Commemorating the Union of the Herculii

Sale: Triton XIII, Lot: 366. Estimate $1000.  Closing Date: Monday, 4 January 2010.  Sold For $2800. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

Maximianus. Second reign, AD 307-308. Æ Follis (6.75 g, 6h). Lugdunum (Lyon) mint. Struck circa Autumn AD 307-Summer AD 308. IMP C VAL MAXIMIANVS P F AVG, laureate and cuirassed bust right, slight drapery on left shoulder / CONCORDIA FELIX DD NN, Maxentius and Constantine, each laureate, in military outfit, and holding long scepter, standing vis-à-vis and clasping right hands; PLC. RIC VI 246; Lyon 487a. EF, dark brown patina, die break on obverse. Extremely rare and historically important.

From the White Mountain Collection.

The abdication of Diocletian and Maximianus as Augusti in AD 305, with the subsequent elevation of their of their junior partners, Galerius and Constantius I to the post, and the appointment of Maximinus II and Severus II as the new Caesars, was intended to provide a smooth transition of power. The death of Constantius I at York in AD 306, however, changed that arrangement. His son, Constantine, was declared Augustus, setting in motion a political problem that only became resolved when Constantine defeated Licinius at Chrysopolis in AD 324. Following the death of Constantius I, when Galerius acknowledged Constantine only as Caesar, Constantine needed to strengthen his hand by building his base in the western territories. To accomplish this, he allied himself with Maximianus (who had returned from retirement) and his son Maxentius (who was in a similar situation to Constantine), consummating the arrangement by marrying Maximianus’ daughter Fausta in AD 307. To commemorate this domestic and political union, a series of coins were struck, including this follis. Unfortunately this political arrangement failed to be as harmonious as promised. In AD 310, Maximianus rebelled unsuccessfully against Constantine, eventually committing suicide on the latter’s encouragement. In AD 312, Constantine became ruler of Italy, following Maxentius’ defeat at the Milvian Bridge. Finally, in AD 326 Fausta was executed on Constantine’s orders for her involvement in the death of Constantine’s son, Crispus.