Featured The Last of the Pagan Emperors, Julian II

If there is one thing thing students of Ancient History know about that time period, it is that people of that time took religious belief very seriously. Whether that meant being religious in the modern day sense of religious beliefs and practices is debatable but both the citizenry and the state saw religious practices as essential for the welfare of the state. Unless the gods were kept happy with the appropriate devotions,bad things could happen, to individuals and the state. Best to keep on their good side

For the most part the official state sponsored worship of the Olympian deities was a civic duty but the gods of Olympus were not seen as loving and kind. Often the exact opposite, capricious, arbitrary and, sometimes, just plain nasty. One did not love the gods. One was wary of them. However, in addition to the state sponsored religion there were a number of cults, frequently known as "mystery religions" because their ceremonies were kept secret from the uninitiated. Perhaps when the Pax Romana started to be replaced by troubles such as plague, barbarian assaults and constant battling among imperial claimants, people began to think that worshipping Isis or Mithras was a safe hedge for protection against some of those uncertainties.

Among those "Mystery Religions" was that of Christianity, which by the Third Century had become all too noticeable to Roman authorities as a cult that did not fit into the Classical pantheon, hence periodic state sponsored persecutions of Christians, one of the most severe under Diocletian lasting into the early Fourth Century. It was the emperor Constantine who, for whatever reasons. changed this policy from persecution to tolerance, and by the time of his death in 337 to state favored church. If Constantine had done this to create a religious unity to help battle the enemies of Rome, it did not work. Early Christians showed themselves quite willing to argue, in the streets, most vociferously and violently over abstruse doctrine that must have baffled Constantine. Adopting Christianity as a state sponsored and favored religion did not bring peace to the empire or Constantine's own family which continued the time honored practice of murdering family members seen as a threat by the reigning emperor..

Constantine and his family continued, unimpeded by any kind of Christian piety, to cull the family of potential, incipient imperial claimants. By the mid Fourth century one of these, Constantius II, managed to kill off all of them except for one young man, who perhaps, recalling that studiousness in arcane studies had spared the life of Claudius a few centuries earlier, showed no interest in reigning over anything except maybe, a debate in a philosophy class. Seeing Constantius killing his brother for being too ambitious, our young man who we know as Julian II, kept a very, very low profile and seemed harmless enough for Constantius to ignore.. But in 355 the then twenty-five year old philosopher was pulled out of school and made a "Caesar", second to only Constantius himself, was "encouraged" to marry the emperor's sister and sent off to the West to Gaul to restore order. Surprisingly, that is just what he did, showing both excellent administrative skills and becoming a top notch field commander. Perhaps, a bit to top notch as a growingly nervous Constantius tried to withdraw some of Julian's best troops for his forthcoming Eastern campaign. Julian's Gallic legions would have none of it, mutinied against Constantius, but not an ambivalent Julian whom they named as the new Augustus. The forces of the Augustus and his Caesar headed for each other. But no battle occurred between the two forces. Constantius II, unusual for a member of the Constantine family died a natural death, supposedly appointing Julian as his successor in 361..

Suffice it to say that Julian continued his excellent administrative and military accomplishments, except for one matter. Though raised as a practicing Christian in Constantinople all that study of philosophy had convinced Julian that Christianity was not an adequate religion for Rome and openly announced his repudiation of the now government favored religion and attempted to restore the traditional religions of Rome, the worship of the Olympian gods and the newer mystery religions. He gladly, himself, as the Pontifex Maximus, conducted the sacrifices to the gods and although he announced a kind of religious freedom for the citizens of Rome, his attempt to bring about the restoration of the worship of the old gods created outspoken criticism by the Christian Church ( hence the Apostate appellation). Since Christianity triumphed in the religion market, contemporary and later historians did not give Julian much credit for anything good happening at that time. One exception to that is the credible contemporary historian, Ammianus Marcellinus, who actually fought as a soldier in Julian's army. His Res Gestae shows Julian to be a good commander and ruler but what he wrote has often been submerged in a billingsgate of vituperation by the more doctrinally orthodox writers of the period.

Julian's actual reign as the Augustus, the sole emperor, was a brief one. In 363 he invaded Persia and did pretty well on the battlefield but after failing to take Ctesiphon, during a strategic withdraw, he recklessly entered the fray without buckling on his complete battle kit and received a mortal spear thrust to his abdomen. There were rumors that it was a Christian soldier who threw the deadly javelin or that a Christian physician made sure the wound was mortal. Julian left no heir and the army quickly nominated one of their officers, Jovian. No Xenophon, the new emperor gave up all the territory Julian had just taken and paid an indemnity to get out of Persia, alive.

Below are some coins associated with Julian II, the Apostate. At the far left is a medium bronze of Constantius II who appointed Julian as his Caesar, Sear 4003, the famous Fel temp Reparation and fallen horseman coin we often read about. Next is one of his siliquae, probably clipped at 1.1 grams. It is Sear 3997. On the top, far right is one of his smaller bronzes where the emperor is featured standing on a warship holding a labarum, perhaps with a Chi Rho on it. It is Sear 4001. In the center is another siliqua, this time of our main character, Julian, from the Harptree hoard. it is Sear 4071 and comes in at a respectable 2.6 grams. At the lower left and center right are two large bronze (nummi?) of the most famous coin of Julian, the Apsis bull and associated with the worship of Mithras, inscribed the "Security of the Commonwealth" Notice his pronounced and unusual, for the mid Fourth Century, philosopher's beard on Julian's face. They are Sear 4072 or a variant of it. Lastly at mid bottom is a smaller bronze of Jovian who followed Julian and gave away the store to get out of Persia. It is Sear 4086. Below the coins are a few artifacts, late Roman military, two belt buckles and a smaller kit buckle. Perhaps one of them came from the equipment Julian did not fasten the day of his death (well, it could be).

 

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Thank you, @kevin McGonigal , very nice write up. Great tie-in with the buckles. And of course, a nice selection of coins.

I well remember studying him during Roma courses in University. I was bummed he died.

Interesting musing had he been more successful in Parthia, and had he “buckled up for safety”!

My Julian


RI Julian II CE 360-363 AE1 AE30 30mm maiorina Diademed R - SECVRITAS REIPVB 2 stars Apis Bull stg R ANT-Gamma 2 palms ANTIOCH RIC 217 LRBC 2641

 

Sorry, but the Constans FEL TEMP galley is a fake. From the 2009 "Smederova Hoard"





a group shot of the fakes

 

I also have a Julian double majorina, yes a common coin but I find the patina quite pleasing. I also like the reverse with the APIS bull.

 

I see the images. The small rim indentations at 11 o'clock and one o'clock do not match anything on my coin. What else is it that you are seeing? What should the weight be? What are the weight of the fakes? Thanks.

 

JULIAN II Speared Horseman (ugh, fitting)


RI Julian II 360-363 CE Fallen Horseman AE3

 

Jeeze. I didn't think of that. Too bad his Pagan beliefs did not extend to numismatic auspices.

 

They are pressed not cast, so flans will be different.

 

I received my money back on this one...
here is the obverse of my Constans fake..

Fake reports here:
https://www.forumancientcoins.com/fakes/thumbnails.php

 

Thanks again, but what do you see that makes the one here seem to be one of these pressed fakes? What am I looking for? The weights?

 

For starters, they are die matches. Also note how much smoother the fields are on these coins, since they are pressed and not properly struck. There are a few things style wise, perhaps most obvious, the pole of the banner held by the emperor looks garlanded, reminds me of a barbershop pole. In hand, I don't find these very convincing at all.

 

...a very real & legally binding contract

 

Thanks. I took some pix of just this coin by itself. I will post them in a few minutes. I want to know what to look for to dertmine the authenticity of these coins. Do the larger images make any difference? I do see the garlanded pole holding up the labarum. I assume the poles are normally smooth? The mintmark seems a little mushy but I would not have picked that up. I must admit that smooth fields are attractive to me so I would not have been aware that they could be too smooth. By the way, the weight is 3.35 grams, if that matters any, now. One last point, The die matches. What should I look for in the die matches you provided. I did not see any from Coin Forums fakes but I may have missed some. By the way I thought my coins was of Constantius II. Is Constans the same the same emperor? Also, I cannot find anything on the net about the Smederovo hoard that includes any coins of Constantius. Further help finding that appreciated.Thanks again

 

The weight does not matter at all in this case. As far as what to look for, they are die matches; which means they are identical, except flans or any differences from strong or weak pressings. And yes, the fake is Constans not Constantius II.

 

Thank you very much.

I have never been quite sure about that bull, that is, if he were the same as the Mithras bull.

 

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Personally, given that he was bringing back the State Religion, AND to appease the Legions... I feel, yeah, that is the Mithras Bull.

 

Yes, I found the die match in Forum. That's my coin. Another one for the black cabinet. A few more like this and the black cabinet will have more coins in it than the rest of my collection. Thank you to all who helped me ferret out this one.

 

Julian II Apostata

 

Come to think of it it's more likely the Mithras bull rather than the Egyptian Apis or Taurus, as some folks have surmised.