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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;John Anthony, post: 1968118, member: 42773&quot;]Another excellent coin!</p><p><br /></p><p>I&#039;ve only recently begun studying the Valentinian Dynasty and its coinage. Here&#039;s a scarce coin I posted some time ago, limited to a very brief mintage at Sirmium. RIC says, “Sirmium is the only mint at which Valentinian struck the large AE3 of Julian’s standard with rev. Vot v mult x. Like the accompanying siliqua Votis v multis x it has been found with obverse of Valentinian only, and these coins must be dated to a time when news of Valens’ elevation had not yet reached the mint.” (RIC IX, p. 156)</p><p><br /></p><p>The majority of reverse types during the reign of Valentinian I, and the Valentinian dynasty in general, feature military themes. The predominant types present Victory, or the emperor dragging a captive, or holding Victory, or some variation of the above. Again, RIC offers a pointed analysis...</p><p><br /></p><p>“At first sight, it might seem that the coinage of our period can offer little help to the historian. It is no longer, as in earlier days, a continuous record of important events at home or in the field, touching every side of Roman life, or of the emperor’s manifold activities for the well-being of his subjects. Instead, the traditional glory of Roman arms is recalled on the coinage with monotonous persistence. Yet this very monotony reflects the change that had come over the empire in its passage from ‘Principate’ to ‘Oriental Monarchy’. The common man, crushed under an overwhelming burden of taxation and cramped in every impulse to better his condition by the harsh system of hereditary servitude, had little to live for except the mere preservation of life itself.&nbsp; Ammianus tells us that when Valentinian came to the throne the empire was threatened on every frontier by inroads of savage enemies. We find the coinage adapted to the times in its almost unvarying message that in the valour of its army the State had a sure defense. The bronze was the chief medium employed for this message. “ (RIC IX, p. xv)</p><p><br /></p><p>This coin stands apart from the common military types on account of its commemoration of Vota Publica - one of those pieces that looks quite ordinary by itself, but presents a very different aspect in the context of the more common types.</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]348664[/ATTACH][/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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