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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;TheNickelGuy, post: 8123745, member: 20201&quot;]Constantine the Great Bronze Mint State</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1414552[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>This looks to be an Uncirculated ancient Roman coin struck during the reign of Constantine the Great (307-337 AD). I can detect no signs of wear on it. The details of the emperor&#039;s hair and cuirass are as sharp as sharp can be. The same is true of the two soldiers on the the reverse.</p><p>It has a beautiful brown patina on the obverse. The reverse has more of a two-toned patina with darker and lighter brown. The coins is well-centered with full legends and mint mark.</p><p>(Diameter: 16 mm. Weight: 2.37 grams)</p><p>OB: Diademed, draped and cuirassed bust, right - CONSTANTINVS MAX AVG</p><p>REV: Two soldiers holding spears and shields, on either side of two standards - GLORIA EXERCITVS</p><p>Struck at the Trier mint this coin is attributed as RIC VII Trier 537</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1414556[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>Constantine was the first Roman emperor to convert to Christianity.</p><p>He earned his honorific of &quot;The Great&quot; from Christian historians long after he had died, but he could have claimed the title on his military achievements and victories alone.</p><p><br /></p><p>Although Constantine created his apparent heirs &quot;Caesars&quot;, he gave his creations a hereditary character, alien to the tetrarchic system. Constantine&#039;s Caesars were to be kept in the hope of ascending to Empire, and entirely subordinated to their Augustus, as long as he was alive.</p><p><br /></p><p>Therefore, an alternative explanation for the execution of his first born Crispus to Fausta was, perhaps, Constantine&#039;s desire to keep a firm grip on his prospective heirs. This and Fausta&#039;s desire for having her sons Constantine II, Constans, and Constantius II inheriting, instead of their half-brother Crispus was reason enough for killing Crispus.</p><p>The subsequent execution of Fausta his wife, however, was probably meant as a reminder to her children that Constantine would not hesitate in killing his own relatives when he felt it necessary.</p><p><br /></p><p>The Byzantine Empire considered Constantine its founder and the Holy Roman Empire reckoned him among the venerable figures of its tradition. In the later Byzantine state, it had become a great honor for an emperor to be hailed as a &quot;new Constantine&quot;. Ten emperors, including the last emperor of the Eastern Roman Empire, carried the name.</p><p><br /></p><p>Saint Constantine the Great and his mother, Saint Helena of Constantinople, were recorded as saints in the late Byzantine liturgical calendar, followed by the Eastern Orthodox Church, Oriental Orthodox Church, some Lutheran Church and the Eastern Catholics. Although he is not officially canonized by the Orthodox Church and he was not recognized as a saint of the Roman Catholic Church.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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