66, Lot: 131. Estimate $100. Sold for $94. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

MAXIMIANUS 286-305 AD. Antoninianus (23mm, 3.37 gm). Lugdunum (Lyon) mint. Struck circa 289 AD. Radiate, helmeted, and cuirassed bust right / Victory standing right on club, crowning Hercules standing right, wrestling Nemean Lion. RIC V 460; Bastien, Lyon II 233. EF, with almost complete silvering. 

From the Paul McIlroy Collection.

Issued to commemorate the victories of Constantius I in northern Gaul. Upon Diocletian's investiture of Maximianus as co-Augustus, each ruler formed his own house and assumed a divine protector. In keeping with his role as senior emperor, Diocletian adopted the name Jovius as well as the figure of Jupiter for both himself and his Caesar, Galerius. Maximianus and Constantius became part of the house of Herculius, a name and symbol which emphasized their roles as dutiful laborers. During the early tetrarchy there was a great deal of labor for this Augustus and his Caesar, since their territories were hard-pressed with rebellion. Suppressing the Bagaudae in northern Gaul as well as the secession of Carausius and Allectus might have seemed a particularly Herculean labor. The appearance of the Victory with Hercules on this coin signals imperial success, a fact the panegyrics dedicated to them confirm.