A tiny coin of Arcadius

I've had this AE4 of Arcadius (383-408 C.E.), emperor of the East, for about a year. It came out of a hoard of late Roman bronze that also included several others of this emperor, plus Honorius and Theodosius II, along with Valens, Valentinian, and Jovian.

While small, it is in pretty good condition. Obverse: bust of Arcadius, draped and diademed, facing right. Reverse: Salvs Reipublicae, Salus advancing left.





Appears to be from the mint at Antioch. Please show your coins of this somewhat pusillanimous emperor, who ruled at a time when the west was in steady decline.

 

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I read somewhere that some roman coins had been found in the harbor of Rio de Janeiro in the past few years. The story kind of came and went. Were they the property of an earlier collector who somehow lost them at sea, maybe in a shipwreck? Or did a roman vessel veer far off course and end up shipwrecked there. Interesting question. Finding an ancient on U.S. soil is fascinating - neat story!

 

The most photogenic one I could find of these difficult to photograph little coins:


Arcadius, AD 383-408
Roman Æ half-centenionalis; 1.15 g, 14.2 mm
Cyzicus, AD 388-392
Obv: D N ARCADIVS P F AVG, pearl-diademed, draped and cuirassed bust, right
Rev: SALVS REIPVBLICAE, Victory advancing left, with right hand carrying trophy over shoulder and dragging captive with left; ☧ in left field, SMKΓ in exergue.
Refs: RIC 26(c); LRBC 2578; RCV 20851

 

what is in the left field is actually a Staurogram ⳨ (which means monogram of the cross). It is made by superimposing a Tau (T) on a Rho (P) and is also called a Tau-Rho.

There is a theory that the use of this symbol may be a pictographic representation of Jesus crucified.

The image below shows three monograms - Left to right: The staurogram or Tau-Rho, the Chi-Rho monogram formed by the first two letters in "Christ", and the Iota-Chi monogram composed of the initials for "Jesus Christ."

 

AE3, that coin was struck in Constantinople. RIC X- 66 A

 

i believe these two are Arcadius coins, i've got them listed along with Honorius and and Theo the dad. correct me if i'm wrong.

 

My four AE4 coins of Arcadius:

 

i have this little 11 mm arcadius....




Arcadius, AE4, 388-392 AD

O: D N ARCADIVS P F AVG R: SALVS REIPVBLICAE, Victory advancing left, dragging captive, Chi-Rho in left field. CONS? in ex. Constantinople mint. 11 mm, 1.5 g

i had to get mine out and look at it with a magnifier, but i think mine is actually the tau rho and not the chi rho also...interesting.

 

Yes, but I'm limited by what characters are available in unicode.

 

"The staurogram is encoded by Unicode in the Coptic block, at U+2CE8⳨Coptic Tau Rho, and as of Unicode 7.0 (2014) also in the Ancient Symbols block, at U+101A0greek symbol tau rho."

 

Nice Arcadius @ancient coin hunter ... that is a wee little thing. I have several of my later Emperors in that small size. It is amzaing that folks would use coinage so tiny for everyday spending: "Here... here is a dot of bronze, I will take that chicken for supper tonite!"

My Arcadii:

 

Well, let's see if that works here: ⳨

Nope. Just a white square.

 

Ummm, I guess posting my big, fancy, glammy AR Arcadius would be wrong, eh?

=> man, I love wrong!!





=> Oh, but I'm totally jealous of your cool AE posts (man, I need more coins!)

Congrats

 

I see your TAU RHO...

 

Between us all we have quite a variety of these little coins. Few will be found that are perfect in every way but being able to read the mintmark and see the Tau Rho clearly makes the coin collectible IMO.
Antioch with tall TP


Constantinople with stubby TP

 

Arcadius
A.D. 384- 388
18mm 2.2gm
DN ARCADIVS P F AVG; pearl diademed, draped in imperial mantle, holding mappa and scepter (maybe).
GLORIA REI-PVBLICE; campgate with two turrets, Tau-Rho between them.
In ex. TES
RIC IX Thessalonica 59c

 

Here's another one of Arcadius, I believe. Obverse, bust of Arcadius facing right, draped and diademed. Reverse, emperor being crowned by Victory with the legend Virtus Exerciti

 

http://www.ssssllc.net/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/Romans-in-Rio.pdf
An interesting read.
Arcadius
392 to 395 AD
Cyzicus
AE 3
Obvs: DN ARCADIVS PF AVG, Pearl diademed and cuirassed.
Revs: GLORIA ROMANORVM, Emperor on horseback. SMKB
15x16mm, 1.7g

Arcadius
383 AD
Cyzicus
AE 4
Obvs: DN ARCADIVS PF AVG
Revs: VOT V, in wreath. SMKA(Δ)
16mm, 1.1g

Arcadius
383 to 408 AD
Mint: Mediolanum
AR Siliqua
Obvs: DN ARCADIVS PF AVG, Pearl diademed, draped and cuirassed right.
Revs: VIRTVS ROMANORVM, Rome seated left on cuirass, holding Victory on globe and reversed spear. MDPS
14x15mm, 1.1g