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Flavius Julius Constantius (c. 250 – 306 AD), also known as Constantius I, was born of humble Danubian roots and sought his fortune as a Roman soldier. Ambitious and talented, he earned the honorary title of
Protectores Augusti Nostri (meaning "Protector of Our Augustus") under Aurelian and, by the reign of Carus, the governorship of Dalmatia. During this time, his travels took him through the crossroads town of Naissus, where he met a barmaid named Helen. By her he sired a son, Constantine, who would follow in his father’s footsteps and then some.
By the late 280s AD, Constantius had become the protégé of co-Augustus Maximian. In the name of ambition, he left Helen and agreed to marry Maximian’s stepdaughter, Theodora. This arrangement paved the way for Maximian to name Constantius as his Caesar in 293 AD, part of the imperial expansion known as the Tetrarchy. Under this structure, Maximian delegated to Constantius the difficult task of reclaiming Britannia and the Gallic coast from the usurpers Carausius and Allectus. After consolidating his position and building a fleet, Constantius successfully restored Britannia to the Empire and scored military victories along the Rhine against the Alamanni.
In spring 305 AD, just as the Empire seemed to be stabilizing, something rather unexpected transpired. In an unprecedented move, Maximian and Diocletian abdicated. They promoted Constantius and Galerius as the new co-Augusti. Backfilling the two co-Caesars’ positions in the revised Tetrarchy was the prerogative of Galerius, who chose for the West his ally, Severus II, and for the East his nephew, Maximinus II. Galerius intentionally overlooked Maximian’s son, Maxentius, and Constantius’ son, Constantine.
This nummus was struck amidst this tumultuous transition (c. 305-306 AD), while Constantius served as the senior Augustus. Interestingly, it was struck in Cyzicus, a mint under the direct control of his rival, Galerius. Despite the underlying tensions regarding the succession, it was vital to project an image of imperial unity. The obverse legend here appropriately reflects Constantius' imperial rank: IMP C FL VAL CONSTANTIVS PF AVG. The portrait remains a study in Tetrarchal rigidity, the squared head and thick neck serving as a visual anchor for a world in flux.
The reverse returns to the popular figure of Genius holding a patera and cornucopia, with the epithet GENIO POPVLI ROMANI. The use of this motif by Galerius to honor his Western colleague was a calculated move. It maintained the "official" harmony of the Second Tetrarchy for the public eye, even as Galerius was simultaneously surrounding Constantius with loyalists like Severus II. Even on the edges of the Empire in Cyzicus, the coinage had to maintain the fiction that the two Augusti were in perfect accord.
Even though Constantius had a new Caesar assigned to him, it didn’t do him much good. Even if he could have relied on his new Western Caesar for help in maintaining order in Britannia, Severus had another, more urgent assignment: restoring control over Italy in the face of an insurrection launched by Maxentius. Consequently Constantius, whose health was failing by this time, found himself alone in dealing with an uprising of one of Britannia’s most fearsome tribes, namely the Picts. Desperate for help, he called upon Constantine. The latter had been secured for a dozen years in the courts of Diocletian and then Galerius, essentially held hostage to ensure his father’s loyalty to the East. Perhaps caving in to his dedication to the Empire’s well-being, Galerius grudgingly approved the request, though it risked giving his rival’s clan the chance for glory and imperial prestige.
It was indeed a glorious reunion as father and son collaborated to defeat the Picts in battle. This victory earned Constantius the accolade Britannicus Maximus II, the last he garnered before he finally succumbed to illness. On his deathbed, Constantius named his faithful son Constantine as his successor. This declaration, wildly popular with the local troops, was not pre-approved by Galerius. Nonetheless, Constantius secured his dynasty, even if it ultimately meant uprooting the Tetrarchy and altering the very destiny of the Roman Empire.
Coin Details: ROMAN EMPIRE, Constantius I, AD 305-306, BI Nummus (29mm, 9.83 g, 6h), Cyzicus mint, 2nd officina, NGC Grade: MS, Strike: 5/5, Surface: 4/5, Obverse: Laureate head right, IMP C FL VAL CONSTANTIVS PF AVG, Reverse: Genius standing left, holding patera and cornucopia, GENIO POPVLI ROMANI, KB in exergue, Reference: RIC VI 21a.
Image: Sony ɑ 7R Ⅴ camera / Sony FE 90mm f/2.8 Macro G OSS lens.