RIC X Arcadius 58

Title

RIC X Arcadius 58

Date

395 - 401 AD

Description

An AE2 of the emperor Arcadius

Subject

Coin, Emperor, Arcadius

Publisher

Bethel University

Contributor

Jeremy Tutt

Coverage

POINT(3111967.5341502 5007922.0995074)

Relation

Render Unto Caesar Coin Project

Type

Coin

Format

image/jpeg

Language

Latin

Mint

Heraclea (Marmara Ereğlisi)

Denomination

AE3

Authority

Arcadius (395-408 A.D.)

Portrait

Arcadius

Region

Thrace

Material

Bronze

Obverse Legend

D N ARCADI-VS P F AVG

Obverse Type

Bust of Arcadius, pearl-diademed, draped, cuirassed, right

Reverse Legend

VIRTVS - EXERCITI

Reverse Type

Arcadius, standing left, head right, holding spear in right hand and resting left hand on shield; crowned by Victory, holding palm in left hand

Obverse Analysis

Arcadius was the eldest of two sons born to the Roman Emperor Theodosius. Arcadius passed many laws during his reign, quite a few of which involved Christianity. By all accounts he was a devout Christian Emperor of Rome and his laws he enacted reflect that. When Arcadius was just a boy, Theodosius granted him the title of emperor of the Eastern Roman Empire. Around the same time, his father rode off to war and left him behind under the tutelage of the prefect of the court, Rufinus.
Leaving with Theodosius was Arcadius’ younger brother Honorius, who would also later be named an emperor of the Western Roman Empire and left under the supervision of Stilico, who was the commander of Theodosius’ army in that region. Theodosius would later die of disease, leaving the entirety of the empire to his two sons.
Due to the young age of Arcadius and his brother, the empire was essentially ran by Rufinus in the east and Stilico in the west. In the east, Rufinus conspired to make himself emperor by trying to marry his daughter to Arcadius so that she would become empress and he would be a family member of Arcadius. Arcadius would end up choosing another woman, foiling Rufinus’ plans for the meantime.
While this story with Rufinus played out in the east, in the west, Stilico would successfully marry his daughter Serena to Honorius resulting in a higher level of authority for Stilico. Stilico started to move east in order to convince Arcadius that Theodosius, on his deathbed, had left the affairs of the empire under his own supervision. When Rufinus caught wind of these plans, he raised an army of his own to meet Stilico and to also greatly weaken the forces of Arcadius. Rufinus would drive Stilico forces back to Italy and in the meantime weaken the states over which Arcadius controlled. Upon his return to Italy, Stilico convinced Honorius to send troops to his brother aid. When the troops arrived in Constantinople, Arcadius greeted them with kindness and after receiving the signal, they all surrounded Rufinus and killed him. After Rufinus a man named Eutropius would assume the role of Rufinus and he too would be killed for treason.
Zosimus (Greek Historian, Nova Historia) does not say much Arcadius the emperor. Much of the text that involves Arcadius is centered around other political players. Essentially Arcadius’ entire life and rule he was the puppet of some political figure. He was a weak emperor and politically savvy people were always trying to control him or take over his position. Arcadius wanted the date of his death written down so that no one would be ignorant to the time of his death, “...it happened in the consulship of Bassus and Philippus, during which the emperor Arcadius submitted to fate, on the twenty-second day of August.” (August 22, 408 CE)

Mintmark

SMHA

Diameter

18 mm

Weight

2.57 g

Files

RomancoinTutt0201.jpg
RomancoinTutt0202.jpg

Citation

“RIC X Arcadius 58,” Render Unto Caesar, accessed March 28, 2024, https://renderuntocaesar.betheldigitalscholarship.org/items/show/22.

Output Formats