Products tagged with 'constantinian dynasty'

Constantius II. A.D. 337-361. Arles - A.D. 357-361. AR Siliqua. Diademed, draped & cuirassed bust right / 'VOTIS XXX MVLTIS XXXX' in four lines within wreath; 'P CON' in ex. About Extremely Fine & Scarce. With this coin the emperor is celebrating his 30th anniversary & hoping for a 40th.

Continuing our series of the famous Constantinian Dynasty we offer Crispus, the son who was second only to Constantine before being executed. A 1700-year-old mystery that will likely never be solved. Flavius Julius Crispus was born around A.D. 300, the son of Constantine the Great by his first wife Minervina. Made Caesar in A.D. 317 Crispus had a very successful military career, even helping his father to overcome and defeat the rival emperor Licinius in A.D. 324. He was all but heir to the throne but in A.D. 326 he was mysteriously executed on the orders of his father, Constantine the Great. The best theory we have is that his stepmother, the Empress Fausta, engineered it for her own son’s advancement as shortly after Fausta herself was dead on the orders of her devastated and furious husband. These bronze coins were struck in the early A.D. 320s and have various reverses. Crispus does not reign long and after his death, a ‘Damnatio Memoriae’ was enacted meaning his coins are Scarce, and we have limited stock available for this coin. These coins remain some of the best sources of information for him being Caesar. We offer them here in Fine, do not miss out.

Continuing our series of the famous Constantinian Dynasty we offer Julian, the Last Pagan Emperor. Julian was born in A.D. 332, nephew to Constantine the Great. He was five years old when Constantine died, the sons of Constantine then murdered any rivals, including his father. The infant Julian was sent to be educated in Athens until A.D. 355 when Constantius II summoned him to deal with problems in the West. He was successful and so popular that the army later proclaimed him emperor, luckily Constantius II died in A.D. 361, resolving the issue. Julian tolerated all religions but is best known for attempting to reinstate the old Roman gods, earning the name Julian ‘The Apostate’ from later writers. His short reign ended when he died of wounds from a skirmish with the Sassanian army during an attempted invasion in A.D. 363. We offer bronze coins of Julian showing his portrait with various reverses. The coins presented here grade in Fine but there is a very limited number as Julian is not as easy to find as his cousins. We hope you get one!