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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Gavin Richardson, post: 3992120, member: 83956&quot;]More rich posts on this question. Excellent. I wonder what prompts the mint to start striking the Mars coins for Constantine in December 307? I&#039;d love to know if Constantine made that call as he was looking for a god to love (Eusebius suggests that Constantine did a bit of god shopping prior to finding the Christian God), or if the decision to put Mars on his coinage was a generic mint action that the <i>procuratores monetae</i> were following for others in the imperial college across the board.</p><p><br /></p><p>It does seem, though, that Constantine sticks with Mars alongside his Sol and Christ interests in the second decade of the fourth century. That fact seems to suggest a peculiar affinity for Mars. Julius Germanicus&#039;s coin from the Arras hoard might suggest that Constantine was influenced by his father, but Valentinian&#039;s and Maridunum&#039;s base metal discussions don&#039;t really turn up strong numismatic evidence to support that view. Stephenson and the NAC must be getting this view (Constantius&#039;s affinity for Mars) from somewhere (a primary text?); I just don&#039;t know where.</p><p><br /></p><p>Thanks to [USER=31620]@maridvnvm[/USER] for posting those Sol variants. Coincidentally, I recently spotted that variant of Sol advancing left, holding globe, that is not in RIC. It was lurking on eBay as just a generic Sol type. It&#039;s on its way to me now from Spain. Not a beauty, but pretty scarce, I think. Here&#039;s the seller&#039;s pic:</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1051133[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>NOT IN RIC website notes: “RIC lists for this issue only type with Sol stg. (cf. LUGDUNUM 310) and type with Sol advancing l. but holding whip instead of globe (LUGDUNUM 312). General note from p. 240: &#039;This issue, of moderate size, shows coins of reduced weight in the name of Constantine only. [...] The emphatic appearance of Soli Invicto Comiti indicates the continuation of this issue into 310, i.e. after Constantine&#039;s &#039;vision&#039; in the earlier part of that year. Date, c. 309-10.&#039; In the present writer&#039;s opinion [Lech S.], at least part of Soli Invicto issue was produced after reopening Lugdunum mint in 313.&nbsp; Coin should be listed before LUGDUNUM 312. <a href="https://www.forumancientcoins.com/notinric/6lug-312.html" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://www.forumancientcoins.com/notinric/6lug-312.html" rel="nofollow">https://www.forumancientcoins.com/notinric/6lug-312.html</a>[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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