While I have seen better in terms of surface condition, all of these are good strikes with full legends and are easily identifiable. These are the type coins I suggest for new collectors on a limited budget (obviously, those for whom money is no object can buy the perfect ones, the rarities and the gold). Persons new to ancients might want to see if they can ID these before Ripley posts the answers. It is not hard to find poor ancients that would be difficult to ID but these have all the detail needed to be 'easy'.
Cool additions Ripley. My new late ancient should be here friday/latest sat. It isnt a empress And its later then my Valentinian I.
Yep, bought these coins as a cheap lot of 4. Total price $14. Like DS said, they are easy to ID all the needed info is there. I like the reverses on these, each one tells a little story.
Ripley, you want a cool story? Look at your last coin. See how there is a Chi Rho in the standard? Also see how there is an Alpha and Omega in the fields? This is declaring the emperor is Christian, but also he is Orthodox and not Arian. Alpha and Omega refers to a track in the bible that Orthodox supported as to the nature of Christ. Lots of cool stuff going on in that reverse.
OK, having read that last post, what can you say about the religious beliefs of the men who issued these two coins. Warning: I am not above trick questions.
I would say both are trying to appeal to orthodox christian communities. Maybe I mispoke earlier, I meant that the reverse was designed to appeal to orthodox christians, maybe not that the emperor himself was orthodox. What I have read indicates the Alpha and Omega was specifically a orthodox reference, which was more popular in the west.
As I understand it, Valentinian was Orthodox, Constantius II was Arian and Magnentius was pagan. I can explain the Magnentius shown here but am interested in hearing theories on the Constantius.
Well as I understand these things. The Roman & Greek churches did not split up till around 1000 AD. So I guess its a universal appeal on the coin.
Long before the Greek/Roman schism, Christians of the 4th century were rioting against other Christians. Research Donatists and Arians just to name a couple disputes. Magnentius the pagan was more acceptable to Roman Christians than was Constantius the Arian.
Yeah DS, but remember Constantus was a butcher. He murdered everyone in his own family. Better a godless pagan than a psycopath.
I believe Constantius was pretty normal for his peer group and hardly a butcher by then current standards. He was successful. Killing relatives did not carry the stigma back then as it would today. A study of Roman and Byzantine history leaves one wanting for people that are easy to like. The one that is portrayed as 'nice' is Julian II but that may be a stretch. We often see fictional works involving travel in time. If you ever have the chance to time travel, I strongly suggest not choosing ancient Rome as a destination.
You are right on the Valentinian and Magentius. Valentinian was Orthodox, and Magnentius was specifically trying to appeal to orthodox Christians to the detriment of Constantine who was Arian. The Constantius II I would need to look further at, my first guess would be either the Emperor was tryign to appeal to orthodox Christians in a certain area, or it was the die engraver added the symbols himself. I have seen wolf and twin commemoratives with the Chi Rho and that is assumed to have been added by the engraver as opposed to a centrally dictated type. The Constantine family were more about power in my eyes than religious dogma, and it would not surprise me to learn Contantius II was playing to a certain sect of Christians to ensure his power. Do you think the Alpha and Omega has a different meaning Doug than what has historically been ascribed to it? Btw, see all the fun that little reverse can stir up?
I believe the Constantius was either an error or was used locally without the knowledge of Constantius. The coin is what is called a 'Poemenius' after a figure that was reported to have rebelled against Magnentius and handed over Trier to Constantius. What is known about him is beneath scanty but fully stated here: http://www.acsearch.info/record.html?id=12456 I will point out that the reference to Poemenius states that he was killed in the affair but you will find reference to that same name twenty years later as a cleric (after Orthodoxy was the norm). There may be no connection or it could be a son/relative. If we want to be most cautious in our pipe dreams it would be better to consider the type issued because it was what Magnentius was making the day before. The reverse legend does not match since the one used by Magnentius referred to his having a Caesar but Constantius ruled alone at that time so the Caesar part of the legend was deleted. When it comes to political interest of the period, these rare coins are on top of my list. Poemenius is a step more obscure than Vetranio and not all that different from Aureolus under Postumus except that his coins are much rarer. The study required to get full benefit from collecting ancient coins is not appealing to all but you really miss out if you just collect Twelve Caesars.
LOL Time travel DS ? Well we all are time traveling now. Only we go real slowwwwwwwww. Ya know if I could time travel I would go 5,000 years into the future, not the past. I would want to see how things turned out.
