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Monthly Auction 271726 25 Jun 2017
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Maximinus I (AD 235-238). AR denarius (3.25 gm). NGC MS 4/5 - 5/5. Rome, 237. MAXIMINVS PIVS AVG GERM, laureate, draped, cuirassed bust right, seen from behind / P M TR P III - COS P P, emperor standing left in military attire, raising hand and holding spear, fixed standard to either side. RIC 5. RSC 64. An absolutely gorgeous example, struck on a medallic flan, with golden hues and underlying luster.
Gaius Julius Verus Maximinus, first of the Danubian soldier emperors, was probably born in the mid AD 180s in the hinterlands of Thrace. He seemed destined for life as a shepherd until a recruiter for the Roman auxiliaries noticed the strapping lad and induced him to join the army. Standing nearly seven feet tall, Maximinus soon came to the attention of the Emperor Septimius Severus, who made him an imperial bodyguard. Caracalla raised him to the rank of centurion and Severus Alexander gave him a series of increasingly important posts in the 230s, culminating in AD 235 with command of the field army for a major campaign against the Germans. By then, the legions were tired of the gentle, unmilitary Alexander, and when he and his mother arrived at Mainz and attempted to buy peace from the Germans, the disgusted soldiers slew them and raised Maximinus to the purple. A reluctant Senate confirmed him, but Maximinus immediately faced two attempted coups in favor of more blue-blooded candidates, which he ruthlessly suppressed. He then led the legions across the Rhine and deep into the German heartland. The Alamanni ambushed the Romans in a swamp north of Baden, but Maximinus, riding chest-high through the water, rallied his forces and inflicted a devastating defeat on the barbarians. The cowed Senate heaped him with honors and approved his son Maximus as Caesar, but the continuing warfare was expensive and required huge tax increases, with the burden falling heaviest on the merchant class and aristocracy. Even the humble came to resent the Thracian's tyranny, and in March of 238, the revolt of the Gordiani erupted in North Africa and quickly spread to Rome. Still campaigning on the Danube, Maximinus swung his army around and launched an invasion of Italy, vowing to drench the Senate house in blood. But he had neglected his supply train, and his army was forced into a drawn-out siege outside Aquileia in the heat of early summer. With their rations and water supply dwindling, the soldiers despaired and finally murdered Maximinus and his son as they took an afternoon siesta. Although derided as a vicious tyrant, Maximinus was an excellent soldier and clearly foresaw the need to militarize Roman society to meet the increasing tempo of barbarian attacks. But the Empire was not quite ready for his bitter medicine.
HID02901242017
Estimate: 250-350 USD
Maximinus I (AD 235-238). AR denarius (3.25 gm). NGC MS 4/5 - 5/5. Rome, 237. MAXIMINVS PIVS AVG GERM, laureate, draped, cuirassed bust right, seen from behind / P M TR P III - COS P P, emperor standing left in military attire, raising hand and holding spear, fixed standard to either side. RIC 5. RSC 64. An absolutely gorgeous example, struck on a medallic flan, with golden hues and underlying luster.
Gaius Julius Verus Maximinus, first of the Danubian soldier emperors, was probably born in the mid AD 180s in the hinterlands of Thrace. He seemed destined for life as a shepherd until a recruiter for the Roman auxiliaries noticed the strapping lad and induced him to join the army. Standing nearly seven feet tall, Maximinus soon came to the attention of the Emperor Septimius Severus, who made him an imperial bodyguard. Caracalla raised him to the rank of centurion and Severus Alexander gave him a series of increasingly important posts in the 230s, culminating in AD 235 with command of the field army for a major campaign against the Germans. By then, the legions were tired of the gentle, unmilitary Alexander, and when he and his mother arrived at Mainz and attempted to buy peace from the Germans, the disgusted soldiers slew them and raised Maximinus to the purple. A reluctant Senate confirmed him, but Maximinus immediately faced two attempted coups in favor of more blue-blooded candidates, which he ruthlessly suppressed. He then led the legions across the Rhine and deep into the German heartland. The Alamanni ambushed the Romans in a swamp north of Baden, but Maximinus, riding chest-high through the water, rallied his forces and inflicted a devastating defeat on the barbarians. The cowed Senate heaped him with honors and approved his son Maximus as Caesar, but the continuing warfare was expensive and required huge tax increases, with the burden falling heaviest on the merchant class and aristocracy. Even the humble came to resent the Thracian's tyranny, and in March of 238, the revolt of the Gordiani erupted in North Africa and quickly spread to Rome. Still campaigning on the Danube, Maximinus swung his army around and launched an invasion of Italy, vowing to drench the Senate house in blood. But he had neglected his supply train, and his army was forced into a drawn-out siege outside Aquileia in the heat of early summer. With their rations and water supply dwindling, the soldiers despaired and finally murdered Maximinus and his son as they took an afternoon siesta. Although derided as a vicious tyrant, Maximinus was an excellent soldier and clearly foresaw the need to militarize Roman society to meet the increasing tempo of barbarian attacks. But the Empire was not quite ready for his bitter medicine.
HID02901242017
Estimate: 250-350 USD