Featured Augusti & Caesars who campaigned in Britain

More from the old Kindler ………………..



The more I read this book the more I am impressed by the enormity of these campaigns. 50,000 troops and an amazing amount of equipment and supplies - it really was “shock & awe”.

Geta hasn’t shown up on the front lines yet.

 

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I thought it would be interesting to put together a set of British coins but I haven’t gotten too far

 

Thanks for posting that @H8_modern - please get farther

 

Hi @jamesicus,

I'd be interested on your thoughts about the timeline for the campaigns proposed by Elliot. I have some difficulties in accepting it, and prefer an amalgamation of his and Reed's timelines. In particular, I'm struggling with the idea that everyone arrives in York in 208 AD and sits around until 209 AD just planning. That doesn't seem to be in Caracalla's nature. I'm also uncomfortable with the idea that they don't leave York on campaign until 209 AD, and then return victorious later that year, just to hang around doing nothing until May 210 AD. That's a lot of ground to cover in not a lot of time, and given the speed at which Caracalla and Geta abandon the province when Severus dies, I can't work out why they would have stayed so long at the start of 210 AD when things were meant to be settled.

Reed's timeline has the army advance to Fife in 208 AD, campaign all of 209 AD and the start of 210 AD, and then start the second campaign in the second half of 210 AD.

 

I am having the same difficulties with this that you are @DCCR, in fact I spent yesterday evening re-reading much of the applicable chapters of Elliott’s book to be sure I was understanding his timeline of events correctly. I would like to get back to you on this.

 

I have enjoyed this thread as there is a direct British connection to my recent interest in Roman coins. I have been binge watching Time Team episodes and was surprised to learn that coins were one ancient Roman artifact that I could collect without too much investment. When the first coin arrived I was as enthralled to be holding a 1650 year old man-made object as those archaeologists are when they unearth one.

 

Yes when you think about all the events that have happened around it while the coin has been sat there in the ground...Saxon/Viking invasions, 1066, Magna Carta, discovering America, Henry VIII, 1666, civil war, empire, industrial revolution, WW1/2, 1966...

 

I am finding myself frequently cross-referencing information in ……………



…………… which is a great resource that covers aspects of the British campaigns that I had not considered previously.

 

@jamesicus I wonder if you could help me.

When attributing the 'invasion coinage' of the Tetrarchs, as opposed to the earlier London Mint issues that also feature a bare bust and no mint mark, is it based only on the style of portraiture and the lettering?

In the case of Maximum in particular I think I can see a reasonable different in the facial features between the two issues, and I think I see a substantial difference in the way the X, P, and F is formed, particularly the serifs.

Many thanks

 

Reply part 1.

Oh, my goodness @thejewk, what a formidable task you have presented me with!

Although it will be somewhat of a diversion, I am happy to do it for I love this kind of thing! Please excuse the following lengthy response, but I think it is necessary.

First, I ask you to consider that I have reached that stage of life where my memory has faded considerably and I am often very forgetful (almost all the time now). I frequently have to edit my posts on reread because I find that I have got some information wrong (especially dates and figures) or got it out of sequence - and that sometimes happens late at night when I am re-reading through what I have written during the day and long after I have submitted the post (then I go back and edit). I don’t think I am going senile yet, but it is a function of old age. So please bear with me - I usually manage to get things right eventually.

Second, the textual material and photographs that I inevitably need to provide reliable information for a response such as this is usually buried in my archives and I have to dig it out, dust it off, rearrange it and post it.

If I remember correctly the differences between the truncated bare bust “invasion folles” and the first issues by the London mint are subtle but I think I can refresh things in order to answer your question. What I intend to do is retrieve from my archives the original set of photos of the invasion coinage of the two Augusti and two Caesars (a complete set used to be a rarity) and then extract “Bastien intermediate” and first London mint issue coins for comparison. I think you will enjoy them. I will dig out any associated notes I find - and plumb my feeble memory for any other bits of information that might be useful. It will take me a couple of days to do all that, but it should be a fun project that produces some useful results.

 

Reply Part 2:

Again, I will only discuss The “invasion” folles produced at an unknown mint in Gaul, the Intermediate coinage of Bastien, the initial folles produced by Constantius in Britain after his invasion marked LON and the immediately following coin issue.

I retrieved the following introductory notes of mine from my archives. They are old and some of the information may have been superseded. They are mostly based on discussion and debate that Hugh Cloke, Lee Toone, myself and another person I cannot remember (Robert ?) had several years ago on the Ancients Info. Forum. We were the main participants in a very long thread relating to this coinage. I do not wish to re-hash these notes - I am too old, sick and tired to do that now, sorry. They will have to stand as they are here. I invite anyone to update, correct or add to them for their own use.

The notes:

• Output of the London Mint: Sutherland (Roman Imperial Coinage [RIC], Volume VI) in his Londinium Introductory Notes indicates that the output of the London Mint, restricted to the production of Aes coinage (and with only one officina), does not appear to be continuous. By inference, production was probably somewhat sporadic and not as copious as other western mints.
• What happened to RIC, Vol. VI, LONDINIUM Group I, (ii) Class I? It was transferred to RIC, Vol. VI, LUGDUNUM, as Group I, (iv), Class I (14a-21) -- this is the Invasion coinage of Bastien (prior to publication). Sutherland explains all this in his Introductory text to the LONDINIUM section of RIC VI, pages 113-115 (1967 Edition). The bottom line is the quote of Sutherland that ".......... Bastien is to be followed in regarding the unmarked coins of Class I as an issue prepared in advance for Constantius' invasion of Britain in 296.
• LON marked coins: The first folles produced by the re-opened London Mint (RIC volume VI, Group I, Class II) featured Lugdunese style right facing busts with bare neck truncation and laureate heads with the long laurel wreath ribbon laying on the neck. The Genius of the Roman People reverse depictions and inscriptions are standard but with with LON (mint mark) in the exergue. The inscriptional lettering is more compact with smaller and thicker letterforms.
• Genius Reverse depiction: Almost always a representation of the Genius of the Roman People standing, facing left, head surmounted by a modius, naked except for a chlamys over the left shoulder, holding a patera in the right hand and cradling a cornucopia in the left arm.
  
• Intermediate Group coins (Bastien): The Intermediate Group folles, were first proposed by Bastien. In his proposal these coins fall into two groups, those with laureate heads (a) and those with laureate, cuirassed busts (b), both of Lugdunese style and with British style inscriptional lettering.
• Ribbon ties: The Obverse head with the laurel wreath long ribbon end draped on the portrait neck, a recurring feature on the unknown Continental Mint invasion coinage, is also found on Intermediate Group coinage.
• Additional Mints (to London) possibilities: In his introduction to the Londinium section of RIC VI, Sutherland raises the possibility that at least some of the Unmarked Group I, Class II (a & b) folles may have been produced in Britain by a re-opened Carausius/Allectus "C" Mint (or traveling Mint), thereby accounting for the somewhat rough style portraiture - particularly the "small head on a tall neck" busts of Group I, Class IIa coins which are reminiscent of many Carausius/Allectus issues. Sutherland does not seem to pursue this theory, however.

 

Reply part 3. - “Invasion” coinage:

I retrieved the following photos from my archives.

• Coin obverses depict right facing busts with bare neck truncation and laureate heads with the long laurel wreath ribbon laying on the neck. The Genius of the Roman People reverse depiction and inscription is standard with no mint mark. The inscriptional lettering is relatively large with delicate letterforms.
• No mint Mark.
• Reverse axis is 6 or 12 o'clock.
• Weight range is 10.5 to 8.75 gm.

Invasion Coinage produced at (unknown) Mint in Gaul (often referenced as Lyon or Boulogne by Continental European coin researchers and dealers).

RIC Volume VI, Lugdunum, Group I, (iv), folles, Class I, No. 14-21, c. 296


No. 14a - Diocletian - Augustus of the East:





No. 14b - Maximian Herculius - Augustus of the west:





No. 17a - Constantius - Caesar of the west:





No. 17b - Galerius Maximian - Caesar of the East

 

Thanks so much @jamesicus , there's a lot to digest there and I will spend the morning comparing your pictures and notes with some auction pictures and the LMCC catalogue.

 

Interlude ……………

This is my premier “Invasion” coin - Constantius, Caesar of the West, RIC volume VI, Lugdunum, No. 17a.



I bought it from CGB, Paris, several years ago and it cost me “an arm and a leg”. But it is on a full flan, perfectly centered, a fabulous portrait, complete and exceptionally well rendered inscriptional lettering, fully silvered.

 

Reply part 4: Bastien intermediate coinage

The coin obverses and reverses in this series replicate those of the Constantius Invasion coinage except in some instances the obverse busts are cuirassed (including some with elaborate consular features) and they have London mint style small and compact inscriptional lettering. No mint Mark.


Intermediate series coin (Bastien), not in RIC, Galerius Maximian, Caesar of the East,

Type one. truncated bare neck bust - small and compact London style lettering.




Intermediate series coin (Bastien), not in RIC, Galerius Maximian, Caesar of the East: small head on a tall neck. Small and compact London style lettering. Long Wreath ribbon tie laying on neck. Consular style cuirass.

 

Reply part Five - LON marked folles - struck in the names of Diocletian, Maximian Herculius, Constantius and Galerius Maximian. First issues of the London mint under Constantius.

Constantius, Bold full portrait - truncated bare neck bust - small and compact London style lettering (some very poorly formed). LON in reverse exergue - plate coin in RIC volume VI, Londinium, No. 1a

 

Thanks so much @jamesicus

 

Reply Part 6 - “Long necks“

At least some of the Carausian die engravers eventually developed an affection for depicting the portraits of Carausius and Allectus with inordinately long necks:




Many present day collectors do not particularly like these depictions but they seemed to have been accepted as stylish variations in their day.

The coins produced at the newly re-opened London mint of Constantius that followed the initial issues marked LON were now unmarked folles reminiscent of the Carausius/Allectus issues. They are cataloged in RIC volume VI as Group I, Class II (a & b) folles, small head on tall neck cuirassed portraits, numbers 6a through 16.


Constantius (left), No.14a - Galerius Maximian (right), No. 15

This is not surprising, for Sutherland points out that Constantius brought some of his Invasion coinage mint workers with him as part of his invasion force and put them to work in his newly re-opened London mint alongside and mixed in with the existing Carausian mint workers. Evidently the Carausian die engravers were tasked with designing the portraits for this Issue of folles and followed their predilection for “long necks”.

 

Reply Part 7 - wrap-up and final thoughts:

watch this space for more information.

I am not particularly crazy about the cataloging protocol used by RIC (or BMCRE for that matter) - I think the great value of these references lies in the wealth of information contained in the general introductions and the Section introductions for each volume. The notes and information I include here mostly resulted from our (Hugh Cloke, Lee Toone and myself) discussions and postings on the old Ancients Info Forum where we used RIC as our common reference. Newer references have emerged since then which may be more valuable and reliable now. However, I am through with this and have no intention of revisiting my archived material and updating it - I will leave that for others who wish to use it to do. In the meantime, it will serve as (maybe) useful historical reference material.

I apologize for the paucity of coin cataloging and descriptive information relating to many of the photographs I have used here - in many instances I just found it too difficult or time consuming to extract that information from my archives and apply it to many of the photographs in a way that made sense.

If you are a follower of this these postings you should have Volume VI of RIC available for consultation and reference.

 

And now (hopefully) pending further questions and comments - back to the Campaigns of Septimius Severus in Scotland …………………………