The emperor we call Maximian or Maximianus (286-305 and 306-308) had full name Marcus Aurelius Valerius Maximianus. It is common for coins of the Roman emperors to at first have long legends giving relatively full versions of their names, to be followed by shorter and shorter versions. Often his name on coins is given simply as MAXIMIANVS, without any of the other three names. Here is a "radiate fraction" (a.k.a. "post-reform radiate") from shortly after the coin reform of c. 294 with a long version of his name on it. 20 mm. 2.70 grams. A "radiate fraction." IMP C M AVR VAL MAXIMIANVS PF AVG. Marcus AVRelius VALerius Maximianus CONCORDIA MILITVM RIC VI Antioch 60b "c. 296." I can think of a few other emperors that had a few coins with unusually long versions of their names. Can you show us one?
The best of them all, and the mint at Smyrna had just gone from being a local mint to minting Imperial coinage in 268, first for Gallienus and then for Claudius Gothicus -- Caesar Marcus Aurelius Claudius Augustus: With 6 specs recorded in RIC Temp
Nice example, @Valentinian ! There's a full-named legend on this coin of Gaius Valens Hostilianus Messius Quintus as Nobilissimus Caesar: Hostilian as Caesar, AD 250-251. Roman AR antoninianus, 4.32 g, 20.5 mm, 5 h. Rome mint, 5th officina. 5th emission, early AD 251. Obv: C VALENS HOSTIL MES QVINTVS N C, radiate, draped, and cuirassed bust right, seen from behind. Rev: PRINCIPI IVVENTVTIS, Hostilian standing slightly left, holding signum and reversed spear. RIC 181d; RSC 34; RCV 9561; Hunter 4.
New emperors often used name elements from their predecessor. Hadrian was one taking not only TRAJANo but OPTimo. The reverse mentions Trajan again lest anyone forget who made Hadrian his successor.
Antoninus Pius is usually not associated with these names, but his coins as Caesar often name him Titus Aelius Antoninus: Antoninus Pius (as Caesar), Roman Empire, AR denarius, 138 AD, Rome mint. Obv: IMP T AEL CAES ANTONINVS; head of Antoninus Pius, bare, r. Rev: TRIB POT COS; Pietas, veiled, draped, standing l., holding up r. hand over altar and l. hand on side. 18 mm, 3.54g. Ref: RIC II Hadrian 452A. I know that the coin below is not ancient and not even strictly medieval – but it has the longest title in my collection. After dissolving all the abbreviations and translating, we get: "Frederick William, by the grace of God margrave in Brandenburg, archchamberlain and prince-elector of the Holy Roman Empire at Magdeburg and in Prussia, at Jülich, Kleve, Berg, Stettin, and Pommerania, duke of the Wends and Kashubians and of Crossen and Jägerndorf in Silesia, burgrave of Nuremberg, lord of Halberstadt and Minden". If that's not impressive, I don't know! Brandenburg-Prussia, Friedrich Wilhelm von Brandenburg, AR doppelgroschen (1/12 Taler), 1656 AD, Berlin mint. Obv: FRID: WILH: V. G. G. M. Z. BR. D. H . R. R. E. C. V. C.; coat of arms with crown and sceptre. Rev: .II./ GROSCH/ BRANDENB/ LANDES/ MVNZ/ 1656; Z. M. I. P. Z. G. C. B. S. P. C. W. I. S. Z. C. V. I. H. B. Z. N. F. Z. H. V. M. 26mm, 4.08g. Ref: von Schrötter 988; Bahrfeldt III 157. Ex Hatria Numismatica, Giulianova, Italy.
You were right. That IS impressive! You'd have to know his titles in advance to be able to figure out what this string of abbreviations means:
The emperor we call "Licinius" had full name Valerius Licinianus Licinius VALerius LICINNIANVS LICINNIVS PF AVG This full name was on coins only at Cyzicus, and there, at first, spelled with double Ns. Later it was spelled with single Ns everywhere. GENIO AVGVSTI MKV in exergue, A left and star right. 25 mm. (Large for a Licinius) RIC Cyzicus 54 Struck "c. 309-310."
...great thread and info Warren....back 13 years ago or so, i was trying to collect all the tetrarchy, but got so confused, i went down another avenue to collect ...not to mention i have a coin of Maximinus(AVG) and didnt even know it till yesterday...
I love coins of the tetrarchy. Here is my introduction to them: http://augustuscoins.com/ed/tetrarchy/ Here are links to many other pages about them: http://augustuscoins.com/ed/tetrarchy/extra.html Even the very common GENIO POPVLI ROMANI type has lots of interesting varieties, including my avatar: The helmeted bust is unusual and facing left is also unusual. 26 mm. 8.40 grams. RIC Trier -- but cf. p.184ff where it has the combination of legend 1h and bust Z, where Z is listed only for Maximian and Constantius in the series of RIC Trier 264-373 struck "298-9" ex Phil Peck as "The Morris Collection." Now, let's return to legends that give long names for emperors we know by shorter names. The Hostilian and Herennius Etruscus above were excellent examples.
Talking about names, I found this at http://www.cornelius93.com/CorneliaCoin-MainPage.html: in ancient times Romans citizens possessed only one name like the most Indo-European people. It was during the Republican period, which began around 510 BC with the overthrow of the Etruscan monarchy and lasted roughly until around 44 BC when Julius Caesar was appointed as dictator, that a more stable naming system slowly emerged, referred to as tria nomina. This is when most Roman Citizen took on three names. The first name, the Praenomen designated the individual, similar to our first name. In ancient times the Romans had less than thirty first names and only about ten of them were common. To make the options even less, most clans favored certain Praenomina. The second or middle name, the Nomina, referred to the nomen, or name, of the tribe. This was an inherited name shared by all the members of the family and even special slaves. Originally there were only three patrician tribes in ancient Rome; the Ramnes, Tities and Luceres. Within each of these tribes there were smaller clans. Later, about thirty or more 'plebeian tribes' were added. Over the years, due to war and other reasons, many clans disappeared. By the Middle Republican period a three-letter abbreviation for the tribe in which the man was enrolled was often used. The third name, the Cognomen, or family name, similar to our last name. It was initially formed as stirps, or stems (lineages) off a given family to designate a line of descent of common ancestry. Although this naming behavior is rooted much earlier in Roman history, it would not begin to appear in public documents as commonplace until the time of Lucius Cornelius Sulla. As an example of what has just been said; Lucius Cornelius Sulla implies that Lucius, born within the gens of the Cornelius family tree, is from the stirps or lesser branch of the family known as Sulla. Sometimes a fourth, even fifth, name called Agnomen was added. In some cases, this name was a mark of great honor or a distinction which was carried after an outstanding exploit, such as a particularly successful military campaign. For example, Scipio received the honorary Agnomen 'Africanus' because of his military victories over Hannibal during the Second Punic War. Hence his full name became Publius Cornelius Scipio Africanus. In the case where a man was adopted into another family, which happened with some frequency in ancient Rome, the individual would assume the Tria Nomina of his adopted family while adding the nomen of his birth gens at the end. An example of this behavior can be seen with Lucius Æmilius Paulus. He was adopted by Publius Cornelius Scipio and took the name Publius Cornelius Scipio Æmilianus. In a society as rigidly patriarchal as the Romans, women generally had no personal names and were known only by the feminine form of her tribe as reflected by the Nomina not the Cognomen. Thus, the daughter of Publius Cornelius Scipio was simply called Cornelia. In cases where more than one daughter existed in the same immediate family they would all have the same name but became designated by the order of birth. These names were kept even if they were married into a different clan. It would not be until the Imperial period of Rome when women were seen to follow the Tria Nomina.
