Magnentius - Usurper Amidst The Constantines

Now I have to have one….

 

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That's how it goes isn't it?

 

Mine's a common two Victories type but it's one of the few coins I have from the Arles mint.


Magnentius, AD 350-353.
Roman billon heavy maiorina, 4.68 g, 20.1 mm, 6h.
Arles, AD 352.
Obv: D N MAGNEN-TIVS P F AVG, bare-headed, draped and cuirassed bust; A behind.
Rev: VICTORIAE DD NN AVG ET CAE, two Victories holding wreath inscribed VOT/V/MVL/X and surmounted by chi-rho; I//PAR.
Refs: RIC viii, p. 217, 184; RCV 18823; LRBC II 441; Bastien 272.

 

Cool example @furryfrog02
I like very much how the dude had his hair combed : Ringo Starr's ancestor of some sort

Magnentius (Amiens and Trier) and Brother Decentius (Lyon)







Q

 

This one is 26 mm and from the Lyons mint :

I wish I had the same from Amiens...

A mint in Amiens means there must have been an important military concentration there and in the surroundings. And because we do not know for sure in what year Saint Martin was born, it is possible that the famous episode of the young Christian soldier garrisoning in Amiens and sharing his military cloak with a poor freezing wretch at the city gate happened under Magnentius. After all, Christianity was the official religion of the troops, as proclaimed by Magnentius coinage.

 

the A (alpha) and the W (omega) on the reverse may also have been a shot at Constantius II, who was an Arian. A and W is a reference to Revelations 22:13 "I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end." Constantius II as an Arian believed that Christ had a creation point, so did not always exist, versus the orthodox belief that he always existed- Alpha and Omega. So Magnentius may have been pointing out that Constantius II was a heretic.

 

Perhaps, although Constantius II (or his coin peeps) kept the alpha+omega on his "revolt of Poemicus" version of the type, so maybe the subtlety was lost on him if intended.

In any case, it's an interesting and bold declaration of Christian support by Magnentius, at a time when I'd have thought the army especially would still not have been majority Christian. I wonder how a non-Christian would have viewed a Chi-Rho at this date ?

 

Here's my Magnentius:

Magnentius, A.D. 350-353

AE Majorina, 24mm, 7.2 grams, 6H

Trier mint

Obverse: IM CAE MAGNENTIVS AVG
Bare-headed, draped, and cuirassed bust right

Reverse: FELICITAS REIPVBLICAE
Magnentius standing slightly left, head left, Victory on globe in right hand, labarum in left; A in right field //TRS, crescent in exergue

Reference: RIC VIII Trier 264

 

Magnentius evidentially took pains to portray himself differently from the the diadem wearing Constantinian clan, preferring to project a more traditional image as no-nonsense general vs eastern lord.

@ancient coin hunter FELICITAS REIPVBLICAE from Trier, above, shows this - gone are the Constantinian diadem and DN ("our lord" ) name prefix, replaced with the traditional IM(PERATOR) CAE(SAR) instead.

This change in image seems to have happened immediately at Trier, even on his initial FEL TEMP galley type, but at Lyons we initially see him with diadem + DN, as on this early Fel Temp type (RIC 108). He even looks like Constans or Constantius here - maybe one of the first coins to be issued since Lyons was close to Autun where he had usurped.



While he immediately dropped the diadem + DN at Trier, the initial FEL TEMP busts there seem a bit transitional, before going full hedgehog-head on the following FELICITAS REIPVBLICAE type.





Later Magnentius appears to have reconsidered, and reverted to use the DN legend, while continuing to reject the diadem.

 

@furryfrog02 . What's better than learning History from Numismatics. Thanks for sharing the coins and the interesting write-up.

 

Just caught up with this thread ... some really nice examples. This Magnentius type is not in great shape but it's the only one I've ever found, and not sure it's ever been shown here. Looks like its big brother but it's a "Half" Centenionalis from the Lugdunum mint. Size is only 18mm and 2.3gms. (Ref: RIC VIII - 125)

Obv: Cuirassed and draped bust right with A to left
Rev: Two Victories standing facing, holding shield inscribed with VOT/V/MVLT/X in four lines; SV//RPLG

 

Thank you for the analyses @Victor_Clark and @Heliodromus and I'm glad you like the coin @Ryro ! I had a difficult time imaging that coin - it always looked so much better in hand than in my picks - the dark chocolate patina and sharp detail. It found the right home to be sure.