Leu Numismatik AG
Auction 7 24-25 Oct 2020
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Maximianus, first reign, 286-305. Aureus (Gold, 19 mm, 5.38 g, 7 h), Treveri, 294. MAXIMIANVS P AVG Laureate head of Maximianus to right. Rev. HERCVLI DEBELLAT / PT Hercules standing left, raising club over his right shoulder, about to strike the Lernaean Hydra who coils around his right leg. Calicó 4659 (same dies) Depeyrot 1C/2. Cohen 253. RIC 10. Rare and in exceptional condition. A lustrous and spectacular example of great beauty. Virtually as struck.
Long before the First Tetrarchy, emperors such as Domitian, Commodus, Septimius Severus or Postumus had had favorite divine companions, but it was Diocletian, along with his co-ruler Maximian, who brought the concept to a completely new level. While Diocletian, as the senior Augustus, associated himself with Jupiter, his co-ruler and loyal supporter Maximian chose Hercules as his personal companion. A broadly conceived iconographic program followed, with numerous series of coins showing the two Augusti together with, or in the guise of, their divine comites. The present aureus of Maximianus shows, on the reverse, the second of the Twelve Labors of his patron hero Hercules, the killing of the dreaded Hydra, a serpentine water monster living in Lake Lerna south of Argos.
Long before the First Tetrarchy, emperors such as Domitian, Commodus, Septimius Severus or Postumus had had favorite divine companions, but it was Diocletian, along with his co-ruler Maximian, who brought the concept to a completely new level. While Diocletian, as the senior Augustus, associated himself with Jupiter, his co-ruler and loyal supporter Maximian chose Hercules as his personal companion. A broadly conceived iconographic program followed, with numerous series of coins showing the two Augusti together with, or in the guise of, their divine comites. The present aureus of Maximianus shows, on the reverse, the second of the Twelve Labors of his patron hero Hercules, the killing of the dreaded Hydra, a serpentine water monster living in Lake Lerna south of Argos.