved final success with the disciplined capture of Jerusalem (Oct. 2, 1187), ending its 88-year occupation by the Franks. The great Christian counterattack of the Third Crusade was then stalemated by Saladin's military genius.

Saladin was born into a prominent Kurdish family. On the night of his birth, his father, Najm ad-Din Ayyub, gathered his family and moved to Aleppo, there entering the service of 'Imad ad-Din Zangi ibn Aq Sonqur, the powerful Turkish governor in northern Syria. Growing up in Ba'lbek and Damascus, Saladin was apparently an undistinguished youth, with a greater taste for religious studies than military training.

His formal career began when he joined the staff of his uncle Asad ad-Din Shirkuh, an important military commander under the amir Nureddin, son and successor of Zangi. During three military expeditions led by Shirkuh into Egypt to prevent its falling to the Latin-Christian (Frankish) rulers of the states established by the First Crusade, a complex, three-way struggle developed between Amalric I, the Latin king of Jerusalem, Shawar, the powerful vizier of the Egyptian Fatimid caliph, and Shirkuh. After Shirkuh's death and after ordering Shawar's assassination, Saladin, in 1169 at the age of 31, was appointed both commander of the Syrian troops and vizier of Egypt.

His relatively quick rise to power must be attributed not only to the clannish nepotism of his Kurdish family but also to his own emerging talents. As vizier of Egypt, he received the title king (malik), although he was generally known as the sultan. Saladin's position was further enhanced when, in 1171, he abolished the Shi'i Fatimid caliphate, proclaimed a return to Sunnah in Egypt, and consequently became its sole ruler.

Although he remained for a time theoretically a vassal of Nureddin, that relationship ended with the Syrian emir's death in 1174. Using his rich agricultural possessions in Egypt as a financial base, Saladin soon moved into Syria with a small but strictly disciplined army to claim the regency on behalf of the young son of his former suzerain.
Soon, however, he abandoned this claim, and from 1174 until 1186 he zealously pursued a goal of uniting, under his own standard, all the Muslim territories of Syria, northern Mesopotamia, Palestine, and Egypt.

This he accomplished by skillful diplomacy backed when necessary by the swift and resolute use of military force. Gradually, his reputation grew as a generous and virtuous but firm ruler, devoid of pretense, licentiousness, and cruelty. In contrast to the bitter dissension and intense rivalry that had up to then hampered the Muslims in their resistance to the crusaders, Saladin's singleness of purpose induced them to rearm both physically and spiritually.

Saladin's every act was inspired by an intense and unwavering devotion to the idea of jihad ("holy war")-the Muslim equivalent of the Christian crusade. It was an essential part of his policy to encourage the growth and spread of Muslim religious institutions.

He courted its scholars and preachers, founded colleges and mosques for their use, and commissioned them to write edifying works especially on the jihad itself. Through moral regeneration, which was a genuine part of his own way of life, he tried to re-create in his own realm some of the same zeal and enthusiasm that had proved so valuable to the first generations of Muslims when, five centuries before, they had conquered half the known world.

Saladin also succeeded in turning the military balance of power in his favour-more by uniting and disciplining a great number of unruly forces than by employing new or improved military techniques. When at last, in 1187, he was able to throw his full strength into the struggle with the Latin crusader kingdoms, his armies were their equals. On July 4, 1187, aided by his own military good sense and by a phenomenal lack of it on the part of his enemy, Saladin trapped and destroyed in one blow an exhausted and thirst-crazed army of crusaders at Hattin, near Tiberias in northern Palestine.

So great were the losses in the ranks of the crusaders in this one battle that the Muslims were quickly able to overrun nearly the entire Kingdom of Jerusalem. Acre, Toron, Beirut, Sidon, Nazareth, Caesarea, Nabulus, Jaffa (Yafo), and Ascalon (Ashqelon) fell within three months.

But Saladin's crowning achievement and the most disastrous blow to the whole crusading movement came on Oct. 2, 1187, when Jerusalem, holy to both Muslim and Christian alike, surrendered to the Sultan's army after 88 years in the hands of the Franks. In stark contrast to the city's conquest by the Christians, when blood flowed freely during the barbaric slaughter of its inhabitants, the Muslim reconquest was marked by the civilized and courteous behaviour of Saladin and his troops. His sudden success, which in 1189 saw the crusaders reduced to the occupation of only three cities, was, however, marred by his failure to capture Tyre, an almost impregnable coastal fortress to which the scattered Christian survivors of the recent battles flocked. It was to be the rallying point of the Latin counterattack.

Most probably, Saladin did not anticipate the European reaction to his capture of Jerusalem, an event that deeply shocked the West and to which it responded with a new call for a crusade. In addition to many great nobles and famous knights, this crusade, the third, brought the kings of three countries into the struggle.

The magnitude of the Christian effort and the lasting impression it made on contemporaries gave the name of Saladin, as their gallant and chivalrous enemy, an added lustre that his military victories alone could never confer on him.

The Crusade itself was long and exhausting, and, despite the obvious, though at times impulsive, military genius of Richard I the Lion-Heart, it achieved almost nothing. Therein lies the greatest-but often unrecognized--achievement of Saladin. With tired and unwilling feudal levies, committed to fight only a limited season each year, his indomitable will enabled him to fight the greatest champions of Christendom to a draw. The crusaders retained little more than a precarious foothold on the Levantine coast, and when King Richard set sail from the Orient in October 1192, the battle was over.

Saladin withdrew to his capital at Damascus. Soon, the long campaigning seasons and the endless hours in the saddle caught up with him, and he died. While his relatives were already scrambling for pieces of the empire, his friends found that the most powerful and most generous ruler in the Muslim world had not left enough money to pay for his own grave.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
H.A.R. Gibb, "The Arabic Sources for the Life of Saladin," Speculum, 25:58-72 (1950). C.W. Wilson's English translation of one of the most important Arabic works, The Life of Saladin (1897), was reprinted in 1971. The best biography to date is Stanley Lane-Poole, Saladin and the Fall of the Kingdom of Jerusalem, new ed. (1926, reprinted 1964), although it does not take account of all the sources.
See: http://stp.ling.uu.se/~kamalk/language/saladin.html

Edited by J. P. Fitzgerald, Jr.
Cleisthenes

Septimius Severus, 9 April 193 - 4 February 211 A.D.Silver denarius, RIC 119A, aVF, Rome mint, 2.185g, 16.7mm, 0o, 197 - 198 A.D.; obverse L SEPT SEV PERT AVG IMP X, laureate head right; reverse SALVTI AVGG, Salus seated left, with patera in right hand feeding snake coiled around altar; scarce;

Septimius Severus, a native of Leptis Magna, Africa was proclaimed emperor by his troops after the murder of Pertinax. He is at the same time credited with strengthening and reviving an empire facing imminent decline and, through the same policies that saved it, causing its eventual fall. Severus eliminated the dangerous praetorians, unified the empire after turmoil and civil war, strengthened the army, defeated Rome`s most powerful enemy, and founded a successful dynasty. His pay increases for the army, however, established a severe burden on Rome. Future emperors were expected to increase pay as well. These raises resulted in ever-increasing taxes that damaged the economy. Some historians believe high taxes, initiated by Severus polcwonsidler

Septimius Severus, 9 April 193 - 4 February 211 A.D.Silver denarius, RIC 241, RSC 542, gVF, Rome mint, AD 210; Obverse: SEVERVS PIVS AVG BRIT, Laureate head right; Reverse: P M TR P XVIII COS III P P, Neptune standing left, holding trident dolphin, foot on globe. Ex Maridvnvm.

Septimius Severus

His health fading and weak from gout, Severus would set out one last time on military campaign. This time it was Britain which demanded the emperor's attention. The Antonine Wall had never really acted as a perfectly successful barrier to the troublesome barbarians to the north of it. By this time it had in fact been virtually abandoned, leaving the British provinces vulnerable to attack from the north. In AD 208 Severus left for Britain with his two quarrelsome sons. Large military campaigns now drove deep into Scotland but didn't really manage to create any lasting solution to the problem.

Lucius Septimius Severus died at York, England, 4 February, 211.

Throughout his reign Severus was one of the outstanding imperial builders. He restored a very large number of ancient buildings - and inscribed on them his own name, as though he had erected them. His home town Lepcis Magna benefited in particular. But most of all the famous Triumphal Arch of Severus at the Forum of Rome bears witness to his reign.
(http://www.roman-empire.net/index.html)

Septimius Severus, a native of Leptis Magna, Africa was proclaimed emperor by his troops after the murder of Pertinax. He is at the same time credited with strengthening and reviving an empire facing imminent decline and, through the same policies that saved it, causing its eventual fall. Severus eliminated the dangerous praetorians, unified the empire after turmoil and civil war, strengthened the army, defeated Rome's most powerful enemy, and founded a successful dynasty. His pay increases for the army, however, established a severe burden on Rome. Future emperors were expected to increase pay as well. These raises resulted in ever-increasing taxes that damaged the economy. Some historians believe high taxes, initiated by Severus policies, played a significant role in Rome's long-term decline. . . (Joseph Sermarini).

Severus had clear political vision, still he cared nothing for the interests of Rome and Italy. He nourished within himself the Punic hatred of the Roman spirit and instinct and furthered the provincials in every way. He was revengeful and cruel towards his opponents, and was influenced by a blindly superstitious belief in his destiny as written in the stars. With iron will he labored to reorganize the Roman Empire on the model of an Oriental despotism. . .

Severus rested his power mainly upon the legions of barbarian troops; he immortalized them upon the coinage, granted them, besides large gifts of money and the right of marriage, a great number of privileges in the military and civil service, so that gradually the races living on the borders were able to force Rome to do their will. . .

During the reign of Severus the fifth persecution of the Christians broke out. He forbade conversion to Judaism and to Christianity. The persecution raged especially in Syria and Africa.
Written by Karl Hoeber. Transcribed by Joseph E. O'Connor.
The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume XIII. Published 1912. New York: Robert Appleton Company.

Edited by J. P. Fitzgerald, Jr.
Cleisthenes

Sirmium, RIC VIII 044, 147 Constantius II. (324-337 A.D. Caesar, 337-361 A.D. Augustus), AE-2 Follis, Δ/-//--, •S•/-/A//ASIRM, FEL TEMP REPARATIO, Soldier spearing falling enemy, #1Sirmium, RIC VIII 044, 147 Constantius II. (324-337 A.D. Caesar, 337-361 A.D. Augustus), AE-2 Follis, Δ/-//--, •S•/-/A//ASIRM, FEL TEMP REPARATIO, Soldier spearing falling enemy, #1
avers: D N CONSTAN TIVS P F AVG, Cs1, D3, Pearl-diademed, draped and cuirassed bust right, "Δ" behind the bust.
reverse: FEL TEMP REPARATIO, soldier standing left, knee raised, spearing a fallen horseman who is bare-headed. "•S•" in left field, "A" beneath horse.
exergue: Δ/-//--, •S•/-/A//ASIRM, diameter: 20,5-21,5mm, weight: 4,47g, axis:0h,
mint: Sirmium, 2nd. series(Δ behind the bust), date: 351-53 A.D., ref: RIC VIII 044, p-387,
Q-0012 commentsquadrans

Sirmium, RIC VIII 052, 147 Constantius II. (324-337 A.D. Caesar, 337-361 A.D. Augustus), AE-3 Follis, -/-//BSIRM•, FEL TEMP REPARATIO, Soldier spearing falling enemy, #2Sirmium, RIC VIII 052, 147 Constantius II. (324-337 A.D. Caesar, 337-361 A.D. Augustus), AE-3 Follis, -/-//BSIRM•, FEL TEMP REPARATIO, Soldier spearing falling enemy, #2
avers: D N CONSTAN TIVS P F AVG, Cs1, D3, Pearl-diademed, draped and cuirassed bust right.
reverse: FEL TEMP REPARATIO, Helmeted soldier, shield on left arm, spearing falling horseman, shield on the ground at right, (reaching type).
exergue: -/-//BSIRM•, diameter: 17,0-18,3mm, weight:2,33g, axis:6h,
mint: Sirmium, date: 351-53 A.D., ref: RIC VIII 052, p-388,
Q-0021 commentsquadrans

Sirmium, RIC VIII 052, 147 Constantius II. (324-337 A.D. Caesar, 337-361 A.D. Augustus), AE-3 Follis, -/-//BSIRM•, FEL TEMP REPARATIO, Soldier spearing falling enemy, #1Sirmium, RIC VIII 052, 147 Constantius II. (324-337 A.D. Caesar, 337-361 A.D. Augustus), AE-3 Follis, -/-//BSIRM•, FEL TEMP REPARATIO, Soldier spearing falling enemy, #1
avers: D N CONSTAN TIVS P F AVG, Cs1, D3, Pearl-diademed, draped and cuirassed bust right.
reverse: FEL TEMP REPARATIO, Helmeted soldier, shield on left arm, spearing falling horseman, shield on the ground at right, (reaching type).
exergue: -/-//BSIRM•, diameter: 16,5mm, weight:2,66g, axis:7h,
mint: Sirmium, date: 351-53 A.D., ref: RIC VIII 052, p-388,
Q-001quadrans

Siscia, RIC VIII 350, 147 Constantius II. (324-337 A.D. Caesar, 337-361 A.D. Augustus), AE-3 Follis, -/-//ASIS, FEL TEMP REPARATIO, Soldier spearing falling enemy,Siscia, RIC VIII 350, 147 Constantius II. (324-337 A.D. Caesar, 337-361 A.D. Augustus), AE-3 Follis, -/-//ASIS, FEL TEMP REPARATIO, Soldier spearing falling enemy,
avers: D N CONSTAN TIVS P F AVG, Cs1, D3, Pearl-diademed, draped and cuirassed bust right.
reverse: FEL TEMP REPARATIO, Soldier spearing falling enemy horseman who wears the Phrygian helmet and is reaching backward; shield on ground to right.
exergue: -/-//ASIS, diameter: 19mm, weight: 2,59g, axis: 0h,
mint: Siscia, date: 351-55 A.D., ref: RIC-VIII-350, p-375,
Q-001quadrans

SOLD! Probus AntoninianusIMP CM AVR PROBVS P AVG
Radiate and cuirassed bust of Probus right

VIRTVS PROBI AVG - KAΓ in exergue
Emperor on horseback trampling enemy, a shield in left hand, spear in right. A shield on the ground under the horse.

Bust type B

Serdica mint, 280-281 AD
4th emission, 3rd officina

3.92g

RIC 880 (C).

EF with wonderful smooth dark brown/black glossy patina. Even nicer in hand.

Ex-Calgary Coin; Ex-George W. La Borde collection

Published on Probuscoins.fr
16 commentsJay GT4

Struck A.D.276 - 282. PROBUS. Silvered AE Antoninianus of Serdica. Obverse: IMP C M AVR PROBVS AVG. Helmeted, radiate and cuirassed bust of Probus facing left, holding spear over shoulder in his right hand and shield in his left.
Reverse: VIRTVS PROBI AVG. Probus galloping right spearing enemy, shield below horse; in exergue, KA•Δ•.
Diameter: 23mm | Weight: 3.6gms | Die Axis: 6
RIC V ii : 878*Alex

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