DIOCLETIAN
AD 284-305
AE Antoninianus. 3.35g, 22.3mm
MINTED: Lugdunum mint, AD 287-289
REF: RIC 53; Cohen 297; Bastien 143
OBVERSE: IMP C DIOCLETIANVS P F AVG, radiate, draped and cuirassed bust right, seen from behind.
REVERSE: IOVI TVTATORI AVGG, Jupiter standing left, holding Victory on globe in his right hand and long scepter; eagle left at his feet, P in exergue.
 
Provenance: 
From an old Swiss collection, purchased in the 1960s or 1970s from Numiphil Basel (with the collector’s old tag)

Notes: 
Toned silvered surfaces. Struck from a worn reverse die. 
 
Historical Notes: 
Diocletian was a soldier from the province of Dalmatia who became emperor in 284, ending a period of troubles for the Roman Empire known as the Crisis of the Third Century. Believing that the empire was too large to be effectively governed by a single man, he instituted a 'rule of four emperors', known as the Tetrarchy, appointing as co-senior emperor an old friend, Maximian, and two trusted junior colleagues, Galerius and Constantius Chlorus. Though his grand experiment eventually failed, while Diocletian lived and ruled, the empire regained its political stability and a measure of its former military strength. In 305, after 21 years on the throne, Diocletian, then in ill-health, abdicated his rule and retired to a massive fortified palace at Spalatum (modern day Split in Croatia), spending his days growing cabbages in the palace gardens. What remains of his imposing palace today is considered one of the grandest and most impressive ruins surviving from Roman times.