MAXIMINUS II DAIA, as Caesar
AD 305-310
AE Follis. 7.13g, 24.6mm
MINTED: Antioch mint, AD 308
REF: RIC VI Antioch 86 (scarce)
OBVERSE: GAL VAL MAXIMINVS NOB CAES, laureate head right.
REVERSE: VIRTVS EX-ERCITVS, Virtus in military dress advancing right, holding transverse spear and trophy over shoulder; I in right field, ANT in exergue.

Grade/Notes:
Almost Very Fine. Some surface roughness. Better in hand.
A scarcer type. 
 
Provenance: 
From an old Swiss collection, purchased in the 1960s or 1970s from Numiphil Basel (with collector’s old tag)
 
Historical Notes: 
Maximinus II Daia was the nephew of emperor Galerius, and even before the latter's death, he had begun to claim the title of Augustus, in competition with Constantine I, Licinius, and Maxentius. Early Christian writers who lived through his persecutions of Christians ascribed all manner of crimes and sinful vices to him. Eusebius wrote that Maximinus was "deranged and crazed", an "instructor in wickedness to those about him", and that he "could not pass through a city without continually corrupting women and ravishing virgins." In 313, Maximinus's army was defeated by that of Licinius at the Battle of Tzirallum. Maximinus escaped the battle dressed as a slave and fled to Tarsus, where he continued to be beseiged by Licinius until his death in August of that year.