Constantine I 'The Great'- Roman Emperor: 337-361 A.D. -
ROME CITY COMMEMORATIVE
Bronze AE3 18mm (2.1 grams) Struck at the mint of Siscia 330-335 A.D.
Reference: RIC 240 (VII, Siscia), LRBC 750
VRBS ROMA, helmeted, mantled bust of Roma left.
She-wolf standing left suckling Romulus and Remus, two stars above, ●ΓSIS● in
exergue.
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Authenticity.
Romulus
and Remus (traditionally c. 771 BC[1]–c.
717 BC and c. 771 BC–c. 753 BC respectively) are the traditional
founders of Rome,
appearing in
Roman mythology as the twin sons of the
Vestal Virgin
Rhea
Silvia, fathered by the god of war,
Mars. According to the
tradition
recorded as history by
Plutarch
and Livy, Romulus
served as the first
King
of Rome.
Romulus slew Remus with a shovel over a dispute about which one of the two
brothers had the support of the local deities to rule the new city and give it
his name. The name they gave the city was Rome. Supposedly, Romulus had stood on
one hill and Remus another, and a circle of birds flew over Romulus, signifying
that he should be king. After founding Rome, Romulus not only created the
Roman Legions and the
Roman
Senate, but also added citizens to his new city by abducting the women of
the neighboring
Sabine tribes, which resulted in the mixture of the Sabines and Romans into
one people. Romulus would become one of
ancient
Rome's greatest conquerors, adding large amounts of territory and people to
the dominion of Rome.
After his death, Romulus was deified as the god
Quirinus,
the divine persona of the Roman people. As a mythological figure, his historical
basis is disputed, and it is supposed that his name is a
back-formation from the name Rome. Some scholars, notably
Andrea Carandini, believe in the historicity of Romulus, in part because of
the 1988 discovery of the
Murus
Romuli on the north slope of the Palatine Hill in Rome.[2]
Romulus and Remus are pre-eminent among the famous
feral children in mythology and fiction.
Caesar Flavius Valerius
Aurelius Constantinus Augustus[[3]
(27 February c. 272[2]
– 22 May 337), commonly known in
English as Constantine I, Constantine the Great, or (among
Eastern Orthodox, Coptic Orthodox,
Oriental Orthodox and
Byzantine Catholic Christians) Saint Constantine (pronounced
/ˈkɒnstɛntaɪn/), was
Roman
emperor from 306, and the undisputed holder of that office from 324 until
his death in 337. Best known for being the first
Christian Roman emperor, Constantine reversed the
persecutions of his predecessor,
Diocletian,
and issued (with his co-emperor
Licinius)
the
Edict of Milan in 313, which proclaimed
religious toleration throughout the empire.
The
Byzantine liturgical calendar, observed by the
Eastern Orthodox Church and
Eastern Catholic Churches of Byzantine rite, lists both Constantine and his
mother
Helena as saints. Although he is not included in the
Latin
Church's list of saints, which does recognize several other Constantines as
saints, he is revered under the title "The Great" for his contributions to
Christianity.
Constantine also transformed the ancient Greek colony of
Byzantium
into a new imperial residence,
Constantinople, which would remain the capital of the
Byzantine Empire for over one thousand years.
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