Unlike at any other time in Roman history up until this point, following the death of Libius Severus there was no one to take his place in imperial succession. Ricimer was the powerful general in charge of the army and for over a year and a half he handled the administrative duties of the empire. Not that that changed anything. Ricimer had been the real power in the Western Empire for several years. Severus had
just been his charade of an emperor placed there to appease the Senate and the rest of the Roman world which expected a Roman leader (Ricimer himself being of barbarian descent).
However, Ricimer had no one else in mind as window dressing after Severus ' passing.
Still, appearances or no an emperor had to be formally named sooner or later. In the camp of Ricimer a Roman of barbarian sympathies,
Olybrius, had been proposed and it seemed as though he would be elevated. But out east
Leo I had had ample time to hear of the developments in
Rome. Being far more powerful politically and militarily, he decided to appoint a puppet of his own,
Anthemius, to
head the Western court. Deciding not to risk a civil war he could definitely not win, Ricimer stepped aside and welcomed
Anthemius.
But
Anthemius was no idle pretender. He had served Leo faithfully as a general and had won several key battles on his behalf. In fact, he was so popular over there that he was expected to be the one to succeed
Marcian. So Leo in effect rid himself of a future potential problem by both promoting
Anthemius and removing him from the spotlight.
But the new emperor was like a fish out of water. He lacked the resources to mount an effective campaign to regain Gaul or Spain and the whole of
Africa had now been decidedly lost to the Romans following the fiasco of the expedition led by
Basiliscus. He ruled for five uneasy years with Ricimer until tensions strained past the breaking point. Ricimer marched towards
Rome at the
head of a large army and laid siege to a weakened
Rome. As expected, the meager forces of
Anthemius gave way and the emperor was captured and executed.
Among the various Rome-based emperors left after the fall of
Valentinian III,
Anthemius will be the easiest for whom to find a coin. But don 't rush to your corner coin shop
just yet. He
comes in a really long distant second after
Valentinian III and will be an invariably
rare offering today. Among these the most common will be the
Solidus and
Tremissis which will easily cost over a thousand dollars a piece when available.
To make things a bit more interesting the official mints are now making gold coins of an artistic
style so crude that they often get confused with imitative
contemporary coins known to be made by the various tribes at the edges of the empire like the
Vandals and Ostrogoths. These apparently co-mingled with the official strikes back then as long as they were of appropriate
weight and purity and today sell for neither a premium nor a penalty on the market but simply make
attribution a bit more difficult.
Bronzes exist in an almost theoretical plane… such as catalog listings like in this book! The real-life chances of finding an honest-to-goodness, fully identifiable
Anthemius copper coin is about on a par with finding a Van Gogh at a yard sale.
Busts:
1) Diademed (pearls), draped and
cuirassed bust right
2) Diademed (rosettes), draped and
cuirassed bust right
3) Helmeted, diademed (pearls),
cuirassed bust facing, holding spear over shoulder and
shield 4) Helmeted, diademed (pearls), draped and
cuirassed bust facing, holding spear over shoulder
Obverses:
1) DN
ANTHEMIVS PE AVG
2) DN
ANTHEMIVS PERP AVG
3) DN
ANTHEMIVS PERPE AVG
4) DN
ANTHEMIVS PERPET AV
5) DN
ANTHEMIVS PERPET AVG
6) DN
ANTHEMIVS PERPETV AG
7) DN
ANTHEMIVS PERPETV AVG
8) DN
ANTHEMIVS PF AG
9) DN
ANTHEMIVS PF AVG
10) DN
PROC ANTHEMIVS PF AVG
Reverses:
1)
GLORIA REIPVBLICAE 2)
SALVS REIPVBLICAE
3)
VICTORIA AVGGG 4)
VRBIS ROMA 5) No
legend Types:
1)
Anthemius and
Leo I seated, facing, each holding
mappa and
scepter with crossed tip.
2)
Anthemius and
Leo I standing, facing each other, holding together
cross and each a globe.
3)
Anthemius and
Leo I standing, facing, together holding
cross and each a spear
4)
Anthemius and
Leo I standing, facing, together holding
cross on globe and each a spear.
5)
Anthemius and
Leo I standing, facing, together holding
cross on globe reading PAX; emperor on right hold
Victory on globe.
6)
Roma seated left, holding
Victory on globe and spear.
7)
Victory standing left, holding
cross.
8)
Wreath, Chi-Rho within.
9)
Wreath,
cross within
10)
Wreath,
cross within with pellets at each tip
11)
Wreath,
monogram within
Mints:
1) Mediolanum
2) Ravenna
3)
Roma
AU Solidus Reference(s) 1) B2, O10, R2, T03, M2 Exe: RV/COMOB
RIC X 2866
2) B3, O05, R2, T04, M1 Exe: MD/COMOB
RIC X 2890
3) B3, O08, R2, T04, M1 Exe: MD/COMOB
RIC X 2889
4) B3, O08, R2, T04, M2 Exe: `/COMOB
RIC X 2816
5) B3, O08, R2, T04, M3 Exe: `/CORMOB
6) B3, O08, R2, T05, M2 Exe: R/V/COMOB
RIC X 2872
7) B3, O10, R2, T03, M2 Exe: RV/COMOB
RIC X 2868
8) B4, O08, R2, T04, M3 Exe: RM over •/COMOB
RIC X 2831
AU Semissis 9) B2, O08, R2, T08 Exe:
COMOB RIC X 2837
AU Tremissis 10) B1, O08, R5, T09 Exe:
COMOB RIC X 2847
11) B1, O08, R5, T10 Exe:
COMOB RIC X 2852
12) B2, O08, R5, T09 Exe:
COMOB RIC X 2842
AE4 13) B1, O08, R5, T11
RIC X 2859
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