Dear Abby said in today's paper that Valentine's day has a connection with Claudius II (Roman Emperor, 268-270). So I looked on Wikipedia and found this: "The same events are also found in Bede's Martyrology, which was compiled in the 8th century. It states that Saint Valentine was persecuted as a Christian and interrogated by Roman Emperor Claudius II in person. Claudius was impressed by Valentine and had a discussion with him, attempting to get him to convert to Roman paganism in order to save his life. Valentine refused and tried to convert Claudius to Christianity instead. Because of this, he was executed. Before his execution, he is reported to have performed a miracle by healing Julia, the blind daughter of his jailer Asterius. The jailer's daughter and his forty-four member household (family members and servants) came to believe in Jesus and were baptized." The whole story of Valentine's day is far more complicated than that short quote represents, but the point is, if you have a coin of Claudius II you have a piece of history that connects to this time of year. Happy Valentine's day! Claudius II
Good to know some history. I guess I can now look at my coins of Claudius II in a different light. Here he is wearing earmuffs or headphones: CLAUDIUS II (GOTHICUS) Antoninianus OBVERSE: IMP C CLAVDIVS AVG, radiate, draped and cuirassed bust right REVERSE: VIRTVS AVG, Minerva standing right resting on shield and holding spear, S in exergue. Struck at Antioch, 268 AD 3.1g, 20mm RIC V-1, 225
Dang! Thanks for that write up. It gives me an awesome excuse for buying a Claudius II, I've been taking a look at a few of his tets recently.
