Yesterday i received this nice follis of Licinius I, struck in Aquileia.
Very nice - I was one of the under bidders!
It is very interesting as it has a IX monogram on the reverse, corresponding to the Greek letters for 'Iesous Christos'.
The symbol is a lesser known Christian symbol compared to the , but Christian nonetheless. And the coin was struck only ~8 years after Constantines conversion (or so it is claimed) to Christianity!
I'm pretty sure this is meant either as, or alluding to, the
Chi-Rho, not Iota-Rho. Note the blob at the top of the "I" - much more prominent at some mints than others. There is also a
rare variant from
Siscia where it is an actual
Chi-Rho.
Moreover, Licinius was never a confirmed Christian, although he did support them and co-authored the Edict of Milan.
I don't think this should be read as making any kind of statement about Licinius, any more than
Constantine appearing on Licinius' coinage juxtaposed with
Jupiter is making any statement about
Constantine. Both emperors recognized each other and so the normal pattern is for them to include each other on the coins they issued.
Constantine's use of the
CHi-Rho here is just a reflection of
Constantine's religious direction (and it's certainly not just
part of the issue mark, as
Ticinum makes clear).
However, i noticed that my coin deviates from the literature reference (RIC 59), as the standard in the middle reads 'VOT X' instead of 'VOT XX'.
Yes, and interesting that it's from same
reverse die as the
London Coin Galleries specimen, but a different
obverse die. The use of the
Chi-Rho on this
type was coordinated across four mints, and this is the only die I'm aware of from any
mint where we see it paired with "
VOT X" rather than "
VOT XX", so I'd regard it as an error. It is useful in confirming the sequencing.