Watch List notes:

Auction 88 Part I
The Roman Empire
Theodosius I, 379 – 395

Medallion of 1 ½ solidus, Mediolanum (?) after 380, AV 6.57 g. D N THEODO – SIVS P F AVG Pearl-diademed, draped and cuirassed bust r. Rev. FELIX ADVEN – TVS AVG N The emperor, nimbate, riding l. on horse and saluting with r. hand, his cloak billowing behind him; in exergue, COM. C –. Alföldi –. RIC –. Carson, Lafaurie –. Bastien Donativa –. Depeyrot –.
Apparently unique and unrecorded. A lovely portrait and an interesting reverse
composition, minor marks, otherwise about extremely fine

The occasion for this 'entry' medallion, struck at a North Italian mint, perhaps Milan, is difficult to establish since there were two important occasions in the 380s and 390s when Theodosius journeyed westward to help an embattled co-emperor. Indeed, it is equally probable that this ceremonial piece was struck upon Theodosius' arrival at Milan to help Valentinian II resist the usurper Magnus Maximus, or when he later returned to help Honorius defeat the rebel Eugenius.

Theodosius was the son of the enormously successful general Count Theodosius, who under Valentinian I had restored order in Britain and North Africa, and had commanded on the Rhine. If anything, Count Theodosius was a bit too successful, and he was executed early in 376 for reasons that appear to have been politically motivated. Count Theodosius' son, the future emperor Theodosius I, then settled into early retirement on the family estate in Spain, only to be recalled in 378 following the annihilation of Valens' army at Adrianople.

Since Theodosius had earlier served as the dux Moesiae, while his father was Valentinian's magister equitum, he was familiar with the Balkan region of the empire. During his tenure he had repelled a Sarmatian invasion of Moesia, amply demonstrating his skills as a general. Upon his resumption of military command, Theodosius led the armies then waging the Gothic war on the Danube and within a few months was promoted to emperor in the East by the 19-year-old Western Emperor Gratian.

In 383 the Spaniard Magnus Maximus revolted in Britain, which caused the murder of Gratian. Initially, Theodosius was unable to respond with force, and he grudgingly acknowledged the rebel as de facto co-emperor of Gratian's young son, Valentinian II, who had become the only legitimate emperor in the West upon his father's murder. Nearly four years later, in 387, Magnus Maximus raised the stakes by invading Italy, a dangerous aggression that forced Theodosius to patch up a quick peace with the Sasanians and lead an army westward.

Soon after his arrival in Italy in the summer of 388 – the first probable occasion for this 'entry medallion' – Theodosius defeated Magnus Maximus at Aquileia. He restored the throne to Valentinian II, who in the meantime had taken refuge in Thessalonica. Theodosius took up residence in Milan and in the following summer celebrated a triumph in Rome. He remained in Italy for more than three years to deal with crises on the Danube, which had delayed his return to Constantinople until the summer of 391.

Less than a year later after his return to the East, Theodosius learned of the usurpation of the Frankish soldier Arbogastes, who had overthrown the 20-year-old Valentinian II, for whom he had been acting as regent. To fill the imperial void, Arbogastes appointed the court official Eugenius as the new emperor of the West. As with the uprising of Magnus Maximus, Theodosius could not respond immediately. However, in 394 he led an army westward, and soon after arriving in Italy Theodosius defeated Eugenius and Arbogastes near Aquileia early in September, 394. These circumstances would have been no less fitting for the issuance of an 'entry medallion' such as the present piece.

In gaining his victory, Theodosius temporarily assumed control over the whole of the Roman world. His long-term plans for the administration of the empire are unknown, for less than five months after his victory the triumphant emperor died of natural causes at Milan early in January of 395. Rule over the Roman Empire was then inherited by Theodosius' incompetent sons Arcadius and Honorius, with the former ruling in the East and the latter in the West.