Constantius II Roman Emperor 337-361AD Ancient
Coins for Sale at top eBay Coin Shop
Buy Constantius II, 337-361AD Ancient Roman Coins from a trusted ancient
coin expert and enthusiast today. Ruling for almost 24 years, this ruler
has outlasted many emperors. He minted a lot of interesting coins
depicting the might of the Roman army defeating enemies, even mounted on
horses. Other coins that are interesting are ones which feature the
phoenix standing on globe. Explore the entire selection of Constantius
II coins available for sale, along with thousands of other ancient
Greek, Roman and Byzantine Medieval coins from a Top-Rated seller on
eBay. Enjoy incredible value as every coin purchased here comes with
it's own, signed, custom-made certificate of authenticity, featuring
professional description, research and brief historical synopsis, a
$50-$100 absolutely free, no matter what coin you purchase. Ancient
coins are an interesting topic for collecting, make a great investment
and a fun way to learn and teach about history by actually owning a part
of it.
Example of Authentic Ancient
Coin of:
Constantius II - Roman Emperor: 337-361 A.D. -
Silvered Bronze AE3 Siscia mint: 328-329 A.D.
Reference: RIC VII, 217, page 452 - British Museum.
FL IVL CONSTANTIVS NOB C - Laureate bust left, draped and cuirassed.
Campgate. Exe: Δ SIS (double
crescent) PROVIDENTIAE CAESS - Two turrets and a star over.
"The future of the state rests with Constantine's heirs."
.jpg/250px-Bust_of_Constantius_II_(Mary_Harrsch).jpg)
Flavius Iulius Constantius, known in English
as Constantius II (7 August 317 – November 3 361) was a
Roman Emperor (337-361) of the
Constantinian dynasty.
Constantius joins the lengthy list of emperors whose
career was marked by a seemingly endless series of wars both domestic
and foreign. He served as Caesar from 324 until his father's death in
337 at which time he shared the title of Augustus with two other
brothers, Constantine II and Constans. To make sure no more Johnny-come-latelies
in his family would try their hand at being emperor too it is thought
that he engineered a bloodbath that left nary a relative. Constantine II
died in battle and Constans was murdered by the men of Magnentius, the
first of several usurpers. This left Constantius finally as sole
legitimate emperor and he moved quickly to suppress Magnentius, an
endeavor he eventually accomplished. The strife didn't end there,
however, as he still had to deal with other revolts and wars on every
corner of the empire. Caught in these never-ending battles he died while
on his way to battle Julian II.
Flavius Iulius Constantius was born at
Sirmium (now
Sremska Mitrovica in
Serbia) in province of
Pannonia, the third son of
Constantine the Great, and second by
his second wife
Fausta, the daughter of
Maximian. Constantius was made
Caesar by his father on 13 November
324.
When the elder
Constantine died at
Constantinople on 22 May 337,
Constantius was nearest of his sons to that city, and despite being on
campaign in the eastern provinces, immediately returned to the city to
oversee his father's funeral.
The
Massacre of 337
The role of Constantius in the massacre of his
relatives (those descended from the second marriage of his paternal
grandfather
Constantius Chlorus and
Theodora) is unclear.
Zosimus, writing 498-518 claims that
Constantius “caused” the soldiers to murder his relatives, as
opposed to actually ordering the action.
Eutropius, writing between 350 and 370,
writes that Constantius merely sanctioned “the act, rather than
commanding it”. However, it must be noted that both of these sources
are hostile to Constantius -
Zosimus being a pagan,
Eutropius a friend of
Julian, Constantius’ cousin and,
ultimately, his enemy.
Whatever the case, Constantius himself, his older
brother
Constantine II, his younger brother
Constans and three cousins,
Gallus, his half-brother
Julian and
Nepotianus, son of
Eutropia, were left as the only
surviving males related to Constantine.
Division
of the Empire
Meeting at Sirmium not long after the massacre, the
three brothers proceeded to divide the Roman Empire among them,
according to their father's will. Constantine II received
Britannia,
Gaul and
Hispania; Constans (initially under the
supervision of Constantine II)
Italia,
Africa, Illyricum,
Thrace,
Macedon and
Achaea; and Constantius the East.
Reign
in the East
There are few details of the early years of
Constantius' sole reign in the East. He seems to have spent most of his
time defending the eastern border against invasions by the aggressive
Sassanid Empire under
Shapur II. These conflicts seem to have
been mainly limited to Sassanid sieges of the various fortresses (Nisibis,
Singara, Constantia and
Amida) of Roman
Mesopotamia, which achieved little for
either side. Although
Shapur II seems to have been victorious
in most of the confrontations - except the Battle of Narasara, where one
of
Shapur II's brothers, Narses, was
killed - the overall result must be considered a victory for Constantius
because
Shapur failed to make any significant
gains.
In the meantime,
Constantine II's desire to retain
control of
Constans' realm had lead Constantius'
two surviving brothers into open conflict; resulting in the death of the
elder in 340. As a result, Constans took control of his deceased elder
brother’s realms and became sole ruler of the Western two-thirds of the
Empire. This division lasted until 350, when Constans was killed in
battle by forces loyal to the
usurper
Magnentius.
War
against Magnentius
This new state of affairs proved unacceptable to
Constantius, who felt that, as the only surviving son of
Constantine the Great, the position of
Emperor was his alone. As such, he
determined to march west to enforce his claims. However, feeling that
the east still required some sort of imperial control, he elevated his
cousin
Constantius Gallus to Caesar of the
East. As an extra measure to ensure the loyalty of his cousin, he
married the elder of his two sisters,
Constantina, to
Gallus.
Before facing
Magnentius, Constantius first came to
terms with
Vetranio, a loyal Constantian general,
who had previously accepted the position of Augustus in order to retain
the loyalty of his troops, and probably to stop Magnentius from gaining
more support. This action may have been carried out at the urging of
Constantius’ own sister,
Constantina, who had since traveled
east to marry
Gallus. Constantius for his own part
had previously sent
Vetranio the imperial diadem and
acknowledged the general‘s new position. However, when Constantius
arrived,
Vetranio willingly and gladly resigned
his position and accepted Constantius’ offer of a comfortable retirement
in
Bithynia.
The following year, Constantius finally met
Magnentius in the
Battle of Mursa Major, one of the
bloodiest battles in Roman history. The result was a defeat for the
usurper, who withdrew back to his Gaulish domains. As a result, the
cities of
Italy switched their allegiance to
Constantius and ejected all of
Magnentius’ garrisons. Constantius
spent the early months of 352 on a campaign against the
Sarmatians, before moving on to invade
Italy.
When Constantius and Magnentius finally met again, at
the
Battle of Mons Seleucus in southern
Gaul, Constantius once again emerged the victor. Soon after,
Magnentius, realising the futility of
continuing his revolt, committed suicide 10 August 353.
Sole
Ruler of the Roman Empire
Constantius spent much of the rest of 353 and early
354 on campaign against the
Alemanni on the Danubian borders. The
exact details of this campaign are uncertain, though it seems to have
ended with victory for Constantius.
The
Downfall of Gallus
In the meantime, Constantius had been receiving some
disturbing reports regarding the actions of his cousin,
Gallus. Possibly as a result of these
reports, Constantius concluded a peace with the
Alemanni, and withdrew to
Milan.
Once there, he decided to first call
Ursicinus, Gallus’ magister equitum,
to Milan for reasons that remain unclear. Constantius then requested the
presence of
Gallus and
Constantina. Although at first
Gallus and
Constantina complied with this order,
when
Constantina died in
Bithynia,
Gallus begun to hesitate. However,
after some convincing by one of Constantius’ agents, Gallus continued
his journey west, passing through
Constantinople and
Thrace to Petobio in the province of
Noricum.
It was there that
Gallus was arrested by the soldiers of
Constantius under the command of
Barbatio. He was then moved to
Pola, and interrogated. Once there,
Gallus claimed that it was
Constantina who was to blame for all
the trouble that had been caused while he was in charge of the east.
Apparently, at first, this so greatly angered Constantius that he
immediately ordered the death of
Gallus. However, soon after, he changed
his mind, and recanted his execution order. Unfortunately for Gallus,
this order was delayed by
Eusebius, one of Constantius‘ eunuchs,
and, as a result,
Gallus was executed.
More
Usurpers and Julian Caesar
On 11 August 355, the
magister militum
Claudius Silvanus revolted in Gaul.
Silvanus had surrendered to Constantius after the
battle of Mursa Major. Constantius had
made him magister militum in 353, with the purpose of blocking the
German threats, a feat that Silvanus achieved by bribing the German
tribes with the money he had collected. A plot organized by members of
Constantius' court led the emperor to recall Silvanus. After Silvanus
revolted, he received a letter by Constantius that recalled him to
Milan, but which made no reference to the revolt.
Ursicinus, who was meant to replace
Silvanus, bribed some troops, and Silvanus was killed.
However, Constantius realised that too many threats
still faced the Empire, and he could not possibly handle all of them by
himself, so on 6 November 355, he elevated his last remaining relative,
Julian, to the rank of
Caesar. A few days later,
Julian was married to
Helena, the last surviving sister of
Constantius. Not long after Constantius sent
Julian off to Gaul.
Constantius
in the West and Return to the East
Constantius spent the next few years overseeing
affairs in the western part of the Empire primarily from his base at
Milan. However, he also visited
Rome - for the first and only time in
his life - in 357, and, in that same year, he forced
Sarmatian and
Quadi invaders out of
Pannonia and
Moesia Inferior, then led a successful
campaign across the Danube against the
Sarmatians and the Germanic
Quadi tribe.
Around 357/8, Constantius received ambassadors from
Shapur II, who demanded that
Constantius restore the lands surrendered by
Narseh. Despite rejecting these terms,
Constantius still tried to avert war with the
Sassanid Empire by sending two
embassies to
Shapur II.
As a result of Constantius' rejection of his terms,
Shapur II launched another invasion of
Roman Mesopotamia. When news reached Constantius that
Shapur II had not only invaded Roman
territory, but taken
Amida[46],
destroyed
Singara and taken
Bezabde he decided to return to there
to face this re-emergent threat in 360.
The
usurpation of Julian and Problems in the East
In the meantime,
Julian had won some victories against
the
Alemanni tribe, who had once again
invaded
Roman Gaul. As such, Constantius
requested reinforcements from
Julian for his own campaign against
Shapur II. However, when he requested reinforcements from
Julian’s Gaulish army, the Gaulish
legions revolted and proclaimed
Julian Augustus.
However, on account of the immediate Sassanid threat,
Constantius was unable to directly respond to his cousin’s usurpation
other than by sending missives by which he tried to convince Julian to
resign the title of Augustus and be satisfied with that of Caesar.
By 361, Constantius saw no alternative but to face
the usurper with violent force; and yet the threat of the
Sassanids remained. Constantius had
already spent part of early 361 unsuccessfully attempting to take the
fortress of
Bezabde. After a time, he had withdrawn
to
Antioch to regroup, and prepare for a
confrontation with
Shapur II. However, as it turned out,
the campaigns of the previous year had inflicted such heavy losses on
the
Sassanids that they did not attempt
another round of engagements in 361. This allowed Constantius to turn
his full attention to facing the usurpation of
Julian[55].
Death
As such, Constantius immediately gathered his forces
and set off west. However, by the time he reached
Mopsuestia in Cicilia, it was clear
that he was fatally ill and would not survive to face
Julian. Apparently, realising his death
was near, Constantius had himself baptised by
Euzoius, the
Semi-Arian bishop of
Antioch, and then declared that Julian
was his rightful successor. Constantius II died of fever on 3 November
361.
Marriages
and Children
Constantius II was married three times:
First to a
daughter of his half-uncle
Julius Constantius, whose name is
unknown. She was a full-sister of Gallus and a half-sister of Julian.
She died c. 352/3.
Second, to Eusebia, a woman of
Macedonian origin from the city of
Thessaloniki, whom he married before
Constantius' defeat of Magnentius in 353. She died in 360.
Third and lastly, in 360, to
Faustina (empress), who gave birth to
Constantius' only child, a posthumous daughter named
Flavia Maxima Constantia, who later
married Emperor
Gratian.
Religious
Issues
Constantius seems to have had a particular interest
in the religious state of the
Roman Empire. As a
Christian
Roman Emperor, Constantius made a
concerted effort to promote
Christianity at the expense of
Roman polytheism (‘paganism’). As such,
over the course of his reign, he issued a number of different edicts
designed specifically to carry out this agenda (see below). Constantius
also took an active part in attempting to shape the
Christian church.
Paganism
under Constantius
In spite of the some of the edicts issued by
Constantius, it should be recognised that he was not fanatically
anti-pagan - he never made any attempt to disband the various Roman
priestly colleges or the
Vestal Virgins, he never acted against
the various pagan schools, and, at times, he actually even made some
effort to protect paganism. Also, most notably, he remained
pontifex maximus until his death, and
was actually deified by the Roman Senate after his death. The relative
moderation of Constantius' actions toward paganism is reflected by the
fact that it was not until over 20 years after Constantius' death,
during the reign of
Gratian, that any pagan senators
protested their religion's treatment.
Christianity
under Constantius
Although often considered an
Arian, Constantius ultimately preferred
a third, compromise version that lay somewhere in between
Arianism and the
Nicaean Creed, retrospectively called
Semi-Arianism[61][62].
As such, during his reign, Constantius made a concerted attempt to mold
the Christian church to follow this compromise position, and to this
end, he convened several Christian councils during his reign, the most
notable of which were one at
Rimini and its twin at
Seleuca, which met in 359 and 360
respectively. "Unfortunately for his memory the theologians whose advice
he took were ultimately discredited and the malcontents whom he pressed
to conform emerged victorious," writes the historian
A.H.M. Jones. "The great councils of
359-60 are therefore not reckoned
ecumenical in the tradition of the
church, and Constantius II is not remembered as a restorer of unity, but
as a
heretic who arbitrarily imposed his
will on the church."
Judaism
under Constantius
Judaism faced some severe restrictions under
Constantius, who seems to have followed an anti-Jewish policy in line
with that of his father. Early in his reign, Constantius issued a double
edict in concert with his brothers limiting the ownership of slaves by
Jewish people and banning marriages between Jews and Christian women. A
later edict (issued by Constantius after becoming sole
Emperor) decreed that a person who was
proven to have converted from Christianity to Judaism would have their
entire property confiscated by the state. However, it should be noted
that Constantius' actions in this regard may not have been so much to do
with Jewish religion as Jewish business; apparently, it was often the
case that privately-owned Jewish businesses were in competition with
state-owned businesses. As such, Constantius may have sought to provide
as much of an advantage to the state-owned businesses as possible by
limiting the skilled workers and the slaves available to the Jewish
businesses.
Religious
Edicts Issued by Constantius
Pagan-related edicts issued by Constantius (by
himself or with others) included:
-
The banning of sacrifices;
-
The closing of pagan temples;
-
Edicts against soothsayers and magicians.
Christian-related edicts issued by Constantius
(by himself or with others) included:
-
Exemption from compulsory public service for the
clergy; * Exemption from compulsory public service for the sons of
clergy;
-
Tax exemptions for clergy and their servants,
also later for their family;
-
Clergy and the issue of private property;
-
Bishops exempted from being tried in secular
courts;
-
Christian prostitutes only able to be bought by
Christians.
Jew-related edicts issued by Constantius (by
himself or with others) included:
-
Weaving women who moved from working for the
government to working for Jews, must be restored to the government;
Jews may not marry Christian women; Jews may not attempt to convert
Christian women;
-
Any non-Jewish slave bought by a Jew will be
confiscated by the state; if a Jew attempts to circumcise a
non-Jewish slave, the slave will be freed and the Jew shall face
capital punishment; any Christian slaves owned by a Jew will be
taken away and freed;
-
A person who is proven to have converted from
Christianity to Judaism shall have their property confiscated by the
state.
Reputation
Constantius II is a particularly difficult figure to
judge properly, mainly as a result of the hostility of most every source
that mentions him.
A.H.M Jones writes that Constantius "appears in the
pages of
Ammianus as a conscientious emperor but
a vain and stupid man, an easy prey to flatterers. He was timid and
suspicious, and interested persons could easily play on his fears for
their own advantage."
However, Kent & M. and A. Hirmer suggest that
Constantius "has suffered at the hands of unsympathetic authors,
ecclesiastical and civil alike. To orthodox churchmen he was a bigoted
supporter of the Arian heresy, to Julian the Apostate and the many who
have subsequently taken his part he was a murderer, a tyrant and inept
as a ruler". They go on to add, "Most contemporaries seem in fact to
have held him in high esteem, and he certainly inspired loyalty in a way
his brother could not".
| 
