Numismatica Ars Classica
Auction 132 30-31 May 2022
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Licinius I augustus, 308 – 324
Aureus, Antiochia 317-319, AV 5.33 g. LICIN – IVS P F AVG Laureate head r. Rev. IOVI CONS – LICINI AVG Jupiter seated l. on throne on platform, holding Victory on globe in r. hand and sceptre in l.; on l., eagle with wreath in its beak. In field r., star above crescent. The platform inscribed SIC X / SIC XX. In exergue, ANT. C 129 var. (seated facing). Alföldi 263a.. RIC 20. Depeyrot 35/1. Calicó 5101.
Very rare. A spectacular portrait of exceptional style. Virtually as struck and almost Fdc
Ex Sotheby's Zurich 10 November 1972, Metropolitan, 228 and Leu 91, 2004, 682 sales. From the J.H. Durkee collection.
Licinius I was one of a number of Balkan soldiers in the Roman legions who after an illustrious career attained the throne. Born about A.D. 250 in Dacia Ripensis, he distinguished himself under Galerius during the latter's Persian expedition in A.D. 297. Thereafter he held a senior command on the Danube and was subsequently adopted by the emperor Diocletian. In A.D. 307 Galerius sent him as one of his envoys to parley with Maxentius, and although unsuccessful, in the following year he was made Augustus of the West with his domains being the Danubian and Balkan provinces of Thrace, Pannonia and Illyricum, as well as Maxentius' provinces of Italy, North Africa and Spain, which he never did gain. Both Maximinus II and Constantine I were against Licinius' elevation as it flouted their own claims to the throne, but by A.D. 310, in order to counter an alliance between Maximinus and Maxentius, Constantine had offered his sister Constantia's hand in marriage to Licinius. After Galerius' death in A.D. 311, Maximinus quickly moved to take all of Asia Minor before Licinius could do so. They soon reached an agreement to demarcate their respective territories at the continental border, but by the winter of A.D. 312/3 Maximinus had broken the agreement when he invaded Licinius' territories. Hurrying from Mediolanum where he had consummated his marriage to Constantia, Licinius rushed east to counter the forces of Maximinus. After several initial reverses, Licinius succeeded in defeating his enemy, and pursued him all the way to southern Asia Minor where he died soon thereafter at Tarsus. Maximinus' death left Licinius and his brother-in-law Constantine, who meanwhile had defeated Maxentius, in joint control of the Roman Empire, with Constantine firmly established as the sole Augustus in the West and Licinius as the sole Augustus in the East.
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Aureus, Antiochia 317-319, AV 5.33 g. LICIN – IVS P F AVG Laureate head r. Rev. IOVI CONS – LICINI AVG Jupiter seated l. on throne on platform, holding Victory on globe in r. hand and sceptre in l.; on l., eagle with wreath in its beak. In field r., star above crescent. The platform inscribed SIC X / SIC XX. In exergue, ANT. C 129 var. (seated facing). Alföldi 263a.. RIC 20. Depeyrot 35/1. Calicó 5101.
Very rare. A spectacular portrait of exceptional style. Virtually as struck and almost Fdc
Ex Sotheby's Zurich 10 November 1972, Metropolitan, 228 and Leu 91, 2004, 682 sales. From the J.H. Durkee collection.
Licinius I was one of a number of Balkan soldiers in the Roman legions who after an illustrious career attained the throne. Born about A.D. 250 in Dacia Ripensis, he distinguished himself under Galerius during the latter's Persian expedition in A.D. 297. Thereafter he held a senior command on the Danube and was subsequently adopted by the emperor Diocletian. In A.D. 307 Galerius sent him as one of his envoys to parley with Maxentius, and although unsuccessful, in the following year he was made Augustus of the West with his domains being the Danubian and Balkan provinces of Thrace, Pannonia and Illyricum, as well as Maxentius' provinces of Italy, North Africa and Spain, which he never did gain. Both Maximinus II and Constantine I were against Licinius' elevation as it flouted their own claims to the throne, but by A.D. 310, in order to counter an alliance between Maximinus and Maxentius, Constantine had offered his sister Constantia's hand in marriage to Licinius. After Galerius' death in A.D. 311, Maximinus quickly moved to take all of Asia Minor before Licinius could do so. They soon reached an agreement to demarcate their respective territories at the continental border, but by the winter of A.D. 312/3 Maximinus had broken the agreement when he invaded Licinius' territories. Hurrying from Mediolanum where he had consummated his marriage to Constantia, Licinius rushed east to counter the forces of Maximinus. After several initial reverses, Licinius succeeded in defeating his enemy, and pursued him all the way to southern Asia Minor where he died soon thereafter at Tarsus. Maximinus' death left Licinius and his brother-in-law Constantine, who meanwhile had defeated Maxentius, in joint control of the Roman Empire, with Constantine firmly established as the sole Augustus in the West and Licinius as the sole Augustus in the East.
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