Roma Numismatics Ltd
Auction XXVII 22-23 Mar 2023
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Constantine I 'the Great' AV Solidus. Treveri, AD 312-313. CONSTANTINVS P F AVG, laureate head to right / GAVDIVM ROMANORVM, Francia seated to left on ground, resting head on hand and leaning right hand on grounded bow behind her, trophy in background; FRANCIA in exergue. RIC VI 824 var. (no bow), cf. RIC VII p. 255 for rev. type; C. 168 (bow described as column); Depeyrot 18/3; Jameson 351 corr. (bow not mentioned). 4.16g.
NGC graded AU 5/5 - 3/5, brushed (#5791248-002). Extremely Rare.
In his youth Constantine accompanied his father Constantius I Chlorus on a campaign to Britain in AD 305, where Constantius died at Eobarcum (York) after having fought against the Picts beyond Hadrian's Wall. Upon his father's death Constantine was appointed Caesar by Galerius, Augustus in the East, and he remained in the West commanding a vast army along the Rhine. The Franks invaded Gaul across the Rhine in AD 306 and were brutally repelled by Constantine's army. The captured kings Ascaric and Merogais were paraded in the amphitheatre of Treveri, the tetrarchic capital of the West, and fed to the beasts. Eumenius recalls this event in his Panegyrici Latini (xi), taunting "where now is that ferocity of yours? Where is that ever untrustworthy fickleness?", referencing a possible etymology for the name 'Franci' from the Latin 'ferocia' and Germanic 'frech', meaning 'fierce' or 'bold'. This coin is testament to the significance of this victory to Constantine's reign, minted several years after the event itself and after Constantine I 'the Great' had put down rebellions of Maxentius, Maximian and Maximinus to emerge victorious in Rome in AD 312 as one of two co-emperors with Licinius I.
The present coin portrays the victory of Constantine I 'the Great' over the Franks with a pitiful image of Francia, the personification of the tribe, using the typical iconography of the mourning captive. It forms part of a long numismatic tradition of representing Roman victory over foreign peoples with captive female personifications. Precedents can be found amongst the aurei of Vespasian celebrating the Flavian victory over Judaea, Domitian's aureus of Germania (RIC II.1 560), Marcus Aurelius' denarii of Armenia (RIC III 81) and Trajan's sestertii displaying a the Roman male personification Tiber trampling the female figure of Dacia (RIC II 556), a scene with remarkable stylistic parallels to the monumental relief of Claudius overpowering the figure of Britannia from the Sebasteion at Aphrodisias.
Francia's defeated posture and mournful gesture, placing her head in her hands, seated as she is beneath a trophy of Francish weapons, appears in jarring contrast to the legend 'GAVDIVM ROMANORVM' which proclaims the joy and delight of the Romans at the defeat of the Franks and highlights the disdain with which Romans perceived the 'barbarians', who threatened their frontiers and the security of the Empire.
NGC graded AU 5/5 - 3/5, brushed (#5791248-002). Extremely Rare.
In his youth Constantine accompanied his father Constantius I Chlorus on a campaign to Britain in AD 305, where Constantius died at Eobarcum (York) after having fought against the Picts beyond Hadrian's Wall. Upon his father's death Constantine was appointed Caesar by Galerius, Augustus in the East, and he remained in the West commanding a vast army along the Rhine. The Franks invaded Gaul across the Rhine in AD 306 and were brutally repelled by Constantine's army. The captured kings Ascaric and Merogais were paraded in the amphitheatre of Treveri, the tetrarchic capital of the West, and fed to the beasts. Eumenius recalls this event in his Panegyrici Latini (xi), taunting "where now is that ferocity of yours? Where is that ever untrustworthy fickleness?", referencing a possible etymology for the name 'Franci' from the Latin 'ferocia' and Germanic 'frech', meaning 'fierce' or 'bold'. This coin is testament to the significance of this victory to Constantine's reign, minted several years after the event itself and after Constantine I 'the Great' had put down rebellions of Maxentius, Maximian and Maximinus to emerge victorious in Rome in AD 312 as one of two co-emperors with Licinius I.
The present coin portrays the victory of Constantine I 'the Great' over the Franks with a pitiful image of Francia, the personification of the tribe, using the typical iconography of the mourning captive. It forms part of a long numismatic tradition of representing Roman victory over foreign peoples with captive female personifications. Precedents can be found amongst the aurei of Vespasian celebrating the Flavian victory over Judaea, Domitian's aureus of Germania (RIC II.1 560), Marcus Aurelius' denarii of Armenia (RIC III 81) and Trajan's sestertii displaying a the Roman male personification Tiber trampling the female figure of Dacia (RIC II 556), a scene with remarkable stylistic parallels to the monumental relief of Claudius overpowering the figure of Britannia from the Sebasteion at Aphrodisias.
Francia's defeated posture and mournful gesture, placing her head in her hands, seated as she is beneath a trophy of Francish weapons, appears in jarring contrast to the legend 'GAVDIVM ROMANORVM' which proclaims the joy and delight of the Romans at the defeat of the Franks and highlights the disdain with which Romans perceived the 'barbarians', who threatened their frontiers and the security of the Empire.