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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;AndrewC, post: 8465284, member: 97642&quot;][ATTACH=full]1499756[/ATTACH] </p><p>Julian II, 361-363 AD. AR Siliqua, Lugdunum, 360 AD. Obv. FL CL IVLIA-NVS PF AVG · Julian II, beardless, pearl-diademed, draped, cuirassed bust right. Rev. VOTIS / V / MVLTIS / X · within wreath. Exergue. Mintmark LVG. RIC VIII 218.</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>Julian II, a capable military commander and distinguished philosopher, was the last non-Christian ruler of the Roman Empire, who attempted to reform the state bureaucracy and restore Rome’s pagan past. He first rose to prominence in 355, when he was appointed to the position of Caesar by Constantius II and sent to Gaul as the emperor’s representative. His successful campaigns against the Franks and Alamanni endeared him to his troops but aroused Constantius’s jealousy and paranoia. </p><p><br /></p><p>In early 360, Constantius ordered Julian to send a contingent of his army to the East, ostensibly to defend against the incursions of the Sasanian king Shapur II, but in truth to weaken the popular Julian as a threat to power. In response, Julian’s troops proclaimed him Augustus, lighting the first sparks of a potential civil war with the sitting emperor. Julian began using the title Augustus from then onwards, minting coins in Gaul bearing the inscription AVG rather than CAES. In November of 360, Julian celebrated the five year anniversary of his appointment as Caesar, which he used to mark the beginning of his rule. </p><p><br /></p><p>The coin pictured above is of a type commemorating this event, with the inscription VOTIS V MVLTIS X being short for votis quinquennalibus multis decennalibus, or “vows for five years of rule and for five years more.” Coinage celebrating these anniversaries were typically minted for up to a year before the anniversary until the date of the anniversary, allowing us to tentatively date the minting of this coin, with both the inscriptions AVG and VOTIS V, from between early 360 to November 360. However, Julian would not live to see his tenth anniversary as emperor, being mortally wounded in 363 while on campaign in the East.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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