Numismatica Ars Classica
Auction 132 30-31 May 2022
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Constantine I, 307 – 337
Medallion, Sirmium 320-324, AR 4.88 g. CONSTANTINVS MAX AVG Head of Constantine r. Rev. CRISPVS ET CONSTANTINVS C C Busts of Crispus and Constantine II, facing one another. In exergue, SIRM. C 3. RIC 14. Bastien, Donativa p. 76, note 11. Gnecchi p. 59, 1 and pl. 29, 8.
Very rare and in exceptional condition for the issue, possibly the finest specimen known.
Struck on unusually fresh metal for this issue. Virtually as struck and almost Fdc
Ex Tkalec 25 October 1996, 284.
In 321 the Caesars Crispus and Constantine II jointly celebrated their fifth anniversary of power, their quinquennalia, for which this medallic miliarensis was struck. At the time their father Constantine was nearing his fiftieth year, and for some time he had been residing in northern Italy and the Balkans on a wary watch against his co-emperor Licinius. In the meantime he had left the western provinces in the hands of the court that served his eldest son Crispus, who had been mired in seasonal warfare on the Rhine since 318. Thus, when Crispus left the German front to join his father and his brother Constantine II in the Balkans for a series of ceremonies, it was a cause for celebration. The first ceremony occurred on January 1, 321, when Crispus and Constantine II jointly assumed their second consulates at Serdica, the provincial capital that in recent times Constantine had declared his 'new Rome'. After winter broke the royal entourage moved to Sirmium, where on March 1 the boys celebrated their quinquenalia, and Crispus seems to have married Helena, a woman with the same name as his grandmother, who likely was a relative. Constantine's parading of his two eldest sons through the Balkans in 321 was no mere luxury, but a power play against Licinius, with whom Constantine was trying to escalate hostilities. He found different ways and occasions to provoke Licinius, including his unwillingness to share the consulship equally between the two ruling families. The insult had grown so unbearable that by 321 Licinius refused to recognize the consuls named by Constantine, and had elected himself and his own son, Licinius II, as consuls in the East. Thus, in this small medallion we find a clever provocation of a Licinius, who Constantine would soon enough draw into conflict and defeat so he could assume command of the whole Roman Empire.
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Medallion, Sirmium 320-324, AR 4.88 g. CONSTANTINVS MAX AVG Head of Constantine r. Rev. CRISPVS ET CONSTANTINVS C C Busts of Crispus and Constantine II, facing one another. In exergue, SIRM. C 3. RIC 14. Bastien, Donativa p. 76, note 11. Gnecchi p. 59, 1 and pl. 29, 8.
Very rare and in exceptional condition for the issue, possibly the finest specimen known.
Struck on unusually fresh metal for this issue. Virtually as struck and almost Fdc
Ex Tkalec 25 October 1996, 284.
In 321 the Caesars Crispus and Constantine II jointly celebrated their fifth anniversary of power, their quinquennalia, for which this medallic miliarensis was struck. At the time their father Constantine was nearing his fiftieth year, and for some time he had been residing in northern Italy and the Balkans on a wary watch against his co-emperor Licinius. In the meantime he had left the western provinces in the hands of the court that served his eldest son Crispus, who had been mired in seasonal warfare on the Rhine since 318. Thus, when Crispus left the German front to join his father and his brother Constantine II in the Balkans for a series of ceremonies, it was a cause for celebration. The first ceremony occurred on January 1, 321, when Crispus and Constantine II jointly assumed their second consulates at Serdica, the provincial capital that in recent times Constantine had declared his 'new Rome'. After winter broke the royal entourage moved to Sirmium, where on March 1 the boys celebrated their quinquenalia, and Crispus seems to have married Helena, a woman with the same name as his grandmother, who likely was a relative. Constantine's parading of his two eldest sons through the Balkans in 321 was no mere luxury, but a power play against Licinius, with whom Constantine was trying to escalate hostilities. He found different ways and occasions to provoke Licinius, including his unwillingness to share the consulship equally between the two ruling families. The insult had grown so unbearable that by 321 Licinius refused to recognize the consuls named by Constantine, and had elected himself and his own son, Licinius II, as consuls in the East. Thus, in this small medallion we find a clever provocation of a Licinius, who Constantine would soon enough draw into conflict and defeat so he could assume command of the whole Roman Empire.
View a video of this lot