RIC VII Thessalonica 19

317-318 CE

A AE2 or AE3 of the emperor Constantine I.

Diety: Victory, Jupiter Emperor: Constantine I

Bethel University

Conor Nordmeyer

POINT(2554782.31335 4958407.87595731)

Render Unto Caesar Roman coin project.

Coin

Image/Jpeg

Latin

Thessalonica (Thessaloniki)

AE2

AE3

Constantine I (306- 337 A.D.)

Jupiter, Victoria

Constantine I

Macedonia

Bronze

IMP CONSTANTINVS P F AVG

Head of Constantine I, laureate, right

IOVI CONS-ERVATORI

Jupiter, nude, chlamys draped across left shoulder, standing left, holding Victory on globe in right hand and leaning on sceptre with left hand; to left, eagle with wreath

Flavius Valerius Constantinus was born into the Valerius family in 280 CE. Born in the city of Naissus, Moesia his father Flavius was an Officer in the Roman army, and his mother Helena was Flavius’ concubine. As Constantine grew in age his father left Helena to marry the Step daughter of the late emperor Marcus Aurelius Valerius Maximianus Herculius Augustus (Maximian) which put him into position as Caesar under Maximian. In 305 CE when Maximian was abdicated Constantine’s father took the title of Emperor and ruled over Western Rome. After Constantine’s father died during a campaign in Britain Constantine was unanimously named to be the successor by his father’s army. In 307 CE Constantine began a series of civil wars against Maxentus and his father Maximian. While Constantine was fighting Maxentus he made a treaty with Licinius who was one of two emperors from the Eastern Roman Empire. Before Constantine defeated Maxentus at the Milvian bridge in 312 CE he had a vision. He saw a Christian symbol and knew if he painted the symbol Chi Rho on his shields his army would defeat Maxentus; he followed through with this vision. After Constantine had defeated Maxentus with the Chi Rho painted on their shields it changed his view of Christianity. He addressed the status of Christians, issuing the Edict of Milan in 313 CE. This Statement legalized Christianity and made it legal to worship anywhere in the empire.
After Constantine became the sole ruler of western Rome he turned his sights toward the east. While Licinius was fighting civil wars against Maximinus, Constantine began gaining some territories in eastern Rome. After Licinius defeated Maximinus his gaze turned toward western Rome and Constantine I. Even before Constantine conquered land in Eastern Rome there was tension between Constantine and Licinius, because Licinius didn’t follow the treaty that was ratified by the two empires. In 324 CE the tension finally boiled over, and Constantine attacked Licinius defeating him at the battle of Adrianople and Chrysopolis. After Licinius was defeated he symbolically brought a purple robe to the feat of Constantine and proclaimed emperor and lord over all.
After Constantine defeated Licinius he became the sole ruler over the Eastern and western Empires of Rome and reestablished the Roman empire. After that was completed Constantine called all the Roman Church officials together at the First Council of Nicaea in 325 CE. During this meeting, Jesus was declared a divine being and the making of the Nicene Creed. After Constantine had toured the eastern Empire he renamed the city of Byzantium. When he officially changed the name of the city to Constantinople it symbolized the separation of the eastern and western empires. During this same time, Constantine gave his three sons, Constantine, Constantius, and Constans the title of Caesar. After spending time, rebuilding Constantinople and reforming his army Constantine began to plan a campaign against the Sassanian Persians. Before he could complete the campaign, he fell ill and had to end the campaign before it even started. Knowing that he was on his death bed Contantine asked to be baptized and given his last rites. After he was baptized he passed away in 337 in Ancyrona at the age of 57, and later was buried in the Church of the Apostles.

Roman coins are small enough to fit into the palm of your hand, but they hold more symbols than most modern coinage. When you study a coin, you can’t take it for face value you must break down the Obverse and its reverse looking at each symbol for meaning. Most importantly remember that every mark on coin should be considered important until you research it. The reverse shows the god Jupiter holding a globe with the goddess Victory standing on the top. The naked god Jupiter has a chlamys draped over his left shoulder leaning on a Hosta and to the left of Jupiter there is a bird of prey. Focusing on the picture on the obverse, we see a picture of Constantine the first. Surrounding the obverse’s picture there is an inscription of words reading “IMP CONSTANTINVS P F AVG;” the P stands for Pius and the F stands for Felix. These words are written in Latin which according to Reid Goldsborough roughly translates to "Constantine, Emperor and Commander in Chief, Pious and Successful." On the reverse of the coin there is another inscription that reads “IOVI CONS-ERVATORI” which some believe translates to Jupiter Guardian and protector. This is an interesting translation because it fits with the image on the reverse.
When you look at the reverse of the coin the first image that draws you in is the nude figure in the center of the coin. The nudity of this man is symbolizing divinity in the Greco-Roman world. It was a very strong assumption that the deity is depicting Jupiter, because of the eagle that is standing to his left and also the inscription around perimeter of the reverse. Jupiter is the god of the sky and thunder, and in many different cases he is said to use eagles as messengers. One example written by Pseudo-Apollodorus talks about how Jupiter’s eagle stole a boy named Ganymedes to make him a cupbearer to Jupiter.

If we move from the eagle to the depiction of the woman standing on a globe we see that the figure has wings, and is associated with Jupiter so we can assume it is Victoria the goddess of victory. In this case Victoria is standing on a globe or sphere which symbolized the area that the emperor ruled over. Sometimes instead of a globe she may stand on a rostrum to depict a series of naval battles that an emperor had won. If you look close at Victoria’s hand you can see her holding a laurel which is a crown given to citizen who have won a great victory in Rome. From the viewers angle it could look like she is p resenting the laurel to Jupiter as a sign of his victory over the world.
Every time this coin is looked at there may be something new discovered or interpreted and that is the cool thing about coins. No one knows the true reason why the Romans used these images. It will forever be a mystery, but with any mystery there are clues that can lead us on a journey to fill in the blanks concerning why a series of coins were made in a specific way.

20 mm

2.03 g.