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For career advancement in ancient Rome, family ties were the ultimate accelerator. Such was the case for Maximinus II (c. 270–313 AD), whose career took a significant leap forward when the position of Eastern Caesar was bestowed to his adoptive uncle, Galerius. When the latter ascended to Augustus a decade later, sure enough, he chose Maximinus II as his successor.
As the new Eastern Caesar, Maximinus II (also referred to as Maximinus Daia) was given the assignment to rule over Syria and Egypt. It was a fantastic promotion, but any further advance up the career ladder was very limited within the official Tetrarchy. Maximinus II's ambition was put to the test at the 308 AD Carnuntum conference. Hoping to be named the new Western Augustus, he was instead snubbed in favor of Galerius’ general, Licinius. As a hollow consolation prize, he was granted the invented title Filius Augustorum (Son of the Augusti). Frustrated by this lack of real authority, Maximinus II eventually accepted his troops' acclamation as Augustus in 310 AD. When Galerius died a year later, Maximinus II launched a rapid land grab, seizing control of Asia Minor and reaching an uneasy impasse with his rival Licinius at the Bosporus.
This nummus was struck in the imperial capital of Nicomedia circa 312 AD, corresponding to Maximinus II's brief moment of peak power. The obverse features a laureate bust in the classic, rigid Tetrarchal style, while the reverse depicts Genius, the divine personification of the Roman spirit, holding a patera and cornucopia. This choice of imagery was deeply political; unlike his rivals who were beginning to lean toward Christian tolerance, Maximinus II was a relentless champion of the old gods. He notoriously repealed his predecessor’s deathbed edict of tolerance, instigating a violent religious counter-reformation that sought to purge the Empire of the rising Christian influence.
By honoring his own Genius, Maximinus II was doubling down on the cult of the Emperor as a divine intercessor. At a time when he was aggressively stepping up Christian persecutions and promoting a pagan counter-reformation, this coin served as a defiant statement of his own personal divinity. Unlike the more inclusive issues of the West, this Nicomedia strike is an example of an Emperor using his coinage to claim a direct, exclusive mandate from the old gods. It represents the height of his religious intolerance and his refusal to bend to the growing tide of Western pluralism.
Ultimately, Maximinus II's faith was not enough to protect him from the consolidation of his enemies. Sensing that the alliance between Constantine and Licinius was a death sentence for his regime, Maximinus II launched a desperate, surprise invasion into Licinius’ territory during the winter of 313 AD. After a grueling forced march across Asia Minor, his exhausted troops met Licinius at the Battle of Tzirallum. Despite his numerical superiority, Maximinus II's lines broke. In one of the great humiliations of the era, the once-ambitious Augustus was forced to flee the battlefield disguised as a slave.
He survived for only a short time as a fugitive. In a final, ironic echo of his uncle Galerius, Maximinus II's very last imperial act was a decree of religious tolerance, restoring the properties he had so recently confiscated from the Christians. He died shortly thereafter — possibly by poison — leaving behind a legacy that would be largely defined by the pro-Christian historians who outlasted him.
Coin Details: ROMAN EMPIRE, Maximinus II, 310-313 AD, Struck in Nicomedia, 312 AD, BI Reduced Nummus (5.29 g), NGC Grade: Ch MS, Strike: 5/5, Surface: 5/5, Obverse: Laureate head right, MAXIMINVS P F AVG, Reverse: Nude figure of Genius standing left, wearing modius, with chlamys draped over left shoulder, pouring liquid from patera in right hand and holding cornucopia in left hand, GENIO A-VGVSTI, SMN in exergue, Γ in right field, Reference: RIC 71b.
Image: NGC Photo Vision Plus.