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Constantine the Great AE-3
(20mm, 3.89g), Treveri (Trier), Gaul (present-day Germany), officina (mint workshop) A, c. 317 AD, Sear 3868, RIC
VII Trier 131.
Obverse: Bust of Constantine the Great facing right, wearing a laurel wreath (crown of branches from a Mediterranean
evergreen tree that was a mark of honor conferred upon victorious athletes, heroes, generals, and poets) and a
paludamentum (large cloak typically worn by Roman generals) fastened at the right shoulder by fibula (pin), with
what may be a leather strap connecting the chest and back plate of a cuirass (body armor) at the left shoulder,
inscription "IMP CONSTANTINVS AVG" or "Imperator Constantine Augustus."
Reverse: Anatomically correct Sol, the Sun god, standing left, wearing a radiate crown (crown of sun rays) and
a chlamys (small cloak) fastened at the shoulder, with his right hand raised, holding in his left hand a globus
(celestial orb) decorated with an equinoctial cross (representing the spring and autumnal equinoxes), offering
the globus to Constantine (symbolizing Sol granting Constantine the power to rule the universe), standing on the
exergual line, inscription "SOLI INVICTO COMITI" or "To the invincible Sun god, companion of the
Emperor," T and F in the reverse left and right fields that may stand for "TEMPORVM FELICITAS" or
"The happiness of the age," mint mark of dot-ATR (last letter looks like an H) in the exergue, with TR
standing for Treveri (Trier), a Roman mint in eastern Gaul that's part of present-day Germany and that operated
c. 291-430 AD, A standing for the primary officina or mint workshop, and the dot differentiating among issues.
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The House of Constantine represented an epochal period in history. Rome,
the center of the Western world, transformed itself from paganism to Christianity. The period began with a great
emperor's embrace of a fringe religion for reasons that appear to be as much political and military as they were
spiritual, and it ended with another emperor's failed attempt to restore the Roman Empire to the polytheism of
its past.
With the rise of the Church came the centrality of dogmatism, of reality uncovered not by observation or experimentation
but put forth in doctrine written by those chosen to interpret the will of God, and intolerance, with no differing
views tolerated. Thus began more than a thousand years of darkness and decline in which original thinking was suppressed.
The supremacy of rationality, the importance of discovery, invention, and reasoning, which most distinguished the
ancient Greeks and which ushered in the central idea of "the West" during the 6th and 5th centuries BC,
would only be recovered, in fits and starts and with massive opposition from the Church, during the Renaissance.
But the problem of ideological rigidity continued to haunt humankind, and it haunts us today, as faith threatens
to obliterate reason, as belief dominates evidence, in the U.S. and abroad, in national politics as well as among
a large percentage of everyday people. Basing a world view and practical decisions on fixed, preconceived notions
handed down from above or from the past, of knowing what you know because you know it regardless of the evidence
against it, isn't unique to Christianity, Islam, Judaism, or religion in general. And religion isn't necessarily
dogmatic and intolerant. There is, however, a tendency toward dogmatism in religion, politics, and other areas
when knowledge and ethics are ascribed to an ultimate authority. History repeats. If it continues unchecked, if
belief again becomes the ultimate reality, another dark age may well result.
Dogmatism and intolerance didn't begin with Constantine the Great's embrace and subsequent legalization of Christianity.
As one of many precedents, when Anaxagoras in the 5th century BC taught that the Sun was a flaming rock, he was
charged with blasphemy in Athens, the very center of the birthplace of the West, which forced him to flee back
to his native Asia Minor.
But unlike most Greek city-states and Hellenistic kingdoms, the late Roman Empire, followed by Byzantium and Dark
Age Europe, embraced dogmatism. Ordering that others must believe and obey a particular dogma or face dire consequences
in this lifetime or afterward was central to their way of life. The same has been true with Communism and other
manifestations of authoritarian government in more recent times. And it's true today as well with many religious
fundamentalists of different religions, who believe that those who don't believe as they do will burn in Hell or
should be killed.
Constantine the Great, like Alexander the Great before him, wasn't dogmatic himself, at least initially, being
tolerant of differences by allowing others to worship the gods of their choice. After his famous vision of a cross
before the Battle of the Milvian Bridge in 312 AD and his full legalization of Christianity in 314, he continued
to mint coins bearing pagan imagery and to worship Sol, the Sun god, as the above coin well illustrates. But he
later began persecuting pagans just as pagans had earlier persecuted Christians, destroying Hellenistic and other
pagan temples and torturing pagan priests.
Constantine the Great is called "the Great" not only because he legalized Christianity but also because
he created the eastern capital of the Roman Empire at Byzantium, which he renamed Nova Roma (New Rome) and which
was later renamed again as Constantinopolis (Constantinople). It would be the center of the successor of the Roman
Empire, the Byzantine Empire, for more than a thousand years until its sack by the Ottoman Turks in 1453. Constantine
the Great also unified the Roman Empire through his military campaigns in 324 and initiated legal reforms, including
improving the rights of tenant farmers, women, prisoners, and slaves.
The last ruler of the House of Constantine was Julian II. During his reign from 360 to 363 AD, he unsuccessfully
tried to revive paganism and issued an edict of religious tolerance. A contemporary writer, Libanius, wrote that
Julian was assassinated by one of his Christian soldiers, though others have written that he died from wounds incurred
in battle. Julian would be both the last pagan Roman emperor and the last Constantinian emperor.
The Constantinian bronze at the top of this page is in FDC, or fleur-de-coin, condition. FDC, which is an acronym
for the French term flower of the die, is a fancy way of saying as close as possible to being free of visible defects
caused by die wear, strike, circulation wear, scratches and other damage, and corrosion. This is a very common
coin type, perhaps the most common bronze type of Constantine the Great, in uncommonly superb condition.
Coin grading is inherently subjective, and no coin grade is as subjective as FDC. Some coin dealers say they've
handled only a handful of FDC coins in their lifetimes. It could be argued that the above coin isn't FDC but merely
mint state or uncirculated because not all of the letters, and the dot in the mint mark, are engraved equally well
and because of the slight porosity in the fields. I'd argue that these factors support the coin's authenticity.
It's inevitable that some letters were engraved engraved more fully than others. If they were all struck the same,
totally uniform as they are on machine-struck modern coins, this would be a likely indication of a modern forgery.
The porosity in the fields is much more evident in this close-up photo than in the coin in hand. In hand, the fields
are slightly dimpled, looking as they should look on an ancient coin. If the fields were totally smooth, appearing
to be unaffected by 17 centuries of existence, it would mean they were in all probability tooled in some way --
smoothed with a buffer or filled with epoxy and artificially repatinated, as too many ancient bronzes are.
The dot or pellet in the mint mark, in the exergue of the coin underneath Sol, exists on every coin of this variety.
One or more dots also appeared in the mint mark on other Constantine the Great bronzes from Trier, on coins from
other cities, and on coins of other rulers, sometimes before, sometimes after, and sometimes within the letters.
The dots apparently were used as a differentiating mark for official bookkeeping purposes.
Among the variations of this same Constantine the Great coin type, which in addition to Trier were also minted
in Arles, London, Lyons, Nicomedia, Ostia, Rome, Siscia, and Ticinum, are those that depict Constantine with a
straighter nose, Constantine wearing just a cuirass (body armor) instead of a cuirass and paludamentum (cloak),
Sol's body facing right instead of left, Sol with longer rays in his crown, Sol's chlamys falling below both shoulders
instead of just his left shoulder, Sol's right arm held high and straight instead of bent, Sol's hips thrust forward
in an exaggerated way, Sol with pronounced musculature in his stomach and legs, and variations in the legends and
mint marks.
Other Roman emperors and usurpers also used the same SOLI reverse type, including but undoubtedly not limited to
Gordian III, Gallienus, Macrianus, Quietus, and Diocletian. Among the other SOLI reverse types depicting Sol are
those showing him holding a whip or Victory in his left hand, Sol treading down or standing between a captive or
captives, or just the head of Sol. On Roman coins Sol and Oriens are different names for the same god. Sol/Oriens
originated from the Greek god Helios, frequently depicted on ancient Greek coins. Here are three other Constantine the
Great SOLI bronzes.
Most Constantinan bronzes are inexpensive. The average cost of the coins illustrated below, despite their being
about 1,600 years old, is about $20, approximately the cost of a U.S. large cent in the same condition that's about
160 years old. Slightly more worn and smaller Constantinian bronzes can be had for $5 and under from the pick bins
of some ancient coin dealers at major coin shows. Constantinian bronzes give visual and tactile life to the emperors
and the women surrounding them who changed the world in 4th century AD Rome.
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Constantius II AE-2
(22mm, 4.4g), Constantiniple, Asia Minor (present-day Turkey), c. 348-351 AD, Sear 4003, RIC VIII Constantinople
81, LRBC 2026. Obverse: Bust of Constantius facing right. Reverse: Roman soldier spearing a fallen barbarian horseman,
"FEL TEMP REPARATIO," which translates into "Good times returned" or more loosely "Happy
times are here again." Constantius ruled Thrace, Macedonia, Greece, Egypt, and Asia from 337 to 353 AD, then
all the Roman Empire from 353 to 361 AD.
These fallen horseman type is probably the single most popular Constantinian bronze, with its dramatic battle scene
on the reverse. Most were struck by Constantius II, with some struck by Constans I, Magnentius, Constantius Gallus,
and Julian II. They were minted in Alexandria, Amiens, Antioch, Aquileia, Arles, Constantinople, Cyzicus, Heraclea,
Lyons, Nicomedia, Rome, Sirmium, Siscia, Thessalonica, and Trier. Along with the Constantine VLPPs, FEL TEMPs were
also frequently imitated by tribal peoples. Mark Lehman, an avid Roman coin collector and Ancient Coins for Education (ACE)
volunteer, estimates that between 10 and 25 percent of later FEL TEMPs, from the late 350s, are imitatives.
The above specimen, a large AE-2 from Constantinople, is one of the earlier ones. Doug Smith has more detail about
Falling Horseman and other FEL TEMP REPARATIO Constantinian bronzes.
"Helvetica" shows what you can do if you specialize in FEL TEMPS.
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Julian II AE-1 (29mm,
7.5g), Nicomedia, Asia Minor (present-day Turkey), c. 360-363 AD, Sear 4072, RIC VIII Nicomedia 121, LRBC 2319.
Obverse: Bust of Julian facing right. Reverse: Bull, a symbol of paganism, two stars (Gemini or Taurus), "SECVRITAS
REIPVB" or "Security of the state."
Julian, who was Constantine the Great's nephew, ruled the Roman Empire from 360 to 363 AD before he was killed
in battle with the Persians. He's best known for trying to revive paganism, unsuccessfully. The theological disputes
and blood feuds of early Christianity, which have continued to this day, had alienated him from the new religion
and turned him into a proponent of classical learning and paganism, and before becoming emperor he studied under
several prominent philosophers in Athens. Julian, who is sometimes referred to as Julian the Philosopher, was the
last pagan Roman emperor and the last emperor of the House of Constantine.
The above coin, sometimes termed a "double majorina," was a new denomination introduced by Julian. This
rough, well-worn specimen, contrasting sharply with the pristine coin that's the first illustrated on this page,
pointedly marks the end of an era. Here are variations on a theme, three Julian II copies.
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