CRISPUS, Caesar AD 317-326

AE3. 3.32g, 18.8mm

MINTED: Thessalonica mint, AD 320-321 REF: RIC VII Thessalonica 121 OBVERSE: FL IVL CRISPVS NOB CAES, laureate, draped and cuirassed bust left.

REVERSE: CAESARVM NOSTRORVM around a wreath with star in badge at top, encircling VOT/./X; TSΔVI in exergue.

Notes:

Dark blackish green patina.  Surface roughness.

Historical Notes:

Crispus was born between 299 and 305.  He was the son of Constantine the Great, by Minervina, who was either Constantine's first wife or his concubine. Crispus was already given command of his own troops while a teenager, and he campaigned alongside his father in the civil wars of the Tetrarchs.  It was Crispus who led a fleet of 200 ships to victory against Constantine's last rival for sole imperial power, Licinius I, at the  Battle of the Hellespont in 324.  The dashing young prince was wildly popular with the people and soldiers, perhaps to an extent that made his own father wary of him.  Sometime in 326, for reasons still debated by scholars today, but possibly connected to an affair or intrigue with his stepmother Fausta, Constantine put his eldest son on trial for treason and proceeded to have him executed.