Very Rare Galla Placidia Siliqua

312, Lot: 232. Estimate $1500. Sold for $2750. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

Galla Placidia. Augusta, AD 421-450. AR Siliqua (18mm, 1.92 g, 6h). Ravenna mint. Pearl-diademed and draped bust right / Victory seated right on cuirass, inscribing a christogram onto a shield; RVPS. RIC X 2082 (R4); RSC 5. VF, darkly toned, minor porosity, flan crack and small edge chip. Very rare.

Galla Placidia, daughter of Theodosius I, was born in AD 392. Following the siege of Rome in 408-410, the princess was captured by Visigothic armies under Alaric and his successor Atualf, whom she later married. This marriage failed to produce the intended Romano-Gothic dynasty, as Atualf was murdered after only a short time in power. By 416 Galla had been restored to the Roman court in the west.

Galla continued to be involved in court politics and, in 417, married Constantius III, then magister militum. She bore a son, the future Valentinian III. Unfortunately, her husband’s reign as co-emperor with Honorius was cut short by his untimely death. For a time, the widow remained on friendly terms with the emperor, but by 423, Galla and her son had fled to Constantinople and the court of Theodosius II. She would return to the Italian peninsula at the head of a large army in 424 to overthrow Johannes, who had been raised to the purple following the death of Honorius, after which Galla ruled in the west as regent to her son, Emperor Valentinian III.

Despite her major role in the political affairs of the early 5th century, Galla’s true passion was for the Church. She tolerated neither heretics nor non-believers in her government, and was involved in the construction of numerous churches and chapels. Among these works was the San Giovanni Evangelista in Ravenna, built in fulfillment of a vow made when Galla and her children were caught in a storm on the Adriatic during their flight from Italy. Galla Placidia died in AD 450 and was entombed in Ravenna, where her mausoleum is today a UNESCO World Heritage Site.