No victory for Victor

Maximus certainly was ambitious but saying he was a bloody tyrant is a bit of a stretch. The problem is we just don't know much about the Western Empire after Valentinian's death until the late 380's. What we do know is that Gratian was not popular with the legions for numerous reasons, one is that he dressed as a barbarian (an alan) and praised his barbarian guards at the cost of his actual soldiers. Again though, the troops in Britain would never have experienced this as we have no evidence that Gratian visited the province. So what caused them to revolt and acclaim Maximus as Emperor then? I don't know nor claim to know why.

What we do know is that Maximus crossed over the channel and attacked Gratian in northern Gaul. Gratian's men (who likely outnumbered Maximus by a substantial margin) defected en masse. This shows that Gratian must have really ticked off his men as they didn't even fight a battle before they abandoned him. Sadly we probably will never know what Gratian did to elicit this type of behavior from them.
Gratian was killed by Maximus's Magister Militum but we know of no purges and executions of Gratian's court afterwards. Fun fact: Martin of Tours, who actually met Maximus, claimed that Maximus's rebellion was relatively bloodless.

Now taxes were high in Maximus's territories but this is due to relative poverty in those areas compared to Italy and the Eastern Empire, not because he was a greedy SOB.The government needed all the money it could get to maintain the army and Bureaucracy, both of which were a necessity at this point in Roman history. Evidence of Maximus's fiscal problems can be found in his coins; Siliquae minted in the first few years of his reign usually weigh over two grams, by 385 the weight dropped to under two grams, and by 388 it isn't uncommon to find coins of his around 1.35 grams.

Maximus is rightly criticized for the murder of a christian bishop named Priscillian and a number of his followers. This is clearly wrong nor would I or any same person in 2016 defend him for this action. Though the reasons for the killings are a bit more complex than most think. Maximus confiscated the dead bishop's property and added the money to the treasury, this leads me to believe that the whole affair was exacerbated by the shortages in his treasury. Not that it justifies the affair.
Maximus's was an Orthodox Christian but he didn't go around killing pagans and smashing temples. In fact he censured a number of christians for their destruction of a Jewish Synagogue in northern Italy in 387. He also got along well with the mostly Pagan Senate and was praised by the late Roman Senator Quintus Aurelius Symmachus who was a staunch pagan writer and historian.
I'm not claiming Magnus Maximus was the reincarnation of Antoninus Pius or Trajan, but I don't agree with calling him a bloodthirsty tyrant. Like most men in history he falls on a complex spectrum.

 

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I'll admit, I'm a bit surprised at how many of us here have an example of Flavius Victor. Either there's slightly more interest here in late Roman coins than I thought there was, or Victor is not as difficult of an emperor to acquire. If anyone else has a coin or coins of him please feel free to post. I know @dougsmit has at least one.

 

Some of these book rare Emperors may not in reality be all that rare. And even if rare, there may not be that much demand for them, so the low supply more than meets market demand. We can thank the internet and global shipping for that...something these catalog makers from decades ago did not have available to them.

 

Quick review of ACSearch revealed over a hundred (I gave up counting) examples of Flavius Victors sold in auctions... $81 to several thousands...

 

LOL...rare indeed. Funny how perception differs from reality. Even if his coinage were as difficult as Gordian I, I doubt as many people need Victor as need Gordian I. Probably none but the most serious of portrait collectors really need a Victor, and I doubt that market is very big.

 

@ValiantKnight I take from your avatar that you are excited for Rouge One this December?

 

Not sure why I didn't check acsearch. Figured he was perhaps a little more scarce than, say, Delmatius, or Quintillus, and looking at Eric's rating for him might have skewed his scarcity in my eyes

Sorry, I couldn't resist

But yeah, definitely cant wait! I'll admit I was a bit iffy about the idea of Star Wars anthology films, but from the footage released so far Rogue One is looking pretty decent. About my avatar though, I actually bought Battlefront for PS4 recently (want games on a budget btw? Wait several months and buy used on eBay, but you prob already knew that ) and decided to change my avatarto one of the trooper skins.

But I digress! Back to coins!

 

Yeah, I was surprised how many were on ACSearch. HOWEVER, when you DO go out and look to buy one, there are not that many available, even on auction. However, when they are offered on auction, prices seem to get bid up. There were very few that went for under $100 on ACS, many were MUCH more, and several in the $Thousands.

 

Personally I can't wait for Battlefield 1 to release this October.


The 28th of August will mark the 1728th anniversary of Maximus's death.
I probably should get a coin of his soon.