A waste of a man......

Flavius Arcadius Augustus was born to Flavius Theodosius and Aelia Flaccilla in the province of Hispania circa 377 CE.
Theodosius I raised him to the rank of Augustus in 383 in response to the usurpation and execution of Gratian by yours truly<Magnus Maximus.
Arcadius really didn't do much then as he is rarely mentioned during the 380's by historians. Not much will change for the young lad in the future.

When Theodosius finally kicked the bucket in 395 CE he left the Empire in a sorry state; the tattered West was to be governed by the incompetent Honorius, who was ten at the time. While the East was to be governed by the inexpeirenced eighteen year old Arcadius. It would appear that Theodosius I gave very little though to educating his oldest son in governance and law. Thus when Arcadius became Emperor he was immediately overshadowed by a cabal of ministers. In a scene that looked like it came straight out of House of Cards, the court of Arcadius was exceptionally corrupt, ineffective, and violent.
In one particular incident the Emperor and a gothic general were inspecting the army in Constantinople when a contingent of soldiers walked up to the goth and hacked him to death in plain sight of the Emperor.
After a series of corrupt ministers in the 390's, the Emperor's sister seems to have taken the reigns of power and was running the day to day activities in the Empire. She ran the Empire decently until her death in 404. Afterwards the Magister Militium Anthemius ran the government smoothy for the remainder of Arcadius's life. Side note, it was Anthems who supervised and ordered the construction of the Theodosian walls that still stand around Constantinople to this day. So he is indirectly and directly responsible for the survival of the Roman Empire into the "byzantine" age.

As for Arcadius, well he was a sorry excuse for an Emperor only matched by his brother in ineptitude and stupidity.
Unlike most Late Roman Emperor's we actually do have a physical description of what Arcadius looked like: "The emperor was supposedly short, thin and dark-complected. A more kindly correspondent described him as good-natured and temperate."

Here is a soon to be acquired Siliqua of Arcadius struck under his brother from 395-402 CE at Trier.

Silver, 1.75 grams, 18.08 mm. Trier. 395-402 AD. Obverse: DN ARCADI-VS PF AVG, pearl-diademed, draped and cuirassed bust right. Reverse: VRBS-ROMA, Roma seated left on cuirass, holding Victory on globe and inverted spear. Mintmark TRPS in exergue. RIC IX Trier 95c; RSC 25

I would like to return to coin talk, if you guys would have me that is.
Love you guys, even though you drive me up a fV#$*^& wall sometimes------> Looking at you Steve.

 

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We would love to have you back posting your beautiful coins. You HAVE been missed!

 

It's great to see you posting again, and that is a fantastic Arcadius!

 

Thanks guys, its good to be back.

 

Good to see you again MagMax and cool pickup!

 

Very nice example.

 

MagMaxMan is BACK with a vengeance! Great write-up! Your Arcadius Siliqua is the ONLY Siliqua that I have and the ONLY Arcadius I have! GREEEAT entrance back to CT, Dude! LOL

 

Not bad, I just recently picked up a Siliqua my self.
Good looking coin.

 

Thanks Alegandron, Bigby.

 

Welcome Home M.M. You've been sorely missed.

 

Thanks again TC.
Everyone feel free to post your coins of Arcadius!

 

Things haven't changed around here. We're still a loose group of coin-loving friends, often taking threads on tangents, and for the most part being patient when others disagree with our views or our humor, and not taking offense when others don't gush over coins we find most interesting.

 

TIF, don't take this the wrong way but please don't lecture me on this matter. What's done is done, I can't change the past but I can change the future.

 

My only Siliqua and only Arcadius


Arcadius, AD 395-408
AR Siliqua, 16mm, 1.1g, 12h.
Obv.: DN ARCADI-VS PF AVG; Pearl diademed, draped, and cuirassed bust right.
Rev.: VIRTVS RO-MANORVM; Roma seated left on cuirass, holding Victory on globe and reversed spear.
Mint MDPS, struck in Milan in 402,
Ref: RIC1227
From the Doug Smith Collection, #2829 via @John Anthony JAZ

 

Nice, I remember when you first bought this one.

 

Thanks... I believe it was my first Late Roman capture. I now have all of the "common" Emperors save 9 of them (only 9 slots of my Littleton Roman Emperors Album to fill). There are 30 "Rare" "difficult to acquire" Emperors...I have one of those...

 

We sure love to see you back home Mag Max, welcome back

For your pleasure (others can have a look too) here are my Arcadius'



Arcadius, Siliqua Treveri mint, 2nd officina
D N ARCADI VS P F AVG, diademed, draped and cuirassed bust right
VIRTVS RO MANORVM, Roma seated left, holding Victory and spear, TRPS at exergue
Ref : RIC # 106, Roman coins # 4227



Arcadius, AE 2 struck at Alexandria, 3rd officina
D N ARCADIVS P F AVG, Diademed bust of Arcadius right
VIRTS EXERCITI (sic !), Arcadius, standing right, a captive at right foot, holding globe and standard. ALE gamma at exergue
6.28 gr
Ref : RIC # 18, RC #4230, LRBC #2896 var



Arcadius, AE4 Heraclea mint, 1st officina, c. AD 383
DN ARCADIVS PF AVG. Diademed, draped and cuirassed bust right
VOT / V within wreath, SMHA at exergue
1.27g, 14mm, 12h
Ref : RIC IX # 18b, LRBC II # 1964

Q

 

Good to be back old friend.
Very nice set you have there.

 

Speaking of Arcadius and his wife.
Aelia Eudoxia
AE nummis