LICINIUS I
AD 308-324AE Follis. 3.29g, 20.1mm
MINTED: Antioch mint, AD 321-323
REF: RIC VII Antioch 35 (R2)
OBVERSE: IMP C VAL LICIN LICINIVS PF AVG, radiate, draped, cuirassed bust right.
REVERSE: IOVI CONS-ERVATORI, Jupiter standing left, chlamys across left shoulder, holding Victory on globe and eagle-tipped sceptre, eagle with wreath at foot left, captive at foot right; X over II Mu in right field; SMANTB in exergue.
Notes:Brown patina. Scattered greenish deposits in field.
Historical Notes:
Licinius was the son of a peasant family who, through his friendship with future emperor Galerius, was eventually appointed as Augustus in the West. In the final civil war that followed the collapse of the Tetrarchy (the period when the Roman Empire was ruled by four emperors), Licinius lost the struggle for supremacy against his great rival, Constantine the Great, and was put to death after a rule of 16 years. Contemporary writers, eager to please the new sole Augustus of the empire, blackened the name and legacy of Licinius, painting him as a murderous, lustful, and envious pagan tyrant.
