Gloria Exercitus G, M, I on standard

[Heliodromus]

I'm curious if anyone has read any theories, or has any themself, on what the G, M, I on these Gloria Exercitvs standards refer to?

After Constantine I's death in 337, his territory was divided up between his three sons Constantine II, Constans and Constantius II, and Gaul (mints of Trier, Lyons & Arles) was allocated to Constantine II.

During the period 337-340, Constantine II employed the letters S, Y & N as control marks, including (but not only) on the Gloria Exercitvs standard as follows:

Lyons S Y
Arles N

Then in 340, when Constantine II tried to invade Constans territory (Italy), he was killed for his trouble and Constans assumed control of Gaul. At this time, in 340 or shortly afterwards, Constans issued Gloria Exercitus type with G, M and I on the standard as shown here. These were used as follows:

Trier G M
Lyons I
Arles G M I

The usage suggests that either G & M are somehow related, or all three of G, M, I are, or maybe they are all independent.

Incidently, there is also a later odd series of letters (G, F, L, M, P, R) used as a mintmark prefix by Constantius II at Lyons in 355-360, of which RIC VIII Lyons notes the "M" may be related to use of M at Rome at that same time. However the earlier (S, Y, N) of Constantine II and (G, M, I) of Constans, as here, obviously have their own meaning at the time they were used.

Any theories on the meaning of G, M and I ?

Ben

[vic9128]

If these control marks mean anything it is liable to be something obscure. These were internal marks and were probably chosen by mint workers (maybe as high on the chain as a procurator monetae).They may even be as mundane as the initials of the engraver.

Another example of unknown control marks is the VLPP issue. Siscia has some with an S and I on the altar. It is not known what, if anything these letters stood for. It is tempting to think an S and I stood for Siscia, but Trier used letters also (P,R,C), which could not stand for Trier and seem (to me) to be completely random letters.

However as a possible wild guess (my Latin is poor) how about this for I G M:

(I)VST (G)LORIA (M)EMORIA

To his glorious memory

Just playing around though. I don’t think the marks stood for anything, or at least anything we can figure out; but it is always good (or fun) to try!

[Heliodromus]

Hi Victor,
I'm sure these arn't being used to convey any major message, but I can't imagine that a procurator monatae would allow low level mint workers so much leeway as to put their own initials on coins. I'd have to guess that they may have meant something to people on the street, whether mildly propagandistic, or merely some contemporary reference. It's tempting to try to interpret the SYN and GMI as something pertinant to Constantine II and Constans respectively.

Your guess is the type of thing I'm looking for, but the sole "I" at Lyons seems to require that "I" have some standalone meaning (which can maybe also be combined with G & M).

I think the VLPP marks are a bit easier to take decent guesses at. PR & C are from Ticinum rather than Trier, and occur on separate issues. The P & R come from an earlier Constantine-only issue, and C from the final issue which recognized all 5 members of the imperial rank. PR seems likely (mirroring the VOT PR of the type itself) to stand for Popvli Romanus, and given Constantine's love of his own name (naming his sons, daughters, two cities, etc after himself), I'd have to guess that "C" was chosen to please the boss!

Ben

[wolfgang336]

What about the legions' names under the respective Caesar? Makes sense considering they are battle standards. Perhaps the varying cities of the issues are locations at which the legions were stationed for a period?

Evan

[Heliodromus]

Hi Evan,
It seems quite plausible that these could be related to the legions - can you come up with any specifics that fit?

I guess it's possible that the themes of the letters under Constantine II and Constans are unrelated, although it seems more intuitive that they are.. if so, then the "Y" of Constantine II may be the easiest to attempt to guess, since it's not such a common letter.

Hope you had a great Christmas!

Ben

[wolfgang336]

Lemme see....

Seems the most reasonable for Constans would be Legion I II and III (all named Ivlia Alpine) stationed at the province of Alpes Cottriae for the letter I.

Legion VII Gemina was at Léon in France, and
Legion I Minerva was at Bonn.

Of course these weren't necessarily static. There was also a:

Legion II Italica Pia which had fought at Milvian Bridge which was turned into a mobile unit. Other possible fits are:

Legion X Gemina which was at Vienna, and:
Legion XIV Gemina which was in N. Bulgaria (was this Eastern Empire or Western by this point?)

Evan

[Heliodromus]

Hmm...interesting... thanks very much, Evan!

I guess that as victor Constans would have needed to recognize the valor of troops on both sides, so a combination of his own legions and those he'd been fighting (but now had control of) doesn't seem unreasonable.

Where did you get the information on the locations of the legions?

Ben

[wolfgang336]

All of my information came from the Livius site dealing with the Legions:

http://www.livius.org/le-lh/legio/legions.htm

Evan