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At first glance, this coin seems like just another ordinary bronze nummus struck by Rome’s Tetrarchy. Deeper inspection, however, reveals layer after layer of astonishing interest. For starters, it features Constantine (ca. 272 – 337 AD), arguably the most famous and infamous Roman Emperor of them all, whose coins are highly sought after by ancient coin enthusiasts, and it represents the first-ever issue that names him as Augustus. In addition, this particular coin is a magnificent historical artifact; it is not an official imperial issue, but rather a rogue strike produced at a time when Constantine had not yet been accepted for the supreme role shown on the coin (Augustus) by the official Eastern Tetrarchy under Galerius. Particularly fascinating is this coin's pedigree; in a highly situational irony, it was struck by a fellow Western usurper, Maxentius, who would ultimately become Constantine’s bitterest arch-enemy. Even this coin's seemingly standard Tetrarchal obverse depiction — a stern, blocky profile, replete with a prominent beard — holds a surprise: that beard shouldn't be there, since Constantine made it a point to remain clean-shaven, and any coins showing otherwise are not just rare but highly unusual.
Uncovering how these contradictions collided on this flan requires untangling the dangerous realities of Constantine’s youth. Born in Naissus to the general Constantius Chlorus and a humble stable-maid named Helena, young Constantine spent over a decade in the far-Eastern court of Nicomedia. He served as a highly capable military tribune, but in reality, he played the role of a hostage held by Diocletian and Galerius to ensure his father’s loyalty in the West. His escape to freedom in 306 AD is the stuff of historical legend. Permitted a travel pass by a half-drunk Galerius late one evening, Constantine fled in the dead of night. To paralyze any pursuit, he rode like a madman across the continent, systematically disabling the relay horses at every
cursus publicus (imperial post station) behind him. He reached the Gallic coast at Boulogne just as his father’s fleet was actively boarding troops to cross the English Channel. When Constantius died the following year, the loyal northern legions, in high spirits from a string of successful campaigning, didn't wait on ceremony and acclaimed Constantine as the new Western Emperor.
While the troops in Britannia reportedly proposed to elevate their new leader to Augustus, Constantine cautiously claimed only the junior title of Caesar for himself in his own territories to avoid an immediate confrontation with the East. But that didn't stop others from trying to prop Constantine further up the imperial career ladder. Meanwhile back in Rome, fellow usurper Maxentius launched his own bloody insurrection to protest the loss of Italy’s traditional tax exemptions. Desperate for a unified Western front against Galerius, Maxentius weaponized his newly captured mints. He launched a sophisticated, cross-continental propaganda blitz across Rome, Ticinum, Aquileia, and Carthage, striking coins like this Rome-minted flagship to entice Constantine into a rebel coalition. Notably, it is likely the very first issue to ever name Constantine as a Roman Augustus. The reverse depicts the state protector, Roma, safely enclosed within a grand hexastyle temple, holding a globe and scepter beside the defiant legend CONSERVATO-RES VRB SVAE ("Preservers of Their City"). Maxentius was using his local dies to assert that true Roman legitimacy had been restored to the native sons of the West. Not unintentionally, the design of this coin is nearly identical to contemporaneous coins Maxentius struck in his own name. As both coins circulated in Italy, the populace might have commented
quasi duae guttae aquae, describing how the two Western Augusti were akin, just like two drops of water.
Despite the implied camaraderie given off by this coin, this numismatic honeymoon was remarkably brief. The fragile alliance dissolved into a toxic dynastic feud when Maxentius suffered a bitter public falling out with his own father, the restless, retired Augustus Maximian. Jealous of his son’s tightening grip on Rome, old Maximian openly attempted to strip the imperial purple robes off Maxentius’s shoulders at a military assembly. The soldiers sided with the younger usurper, forcing the humiliated father to flee across the Alps into Gaul to seek asylum with Constantine. To patch up the fractured Western alliance, the old man brokered a dynastic marriage, wedding his daughter Fausta to Constantine in the summer of 307 AD. Yet, the fraternal harmony between the two brothers-in-law was permanently ruined. Constantine steadfastly refused to march his elite northern legions south into an open civil war on Maxentius's behalf, choosing instead to maintain a cold, calculated neutrality. Realizing his brother-in-law was harboring his rogue father and maintaining a useless stance while refusing to spill a single drop of blood for Rome, a bitter Maxentius retaliated in the autumn of 307 AD. Specifically, Maxentius had all his mints reflect Constantine's demotion back to Caesar on all subsequent Italian coinage.
Five years later, this increasingly contentious brotherhood shattered completely on the banks of the Tiber, where Maxentius met his fateful end and Constantine marched into the capital as its undisputed master. History often sanitizes the narrative that followed, glorifying Constantine as an enlightened saint and visionary. Yet beneath the romanticized veneer lies a darker, chilling side whose transgressions extend beyond mere fratricide. Constantine's complex legacy is akin to the complexity of this numismatic masterpiece, whose striking depth reveals a microcosm of one man's incredible journey from hostage to usurper to supreme master of the Western world.
Additional Reading: E Marlowe,
Liberator Urbis Suae: Constantine and the Ghost of Maxentius, in
The Emperor and Rome: Space, Representation, and Ritual, BC Ewald and CF Noreña, Eds.,Cambridge University Press, 2010, 199-219.
Coin Details: ROMAN EMPIRE, Constanine I, as self-proclaimed Augustus, Struck by Maxentius, 306-307 AD, Rome, Nummus (6.12 g, 26 mm), NGC Grade: Ch XF, Strike: 5/5, Surface: 4/5, Obverse: Laureate head right, CONSTANTINVS P F AVG, Reverse: Roma, helmeted, draped, seated front, head left, seated front in hexastyle temple, holding globe in right hand and scepter in left hand, shield at side, CONSERVATO- RES VRB SVAE / R (star) Q, References: RIC 197.
Image: Sony ɑ 7R Ⅴ camera / Sony FE 90mm 2.8/100 Macro GM lens.