Roma Numismatics Ltd
Auction XXV 22-23 Sep 2022
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Maximinus II, as Caesar, AV Aureus. Nicomedia, AD 307-308. MAXIMINVS CAESAR, laureate head to right / SOLI INVICTO NKYLXC (partially ligate), Sol standing to left with raised hand, holding globe and whip; SMN in exergue. RIC VI 46; C. 164; Depeyrot 11/3; Calicó 5044. 5.32g, 20mm, 6h.
Good Extremely Fine; some faint hairlines. Extremely Rare; rated R4 in Calicó and RIC, better preserved than the example sold by Hess-Divo
in 2014 (Auction 327, lot 149) for CHF 28,000.
From the inventory of a central European dealer.
According to Sutherland and Carson, no convincing explanation for the reverse legend suffix NKYLXC has been offered (RIC VI, p. 104n and 547). It is generally accepted however that the monogram NK represents the mint and YLXC a numerical notation connected with it.
Born of Dacian peasant stock to the sister of Galerius, Maximinus rose to high distinction in the army thanks to his uncle's influence as Caesar under Diocletian. In 305, according to Lactantius, Galerius forced Diocletian to abdicate, and through coercion and threats convinced Diocletian to fill the two vacated positions of Caesar with men compliant to his will. Thus, with the abdication of Diocletian and Maximianus, Galerius was raised to Augustus and immediately appointed his nephew Maximinus to the rank of Caesar along with an old friend, Severus. Portrayed by contemporary writers as vulgar, cruel and ignorant, Maximinus II gained eternal notoriety for his persecution of Christians in open defiance of the Edict of Toleration issued by Galerius. In 313, having imprudently allied himself to Maxentius, the enemy of Constantine and Licinius, Maximinus found himself at war with Licinius, who marched against him and defeated him in a decisive battle at Tirizallum, despite Maximinus' army being a veteran force that outnumbered Licinius by more than two to one. Pursued and besieged by Licinius, he poisoned himself at Tarsus in Cilicia in AD 313, eight years after being named Caesar, and five and a half after assuming the purple. His children were put to death and his wife was thrown into the Orontes at Antioch where by her orders a great number of Christian women had been drowned.
Good Extremely Fine; some faint hairlines. Extremely Rare; rated R4 in Calicó and RIC, better preserved than the example sold by Hess-Divo
in 2014 (Auction 327, lot 149) for CHF 28,000.
From the inventory of a central European dealer.
According to Sutherland and Carson, no convincing explanation for the reverse legend suffix NKYLXC has been offered (RIC VI, p. 104n and 547). It is generally accepted however that the monogram NK represents the mint and YLXC a numerical notation connected with it.
Born of Dacian peasant stock to the sister of Galerius, Maximinus rose to high distinction in the army thanks to his uncle's influence as Caesar under Diocletian. In 305, according to Lactantius, Galerius forced Diocletian to abdicate, and through coercion and threats convinced Diocletian to fill the two vacated positions of Caesar with men compliant to his will. Thus, with the abdication of Diocletian and Maximianus, Galerius was raised to Augustus and immediately appointed his nephew Maximinus to the rank of Caesar along with an old friend, Severus. Portrayed by contemporary writers as vulgar, cruel and ignorant, Maximinus II gained eternal notoriety for his persecution of Christians in open defiance of the Edict of Toleration issued by Galerius. In 313, having imprudently allied himself to Maxentius, the enemy of Constantine and Licinius, Maximinus found himself at war with Licinius, who marched against him and defeated him in a decisive battle at Tirizallum, despite Maximinus' army being a veteran force that outnumbered Licinius by more than two to one. Pursued and besieged by Licinius, he poisoned himself at Tarsus in Cilicia in AD 313, eight years after being named Caesar, and five and a half after assuming the purple. His children were put to death and his wife was thrown into the Orontes at Antioch where by her orders a great number of Christian women had been drowned.