My Valentinian II

I have no idea what the T means but it shows up when Gratian died. My Arcadius has the two change sides. RIC does not say 'why' but makes the comment that the symbols it replaced (theta, phi, kappa) are not understood.

 

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Didn't Constantine I abolish crucifixion as a means of execution? He still killed people but did not allow them the honor of dying in the manner of Christ.

 

hu, i didn't know that...interesting.

http://www.slate.com/articles/healt...ethod_when_did_we_stop_crucifying_people.html

 

He and Valentinian II were brothers. Interesting.

 

They were half brothers and, I believe more importantly, on opposite sides of the Christian controversy. Gratian was an Orthodox Christian but the young (4?) Valentinian's mother and the generals who supported him were Arian. At that time the two sects were harder on each other than they were on Pagans. It is also said that Gratian was not considered much of a military man but I tend to suspect that the generals involved saw a path to rule through the young kid. Gratian promoted the capable and Orthodox Christian Theodosius I and effectively ended the future for Arians as emperor. In the next century, several of the strongmen were Arian but ruled through Orthodox puppets. I have not studied the fine points of this time in history but warn you need to read with a view on the religious beliefs of the writer. It is not easy to find fair assessments of character or ability when going across the Arian/Orthodox divide.

 

Let's do this. Just for the heck of it, let's say the large T represents the cross for the Valentinian sect, and the small t represents the cross for the Gratian sect. These were co-rulers of the Empire, and the crosses started on the first, and switched to opposite sides on the second. These were opposite sects. I wonder if the opposite positions of the crosses holds for all coins of each ruler.

 

Well, there is a bit of homework for you. My head hurts

 

Wow, what a fantastic time to stumble across this amazingly interesting thread (thanks for the historic info => very, very interesting)

... ummm, but the Mods have given me a heads-up that we'd better keep this thread movin' along, so here we go ...

Gratian




Valentian-I (*my very first ancient coin purchase*)



Okay, ya caught me ... I merely wanted to post a couple of coin-examples (I hope that you coiners are having a sweet Good Friday morning!!)

Cheers

Yah, I am on the hook for cooking Easter dinner "tonight" (bird, with all of the fancy trimmings, etc, etc) ... gawd, I'd better pour myself a drink and get ready, eh?!

good times

 

Ah, I'm not that accomplished. Neither am I really a collector of these interesting coins. At least, not yet. I'd just like to know from those of us who are whether they have other examples from these two rulers so as to enable us to determine whether these opposite positions of the "crosses" holds from one series of coin to the other.

PS: Take two Excedrine for that migraine.

 

Interesting, Steve, that your Gratian doesn't show the "crosses." Are you sure that's him? Oh, lol, just joking, I'm sure you are. Your Val I shouldn't show the crosses. That is to say, if Doug is right, and they first appeared on Gratian. Thanks for showing.