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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;johnmilton, post: 4614592, member: 101855&quot;]As some of you know, I am a “light weight” ancient imperial Roman coin collector. My current goal is to get one coin for each emperor up a date that I have yet to determine. My interests run much more to learning about each emperor than collecting any of them in-depth.</p><p><br /></p><p>Recently I have developed an interest in Diocletian and the first tetrarchy. In 285 AD Diocletian appointed Maximian to be his co-emperor. Diocletian took charge of the eastern empire while Maximian was responsible for the western empire.</p><p><br /></p><p>Two other “caesars” were added to the leadership team. Galerius aided Diocletian in the east, and Constantius joined Maximian in the west. The tetrarchy was advertised and symbolized on many argenteus coins that the empire issued. These coins were made of fine silver in an effort to improve the quality of the circulating coinage. Unfortunately, Gresham’s Law won the day, and these coins were driven from circulation. At any rate the reverse of this argenteus of Maximian with the four men around an altar with a military camp in the background.</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1142904[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=full]1142905[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>I thought about getting all four of the argenteus coins for the two emperors and the two caesars, but that would get expensive. Instead I bought this follis to represent Galerius.</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1142906[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=full]1142907[/ATTACH] </p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>When I fully deciphered the reverse, I ran into a pleasant surprise. The personification on the reverse is Moneta who stands for mints and money. The Latin phrase that surrounds her is <b>SACRA MON VRB AVGG ET CAESS NN</b> which translates to “Sacred money of Rome, our emperors and our caesars.”</p><p><br /></p><p>One thing I have noticed about these coins is that they loaded with political messages. They extoll the virtues of the emperor who issued them, and often get the names of his wife and children into the public’s mind. In this case the caesar is tooting his horn about the “sacred money” that the government is issuing on a rather humble coin, the follis. Like I said that was a pleasant surprise.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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