Julian the Apostate

Discussion in 'Ancient Coins' started by JayAg47, Jun 11, 2021.

  1. JayAg47

    JayAg47 Well-Known Member

    The last Pagan emperor, his coin was on my bucket list for awhile.
    Sirmium mint
    download_281729.jpg
    Relevant fact- Julian received an embassy from the Pandyas around 361 AD!
     
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  3. furryfrog02

    furryfrog02 Well-Known Member

    Pandas? Those are the laziest most useless creatures on the planet. I guess they had their heyday back around 361...sending out embassies and stuff.
    Tryin to get the best bamboo I suppose....

    Sorry, I'm a little sleep deprived and I couldn't help myself.
     
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  4. Mat

    Mat Ancient Coincoholic

    [​IMG]
    Julian II, The Apostate (355 - 363 A.D.)
    Æ3
    O: D N CL IVLIANVS NOB CAES, Bare head, draped and cuirassed right.
    R: FEL TEMP REPARATIO. Helmeted soldier to l., shield on l. arm, spearing falling horseman; shield on ground r. Horseman turns head to soldier and extends l. arm. M in l. field, BSIRM star in exergue.
    Sirmium Mint, 355-61 A.D.
    19mm
    2.24g
    RIC 78

    Scarce
     
  5. wittwolf

    wittwolf Well-Known Member

    He is possibly the biggest "what if" in roman history ;)
    Anyways one of my favorite emperors in all we know about him too.
    A while ago I started to look for one of his military bust coins from every mint of the empire but for now I only got Rome, Constantina and Thessalonica.
    Here my rome mint example:
    Julian 2.png
     
  6. ambr0zie

    ambr0zie Dacian Taraboste

    In 2015 (I think) I saw ancient coins for the first time in my life and bought 2 (took 5 years to start a collection, but that was the official start :)
    upload_2021-6-11_16-9-1.png


    Julian II
    RIC VIII Arelate 270 or 271 or 273 or 274
    Date Range: AD 355 - AD 360
    Obverse Legend: D N IVLIAN-VS NOB CAES
    Type: Bust of Julian, bareheaded, draped, cuirassed, right
    Reverse Legend: FEL TEMP - REPARATIO
    Type: Soldier, helmeted, draped, cuirassed, advancing left, spearing fallen horseman with right hand and wearing shield on left arm; shield on ground to right; horseman wearing a pointed cap, turning to face soldier, extending right arm
     
  7. Bing

    Bing Illegitimi non carborundum Supporter

    Julian_II_2.png
    JULIAN II
    Siliqua
    OBVERSE: FL CL IVLIA-NVS PP AVG, rosette-diademed, draped and cuirassed bust right
    REVERSE: VOTIS V MVLTIS X in four lines within wreath. Mintmark SLVG
    Struck at Lyons 360-363 A.D
    1.7g, 16mm
    RIC VIII Lyons 227 var (bust type); RSC 163b var (ditto); Sear 4071 var (ditto).
    Julian II 3.jpg
    JULIAN II
    Majorina
    OBVERSE: D N FL CL IVLI-ANVS P F AVG, pearl-diademed, draped and cuirassed bust right
    REVERSE: SECVRITAS REIPVB• dot, bull right, two stars above, •palm branch-CONSPA-palm branch in ex.
    Struck at Constantinople 3 Nov 361 - 26 June 363 A.D
    7.95g, 29.48mm
    RIC VIII 164
    Julian II 6.jpg
    JULIAN II
    AE3
    OBVERSE: D N FL CL IVLI-ANVS P F AVG, pearl-diademed, helmeted and cuirassed bust left, holding spear in right hand and shield in left hand
    REVERSE: VOT / X / MVLT / XX in four lines within wreath. Mintmark: CVZ Gamma
    Struck at Cyzicus 361-3 AD
    3.3g, 20mm
    RIC 130
     
  8. DonnaML

    DonnaML Well-Known Member

    Julian II (nephew of Constantine I), AR Siliqua. 360-361 A.D, Arles [Constantina/Arelatum] Mint, 1st Officina. Obv. Pearl-diademed, draped, and cuirassed bust right, DN IVLIAN-VS P F AVG / Rev. VOTIS/V/MVLTIS/X in four lines within wreath. In exergue: PCON [PRIMA CONSTANTINA = First officina in Arles]. RIC VIII Arles 295, RSC V 16, Sear RCV V 19132. 17 mm., 2.2 g.

    Julian II Siliqua jpg version 2.jpg

    Julian II, AE Double Maiorina, 361-363 AD, Sirmium [Sremska Mitrovica, Serbia] Mint, 2nd Officina. Obv. Pearl-diademed, draped, and cuirassed bust right, FL CL IVLI-ANVS PF AVG / Bull standing right, two stars above, SECVRITAS REIPVB; in exergue: mintmark star-BSIRM-palm branch. RIC VIII Sirmium 107B (p. 392), Sear RCV V 19152 (ill.), Cohen 38. 28 mm., 8.48 g.

    New Julian II - bull COMBINED (light background).jpg

    Julian II, AE Centenionalis, 361-363 AD, Sirmium [Sremska Mitrovica, Serbia] Mint, 2nd Officina. Obv. Pearl-diademed, helmeted and cuirassed bust left, spear in right hand, shield in left, D N FL CL IVLIANVS P F AVG / Rev. VOT/X/MVLT/XX in four lines within wreath. In exergue: BSIRM [BETA SIRMIUM = Second officina in Sirmium] RIC VIII Sirmium 108, Cohen VIII 151, Sear RCV V 19172. 20.3 mm, 3.393 g.

    Forum Ancient Coins, Julian II coin, large photo.jpg
     
  9. Hrefn

    Hrefn Well-Known Member

    upload_2021-6-11_13-36-52.jpeg
    I recently posted this in a thread on Migration coinage so I hope it is acceptable to post it again, since it is my only coin of Julian. I have seen another barbarian copy of a solidus of Julian in a sale recently, which appeared to be in much lower relief. Alas, one cannot buy everything.

    A heavyweight 4.59 gram gold Solidus in high relief in the style of an aureus, modeled on a coin of Lugdunum. Cf. RIC 226 (Lyon).
    Reverse legend is VIRTUS EXERC CALI the last word meant to be GALL in praise of Julian’s army in Gaul.

    Ex: Dr. E. Poncet collection,(Bourgey, 15 March 1926, lot #71), then Triton III lot #1224 “unusual and extremely rare”; and Leu 72, 12 May 1998 lot#542.
    upload_2021-6-11_13-37-17.jpeg
     
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  10. Clavdivs

    Clavdivs Well-Known Member

    Nice addition @JayAg47 .. excellent green patina!
    Here is my similar coin from Cyzicus:


    upload_2021-6-11_14-15-25.png
    Helmeted bust of Julian II left "DN FL CL IVLIANVS PF AV"
    Wreath "VOT X MVLT XX" "CYZD" in exergue


    Also picked up this Bull earlier this year:

    upload_2021-6-11_14-19-38.png
    Bust of Julian II right "DN FL CL IVLIANVS PF AVG"
    Bull standing right, two stars above "SECVRITAS REIPVB" "NIKB" with palm to each side in exergue
    Nicomedia mint, 8.73g
     
  11. Kentucky

    Kentucky Supporter! Supporter

    "I know a cure for that...get more sleep." W.C. Fields
     
  12. ancient coin hunter

    ancient coin hunter 3rd Century Usurper

    Excerpt from Ammianus Marcellinus, Liber XXV

    Meanwhile, all who were present wept, whereupon even then maintaining his authority, he chided them, saying that it was unworthy to mourn for a prince who was called to union with heaven and the stars. As this made them all silent, he himself engaged with the philosophers Maximus and Priscus in an intricate discussion about the nobility of the soul. Suddenly the wound in his pierced side opened wide, the pressure of the blood checked his breath, and after a draught of cold water for which he had asked, in the gloom of midnight he passed quietly away in the thirty-second year of his age.


    According to Eusebius, his last words were "Thou hast conquered, Galilean."

    julian5.jpg

    julian6.jpg
     
    Last edited: Jun 11, 2021
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  13. Alegandron

    Alegandron "ΤΩΙ ΚΡΑΤΙΣΤΩΙ..." ΜΕΓΑΣ ΑΛΕΞΑΝΔΡΟΣ, June 323 BCE

    JULIAN II

    [​IMG]
    Roman Empire
    Julian II (361-363 CE)
    AE3, 17.0mm, 2.7g, 6h
    Thessalonika mint
    OBV: DN CLIVLIANVS NOB CAES, draped and cuirassed bust r
    REV: FEL TEMP REPARTIO, helmeted soldier l, shield on ground r. horseman turns to soldier extends l arm, M on l, SMTS Epsilon
    REF: RIC VIII Thessalonika 210, p 421


    AE1

    [​IMG]
    RI Julian II CE 360-363 AE1 maiorina Diademed R - SECVRITAS REIPVB 2 stars Apis Bull stg R ANT-Gamma 2 palms ANTIOCH RIC 217 LRBC 2641
     
  14. furryfrog02

    furryfrog02 Well-Known Member

    Tell that to my kids.
     
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  15. furryfrog02

    furryfrog02 Well-Known Member

    This is my one and only Jullian the Apostate. Unfortunately, he is lacking the stately beard of his later issues. I got him out of a lot of uncleaned coins and he could definitely do with a better scrub. I think it'd have a nice dark green patina underneath. I'm too afraid I'd screw it up though. So he is still dirty.

    Julian II
    AE4, Sirmium
    Obverse: DN IVLIA-NVS NOB C, bare-headed, draped, cuirassed bust right
    Reverse: FEL TEMP-REPARATIO, soldier spearing fallen horseman who is bare-headed, reaching backwards
    Mintmark BSIRM dot
    IMG-2128.JPG IMG-2129.JPG
     
  16. Restitutor

    Restitutor Well-Known Member

    Your double M is one of the finest I’ve seen. Wow.
     
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  17. Voulgaroktonou

    Voulgaroktonou Well-Known Member

    I’ve always had a fondness for Julian, from my childhood reading of Ammianus Marcellinus, Gibbon, and even Gore Vidal’s 1964 novel Julian! Later, in graduate school, my special author was Aurelius Clemens Prudentius, one of the greatest of the Christian Latin poets. Born in Spain in 348, Prudentius abandoned a successful administrative career to follow poetry’s muse, for which I, if no one else, am grateful.

    In his work, Apotheosis, lines 446-459, the poet describes how as a youth he caught a glimpse of the emperor, and speaks of him with some grudging admiration in that marvelous verse: “perfidus ille deo, quamvis non perfidus orbi”.
    ("that one, not faithful to God, although faithful to the world.")

    ............................…iam purpura supplex
    sternitur Aeneadae rectoris ad atria Christi,
    vexillumque crucis summus dominator adorat.
    principibus tamen e cunctis non defuit unus
    ME PUERO, UT MEMINI, DUCTOR FORTISSIMUS ARMIS,
    CONDITOR ET LEGUM, CELEBERRIMUS ORE MANUQUE,
    CONSULTOR PATRIAE, SED NON CONSULTOR HABENDAE
    RELLIGIONIS, AMANS TER CENTUM MILIA DIVUM.
    PERFIDUS ILLE DEO, QUAMVIS NON PERFIDUS ORBI,
    augustum caput ante pedes curvare Minervae
    fictilis et soleas Iunonis lambere, plantis
    Herculis advolvi, genua incerare Dianae,
    quin et Apollineo frontem submittere gypso
    aut Pollucis equum suffire ardentibus extis.


    Now the successor of Aeneas, in the imperial purple, prostrates himself in prayer at the house of Christ,
    and the supreme lord adores the banner of the cross.
    YET OF ALL THE EMPERORS ONE THERE WAS
    IN MY BOYHOOD, I REMEMBER, A BRAVE LEADER IN ARMS,
    A LAWGIVER, FAMOUS FOR SPEECH AND ACTION,
    ONE WHO CARED FOR HIS COUNTRY’S WEAL, BUT NOT FOR MAINTAINING TRUE RELIGION, FOR HE LOVED MYRIAD GODS.
    FALSE TO GOD, HOWEVER TRUE TO THE WORLD,
    he would bend the head of majesty before Minerva’s feet,
    would lick a clay Juno’s sandals,
    grovel at the feet of Hercules, wax the knees of Diana,
    and bow before a plaster Apollo
    or smoke Pollux’s horse with the burning of entrails.

    A few of my Julians:

    Julian II. AD 360-363. Arelate, 2nd officina, 361-3.
    AR Reduced Siliqua, 2.05 gr. 17 mm. 7 h
    Obv: DN FL CL IVLI - ANVS PF AVG, Pearl-diademed, draped, and cuirassed bearded bust right.
    Rev: VOT/X/MVLT/XX in four lines within laurel wreath with medallion in its center containing an eagle standing right. Beneath, SCONST.
    References: RIC 309. Ex 1887 East Harptree, Somerset Hoard (IRBCH 1424). CNG 109, Sept. 12 2018, lot 731.
    2018.27e.jpg

    Julian II. AD 360-363. Arelate, 2nd officina, 361-3.
    AR Reduced Siliqua, 2.62 gr. 17.9 mm. 12 h
    Obv: DN FL CL IVL - IANVS PF AVG, Pearl-diademed, draped, and cuirassed bearded bust right.
    Rev: VOT/X/MVLT/XX in four lines within laurel wreath with medallion in its center containing an eagle standing right. Beneath, SCONST.
    References: RIC 310. Ex 1887 East Harptree, Somerset Hoard (IRBCH 1424).

    2018.19e.jpg
     
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  18. Marsyas Mike

    Marsyas Mike Well-Known Member

    The heavenward (er, Olympusward) gaze is kind of interesting on this one...

    Julian II Apostate AE Jan 2019 (0).jpg

    Julian II the Apostate Æ 20
    (361-363 A.D.)
    Sirmium Mint

    D N FL CL IVLI-ANVS P F AVG, helmeted and cuirassed bust left, holding spear forward and shield decorated with aegis / VOT/X/MVLT/XX in four lines within wreath; ASIRM
    RIC VIII Sirmium 108
    (3.50 grams / 20 mm)
     
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  19. gsimonel

    gsimonel Well-Known Member

    Well, someone must like pandas:
    temp.jpg
     
  20. Tejas

    Tejas Well-Known Member


    This imitative solidus above is fantastic. I noticed that there is a reasonably large number of imitative Siliquae of Julianus II around. Below is an example from my collection and the official model.

    Its a shame that so little is known about these unofficial emissions in the 4th century. Who made these coins? What was the economic reason for their creation?


    Screenshot 2021-06-12 at 16.11.34.png

    Screenshot 2021-06-12 at 16.16.05.png
     
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