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Anonymous Bronze 16mm (1.4 grams) Quarter-Nummus
"Pagan Commemorative", struck under Maximinus II Daia circa 310-313 AD.
Reference: Vagi 2954; Cohen 1 [Julian II], van Heesch 92. -
GENIO ANTIOCHINI, Tyche of Antioch enthroned facing, river god swimming at her
feet.
APOLLONI SANCTO, Apollo standing left holding patera & lyre, SMA in ex.
* Numismatic Note: Very rare coin minted during the great persecution of the
Christian religion by the pagan culture, which tried to revive old pagan
deities.
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PAGAN COINAGE OF THE GREAT PERSECUTION
Though formerly attributed to the period of Julian II, these pieces were struck
c. 305-313 as part of The Great Persecution of Christians in the east by
Diocletian, Galerius and Maximinus II Daia. Though the persecution of Christians
had occurred under many previous regimes since the 1st Century, it was pursued
assiduously by the Tetrarchs. Indeed, it was only halted (it would seem) when
they determined that it was working to the advantage of Constantine the Great,
who embraced the religion as a result. Associated with the persecution is a
series of 'autonomous' coins struck at the cities of Antioch, Nicomedia and
Alexandria. The bulk of these coins were probably struck c. 310-312 under
Galerius or Maximinus Daia (though the issues of Nicomedia can perhaps be
attributed to Galeria Valeria, the second wife of Galerius). The issues of
Alexandria occur in two denominations and celebrate Serapis and Nilus. With the
voluminous issues of Antioch we find a variety of mint marks, officinae and
control marks, which suggest the output was large and complex. Depicted on the
issues of Antioch are some of the city's most famous statues: the Tyche erected
by Eutychides (a pupil of Lysippus), the Apollo by Bryaxis of Athens, and
possibly the Zeus Nikephoros of the Temple of Apollo at Daphne which Antiochus
IV commissioned for his great festival of 167 B.C.
Gaius Valerius Galerius Maximinus (20
November, c. 270 – July/August, 313)
Roman emperor from 308 to
 313,
was originally named Daia. He was born of peasant stock to the half
sister of the Roman emperor
Galerius
near their family lands around
Felix Romuliana; a rural area now in the Danubian region of
Serbia, then
the newly reorganised Roman province of
Dacia Aureliana subordinated to the later
Prefecture of Illyricum).
He rose to high distinction after he had joined the army, and in 305 he was
adopted by his maternal uncle,
Galerius,
and raised to the rank of
caesar, with the government of
Syria and
Aegyptus.
In 308, after the elevation of
Licinius to
Augustus, Maximinus and
Constantine were declared filii Augustorum ("sons of the Augusti"),
but Maximinus probably started styling himself after Augustus during a campaign
against the
Sassanids in 310.
On the death of Galerius, in 311, Maximinus divided the Eastern Empire
between Licinius and himself. When Licinius and
Constantine began to make common cause with one another, Maximinus entered
into a secret alliance with the usurper Caesar
Maxentius,
who controlled Italy. He came to an open rupture with Licinius in 313, he
summoned an army of 70,000 men, but still sustained a crushing defeat at the
Battle of Tzirallum, in the neighbourhood of
Heraclea Pontica, on the
April 30,
and fled, first to
Nicomedia
and afterwards to
Tarsus, where he died the following August. His death was variously ascribed
"to despair, to poison, and to the divine justice".[citations
needed]
Maximinus has a bad name in
Christian annals, as having renewed persecution after the publication of the
toleration edict of Galerius (see
Edict of Toleration by Galerius).
Eusebius of Caesarea[1],
for example, writes that Maximinus conceived an "insane passion" for a Christian
girl of
Alexandria, who was of noble birth noted for her wealth, education, and
virginity. When the girl refused his advances, he exiled her and seized all of
her wealth and assets.
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