AD CCCXII

AD 312 is an eventful one for Constantine the Great. On October 28 he defeats the usurper Maxentius at the Battle of Milvian Bridge, becoming the sole emperor of the West. During the battle, he experiences his vision of a cross, accompanied by the words in hoc signo vinces, in this sign you shall conquer. He adopts it as his motto, and has the letters XP (the first two letters of the Greek spelling of Christ) emblazoned on his soldiers’ shields. On October 29, he enters Rome in a grand adventus.


Triumphal entry of Constantine into Rome, 15th century wall painting,
Church of the Holy Cross, Platanistasa, Cyprus

Constantine forges an alliance with his co-emperor Licinius, offering Licinius his half-sister Constantia in marriage. The alliance would not last - eventually Constantine and Licinius would plunge the empire into a massive civil war. But when these coins were minted, Rome was temporarily at peace.

Even the most common of coins can reveal a wealth of history. Here are two minted in Heraclea, of the same series. Five officinae struck for each emperor. Coins from this series also exist for Maximinus II, issued from alpha and gamma officinae, but are quite scarce compared to their common cousins.


Constantine I, AD 312-337
AE Follis, 22mm, 3.1g, 6h; Heraclea mint, AD 312.
Obv.: IMP C FL VAL CONSTANTINVS PF AVG; Laureate head right.
Rev.: IOVI CONSER-VATORI AVGG; Jupiter stg. facing, head l., chlamys hanging from l. shoulder, r. holding Victory on globe, l. leaning on scepter; eagle with wreath in beak at feet to l. In right field B // SMHT
Reference: RIC VI Heraclea 75, p. 541



Licinius I, AD 308-324
AE Follis, 22mm, 3.1g, 6h; Heraclea mint, AD 312
Obv.: IMP C VAL LICIN LICINIVS PF AVG; Laureate head right.
Rev.: IOVI CONSER-VATORI AVGG; Jupiter stg. facing, head l., chlamys hanging from l. shoulder, r. holding Victory on globe, l. leaning on scepter; eagle with wreath in beak at feet to l. In right field Δ // SMHT
Reference: RIC VI Heraclea 73, p. 541

 

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The reverses of both coins are outstanding JA, but especially the Constantine.

 

Very nice John!

 

I was having a discussion with a friend about so-called common and boring coins. My point is that if you look a bit deeper, there is almost always something interesting to be found in the history and numismatics of an issue.

 

On an interesting note, Constantine pardoned Licinius after defeating him, as his sister (Licinius' wife) begged for mercy, and Constantine made a big deal about a Christian Emperor being merciful. Then when people were not looking, he sent a hit squad to murder his brother in law and his nephew, who was just a boy. Apparently Christian mercy in the ancient world only bought you a temporary reprieve from being strangled to death.

 

I hope you are not implying all Christians back then were like that.

 

I have no idea what Christians were like 1,700 years ago. I doubt anyone alive today can really say they know what ancient Christians were truly like. All I can say for sure is that one particular ancient Christian Emperor murdered his brother in law and nephew after pardoning them and making a huge deal about his Christian piety in the process. Outside of stating that historical fact, I make no particular judgments on anyone or any group of people alive 18 centuries ago.

 

Except he wasn't technically a Christian at the time, he wasn't baptized until he was at death's door.

 

The way you wrote it seemed like you were saying that Christian mercy in general was inheritently bad, which implied that you believed that Christians (and yes, Constantine technically wasn't Christian at that point in time) giving mercy were, by default, bad. If this wasn't what you were going for, then I apologize for misinterpreting your comment.

 

It definitely wasn't what I was going for. I'm glad we could sort it out

 

Note there is a typo in the original post, Constantine defeated Maxentius at Milvian Bridge, not Magnentius

 

Quite right, thank you. Corrected.

 

You're welcome!

 

I am getting really annoyed that a decent forum is becoming tarnished with this sort of childish bickering. PM the author if you want fisty cuffs, I dont want to see it and I am sure I am not alone.
I am about to give up on this forum if this continues. I am sure I will not be missed, but I will miss the forum.

 

You know you could have PM me all this

 

The BBC programme Rome: Rise and Fall of An Empire in the Constantine episode interpreted Constantine's 'sign' as an astronomical phenomena.



The Battle of Milvian bridge is done quite well too. A highly recommended series!

 

I love this series and I highly recommend it as well. Saw this and a few of the other episodes on YouTube when I just started out collecting and they helped increase my interest in Roman coins and interest.

One of the best parts is that they are pretty spot-on with clothes and uniforms of the periods. This is a weak point IMO with the current Barbarians Rising series. Late Roman soldiers wearing segmentata and early imperial helmets? Seriously? (I can understand if there was a limited budget, though, and had to reuse costumes)

 

I chose not to in the hope it would stop you antagonising others.

 

Antagonizing others? LOL ok sure. This was my only difference with Sallent ever. I dont go around "antagonizing others". My history of conduct around here can attest to that. And I owned up to my misreading of his comment.

If you want to contribute to peace around here it has to start with you. This issue was said and done until you decided to publically vent.

It is regretable that we have come to this. Your knowledge and (normally) courteous, respectful, and cool attitude were what I thought of you, and because of this I decided to be one of the first ones to welcome you here when you arrived. Hopefully one day we can become internet friends again.

I apologize to John for helping to derail his thread.

 

Very nice