Evil Emperors and their coins.

The irony of this is that Isaac II was probably worse than Andronikos.

 

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here is a mix of some of my evil ones, though we really ought to take their personal characteristics with a grain of salt. The historians (esp Suetonius) had grudges and came mostly from the resentful senatorial class.
Nero was said to burn the Christians alive - though the tunica molseta was the traditional method of execution for all arsenists. But alas, yes he probably did have his mother killed.

 

and continuing our journey into the dark side, who can forget Decius , Diocletian, and Elagabalus?

 

You have very beautiful coin! (I’m assuming they are yours)

 

Thank you, and yes, they are all my babies!

 

Your coins, octavius, are unusual in that they show exceptional eye appeal and style in addition to their high technical grade. Not everyone appreciates the difference between mint state and good looking!

 

Thank you very much. I appreciate that. And I think your web site is terrific.

 

I always thought Diocletian was a "good" Emperor Since he is in this thread, might as well post my example
AV Aureus ND struck circa 286 Rome Mint

 

Today it is hard to go a day without hearing about a politician caught in some activity that ends his career. Very few are accused of killing opponents (a few are but many fall short of that level). Using 2019 standards no Roman Emperor could avoid a minimum of life in prison. They did not use those standards. Many 'good' emperors were killed but the rest did something that far exceeded impeachment level crimes. I have absolutely no use for the concept of only collecting coins of people whose behavior passes your standards. I don't even know what Diocletian did that caused his name to make this list. He was one of the best rulers Rome had even if he killed a few (thousand) people as he deemed necessary using the standards of his day.

 

Holding anyone's history to the norms of today seems very foolish. What was considered normal, moral behavior when I was a kid would disqualify a person from holding office by today's standards. I can't imagine holding Greek, Roman, French, English monarchs of the past to today's standards.

 

Could not have said it better then Doug and Bing. Josef Stalin killed more people then all the Emperors/ Usurpers of Rome combined, and that was in the 20 th century! Then Chairman Mao surpassed him.....

 

I'll echo the others in saying that these are truly wonderful coins! I would definitely suggest searching around to see if you can find a pedigree for your aureus: it looks Boscoreale-esque and, if not, it has the "warmth" of a gold coin that should have a lengthy pedigree.

 

I agree with you - Diocletian was most certainly a capable emperor, if not "warm and cuddly". I included him since he was responsible for the "Diocletianic Persecutions" 303-312, which were the greatest and most thorough the empire saw.
It is true that something awful could be said about any one of the emperors - Augustus exiled his daughter, Tiberius probably had Germanicus killed out of envy, Caligula , well he was Caligula, Claudius' favorite passtime was to watch grusome executions. But we can only speculate what people will say about us in 2000 years.

 

It seems that Galerius, AD 293-311, deserves a place in this lineup of evil doers. In his book COINAGE and HISTORY of the ROMAN EMPIRE, VOLUME ONE: HISTORY, David Vagi writes "Over the years, Galerius' impact upon Diocletian grew immensely, and he is believed to be the principal inspiration for the Edicts that Diocletian issued in 303 and 304 calling for the persecution of Christians and the destruction of their temples and Scriptures." Pictured below is my favorite coin of Galerius, issued as Caesar from the Alexandria Mint, Billon Nummus, 11.39 gm. Jupiter is depicted on the reverse holding Nike on a globe.

 

James, what a shocking revelation. LOL.....

 

I haven't seen any examples of Philip I, who plotted the overthrow of a good emperor Gordian III. So here is an example from my collection that sold at a Heritage auction. Antioch, Syria, circa AD 246, Billon Tet., 14.22 gm. Threads like this one usually draw out spectacular examples from CoinTalk members .

 

That is a beauty Al, love the reverse!

 

These Philips come in distinct styles produced at Antioch and Rome (MON VRB) for use in the East. I prefer the Rome versions like Al's. Mine are not high grade but I like the styles.
Rome


Antioch

 

A real Knockout portrait!

 

The source(s) that scorns Phocas is made by the Heraclians who did have an interest in portraying him as a tyrant. We have no source from Phocas himself to defend him, and thus we actually don't know wheter Phocas was evil or not.

We can't condemn Adele's ex-boyfriends based solely on her songs. We would need to ask her ex-boyfriends what their opinion is.