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| Aquileia, Æ Centenionalis, Constans Augustus, F.T.R. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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4.2.2024
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Ancient Roman Coins.Second one up this morning, any ideas please. Nice condition. |
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Rome, 5.2.2024
Dear,I report below the significant elements regarding the figure coin: Æ3 centenionalis1, mint of Aquileia2, 348 - 350 A.D., RIC VIII 103 (pag. 323), rarity index "C" Summary description: A web search for coins of the figure type produced the following results:
Best regards. ------------------------------------------- Notes: (1) Æ3 centenionalis. I collect in the table below the physical characteristics of the coins of the figure type found on the web:
(2) The mint of Aquileia operated at that time on three officinae marked with the letters P, S, T. The mint of Aquileia struck the same type in the name of Constantius II as well (D N CONSTANTI-VS P F AVG - see example). (3) D N CONSTA-NS P F AVG (Dominus Noster CONSTANS Pius Felix AVGustus). Emperor Constantius Chlorus (father of Constantine I the Great), had six children by his wife Theodora; among them: Delmatius senior and Julius Constantius, father of Constantius Gallus and Julian (who went down in history as the Apostate). Several years before his marriage, however, he had a son, named Constantine, by Helena, a woman of humble origins with whom he had cohabited in concubinage, as was the custom at the time when differences in social class did not permit legal union. On the death of Constantius Chlorus on 25 July 306, it was Constantine, then aged 34, who, by reason of age and experience (Theodora's children were young), took over his father's legacy; Theodora's family thus lived in Constantine's shadow. Constantine, once he became emperor, on 1 March 317, elevated to the rank of Caesar both his son Crispus, born around 295 from his union with his concubine Minervina, and Constantine jr, born in January-February 316 from his union with Fausta, his legitimate wife. On 13 November 324 Constantius jr (born 7.8.317), the second son of the Fausta branch, was also elevated to the rank of Caesar. Crispus died in Pola in the autumn of 326, executed perhaps after a conviction for adultery consummated with his stepmother Fausta, who also died at the same time or shortly afterwards. On 25 December 333, also Constans,the third son of the legitimate branch, born in 323, was made Caesar and, in the summer of 335, so was Dalmatius, son of Dalmatius senior, of Theodora's branch. After the death of Crispus, Constantine I shared the responsibilities of government with his sons, so that Constantine Caesar had Spain, Gaul and Britain, Constans Caesar Italy, Illyria and Africa and Constantius Caesar the Asian provinces and Egypt, while Constantine I kept the Balkan peninsula for himself (see map of the empire in the link). Before his death, on 22 May 337, Constantine remembered in his will his nephews, Dalmatius Caesar and Hannibalian, sons of Dalmatius senior Constantine's half-brother, and left them the Balkan peninsula and the government of Armenia and the Pontus coast respectively. This was the cause of their misfortune: on hearing the news of his father's death, Constantius Caesar rushed to Constantinople where he organised a revolt against his uncles and cousins who were descendants of Theodora. Two of Constantine's half-brothers, including Dalmatius senior and Julius Constantius, and seven of his nephews, including Dalmatius Caesar and Hannibalianus, were slaughtered, only Constantius Gallus and Julian, the future Apostate, survived. Shortly after the massacre, Constantius met his brothers at Sirmium in Pannonia and with the simultaneous elevation of the three brothers to the rank of Augusti, formalised the new division of the empire on 9.9.337 (for the date, see Ric. p. 6). With the division (for details, see wikipedia), Constantius was assigned the eastern provinces, including Constantinople and Thrace, as well as Asia Minor, Syria, Egypt and Cyrenaica. Constantine had the territories assigned to him by his father confirmed. Constans, at first placed under the tutelage of Constantine, received Italy, Africa, Illyricum, Pannonia, Macedonia and Achaea. However, Constantine soon objected that he had not received the amount of territory to which he was entitled as older brother. Irritated that Constans had been assigned Thrace and Macedonia after Dalmatius' death, he demanded that Constans, as compensation, cede part of the African provinces, a request that Constans at first seemed to comply with in order to maintain a fragile peace. Soon, however, the negotiations shifted to the details of the African borders. Further complications arose when Constans, having come of age, demanded to remove himself from Constantine's tutelage. In 340 Constantine broke off negotiations and passed the word to arms by marching into Italy at the head of his troops. Constans, at that time in Dacia, sent a selected and disciplined corps of Illyrian troops in his own defence, with the intention of having the rest of the army follow soon after. Engaged in warfare himself, Constantine was killed in an ambush near Aquileia and Constans took possession of his territories. Constans began his reign in a decisive manner: in 341-42 he launched a successful campaign against the Franks and then moved into Britain in early 343, probably to suppress an uprising of the Pythian and Scots tribes. Towards the end of his reign, however, Constans made himself hated for his cruelty and misrule. Surrounding himself with favourites and preferring his own personal bodyguards to the army, he lost control of it. In 350 Magnentius, commander of the Rhine troops, rebelled by proclaiming himself emperor and was recognised by the western provinces of the empire. Constans, lacking military support, attempted to flee to Spain but, pursued, was captured in Gaul on the Pyrenean border and killed. A prophecy at his birth had predicted that he would die in his grandmother's arms; the place of his death bore the name of Helena, Constantine's mother and Constans' grandmother, so the prophecy had come true (see link). (4) FEL•TEMP•REPAR-ATIO. While the meaning of the legend alluding to the 'return of happy times' (perhaps those in which Rome still managed to maintain internal order and protect the population from invasion) is transparent, not entirely certain is the expansion of the legend, FELix TEMPorvm REPARATIO or FELicium TEMPorum REPARATIO or FELicis TEMPoris REPARATIO. (5) In the mint mark AQP•, AQ is short for Aquileia, while P identifies the officina that struck the coin (the first of three active in the period). (6) The Barbarian brought out of the hut symbolises perhaps the recolonisation of conquered territories. |
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