RIC VII Cyzicus 8

0317-0320 CE

An AE3 of the emperor Valerius Licinianus Licinius.

coins, Licinius, RIC VII, Cyzicus

Bethel University

Collin Barrett

POINT(3104951.62324393 4921510.81469073)

Turkey; Cyzicus
311-324 CE

Render unto Caesar Roman Coin Project

Coin

Image/jpeg

Latin

Cyzicus (Belkis)

AE3

AE2

Licinius (308-324 A.D.)

Roma

Constantine I

"Turkey;
YSE Kampı"

Bronze

IMP CONSTA-NTINVS AVG

Bust of Constantine I, laureate, draped, left, holding sceptre in right hand and mappa in left hand

IOVI CONS-ERVATORI AVGG

Jupiter, nude, chlamys draped across left shoulder, standing left, holding Victory on globe in right hand and sceptre in left hand

Born in Dacia to a peasant family, Valerius Licinianus Licinius (Licinius) had no reason to become the eventual Augustus of the Eastern Roman Empire (308-324 CE). Through military ser-vice however, he was able to work his way up the Roman military hierarchy. Eventually Licinius befriended Gaius Galerius Valerius Maximianus (Galerius) who became emperor after the abdica-tion of Diocletian. Galerius wanted to make Licinius ruler of the West, but the usurpers Constantine I and Maxentius had already wrested control from Severus of Rome. Licinius settled with serving as Caesar and managing the province Pannonia. He succeeded Galerius as Augustus after his death; however, at the Carnuntum conference (307 CE) Galerius had named both Licinius and Maximinus as the heirs to his rule. Thus, when Licinius took power (308 CE) he immediately set out against Maximinus and routed him at Tzurulum, east of Adrianople, which served as the key turning point to gaining total power in the Eastern Empire.
After a brief accord, Constantine I and Licinius had an unstable peace between the Eastern and Western Empires. This peace was thrown in jeopardy when Constantine I acquired the provinc-es of Pannonia and Moesia in the western portion of Licinius’ Empire. The following ten years there was a crumbling peace between the two rulers. During this time, Licinius amassed a fortune in his treasury and a sizable army then in the year 324 CE the two clashed once more. Constantine I was instigated because Licinius was attempting to undermine the succession of Constantine’s sons and was not recognizing the religious authorities he placed. Licinius was defeated in July at Adri-anople by an incredible display of deception and trickery by Constantine, who ambushed Licinius. In September, Constantine attacked Licinius again, this time by a frontal assault. Licinius retreated to Byzantium where, he surrendered to Constantine I with a purple robe and supplicated his mercy. Licinius had been previously assured he would be spared by his wife, who was the half-sister of Constantine. Constantine I was willing to show some mercy to Licinius and had him exiled to Thes-salonica. The following year Constantine I had Licinius executed on charges of instigating a rebel-lion after Constantine killed Licinius’ sons.
Licinius ruled during a tumultuous time filled with civil strife and uneasy peace. His reli-gious views always seemed skewed between Christianity and traditional paganism with examples of his army praying to a monotheistic deity before fighting Maximinus, and he then later instituted mild forms of persecution of Christians in the east after the year 320 CE. Galerius was also a close friend of Licinius, and Galerius was an ardent pagan who bed persecuted Christians until his death. Admittedly, on Galerius death bed he begrudgingly extended tolerance to Christians fearing his ill-ness was a result of his religious intolerance. It is hard to reconcile Galerius befriending a Christian when it is cited as a key reason for Galerius’ distaste for Constantine I, therefore it is comfortable to say that Licinius was likely a pagan who had little more than indifference for Christianity except when it suited him during his battles with Constantine I.

On this coin Licinius could have been attempting to reconcile with his co-emperor Constantine I. Starting with the obverse, the coin outright has a bust of Constantine I holding a mappa in one hand and a scepter in the other. Both of these symbolize royalty and consulship, therefore the depiction of Constantine I as a royal consul would be an incredible compliment. Licinius also writes Constantine I’s name in such a way that emphasizes him as emperor (IMP) and Augustus (AVG) which may be Licinius acknowledging his co-emperors right to rule and his authority. Licinius may have done this because he recently lost his some of his provinces in the western portion of his empire to Constantine I. The back is much more mutualistic for Licinius. By having Jupiter as the preserver of two emperors, Licinius would send a subtle message that even though Constantine I had more power than Licinius, his rule was still divine. More so, Jupiter is holding a globe with victory symbolizing that the Roman empire had conquered the world and that everything was under Jupiter’s dominion and had been given to the two emperors, whom Jupiter preserves.

One other interesting fact about this coin are the dates it was minted. The minor civil war that had arose over the provinces Constantine I stole from Licinius ended in the year 317 CE, the same year this coin entered into circulation. Also, the same year this coin was stopped being minted (320 CE) was the year Licinius began to pass some antichristian legislature that heightened the tension between the two emperors, and at this point it was only four years shy of Licinius deposition. The wreath on the bottom of the reverse is also a variable symbol, with many of the similar coins having an eagle to represent Jupiter; however, with a wreath being one of the possible symbols it would make sense that this iteration of Jupiter is likely Jupiter Victor. Lastly, as is apparent, the dirty coin still has significant areas of corrosion, and therefore the attributing was done on key images on the reverse. This reverse is also very similar to Licinius II (the younger) who was a Caesar under his father Licinius. The main distinction between these coins is the direction of the bust on the obverse and because by all indications the bust is Constantine facing left, and therefore the coin is that of the elder Licinius.

(wreath)/∈//SMK

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