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If you are curious about the woman depicted on this coin, among the few sources of information is an ancient manuscript entitled
De Mortibus Persecutorum ("On the Deaths of the Persecutors"). Written in 4th Century AD by the imperial advisor Lactantius, this spirited text is a rare survivor from antiquity that illuminates the dark corners of the Tetrarchy. Although it should be interpreted with caution, this manuscript is the premier primary source of information regarding several important topics, including — if you want to know anything about her — Galeria Valeria (?-315 AD).
Lactantius provides a vivid, if biased, account of how Galeria Valeria (?-315 AD) was maneuvered through the imperial machine. He first describes how she and her mother, Prisca, were forced by Emperor Diocletian "to be polluted by sacrificing." While animal sacrifice was a standard state ritual, Lactantius implies that Valeria found it abhorrent, suggesting she may have been a closet Christian, or at least sympathetic to the plight of the persecuted. Or perhaps Lactantius was embellishing the details for his own end, despite his self-proclaimed goal of historical fidelity: "
I relate all those things on the authority of well-informed persons, and I thought it proper to commit them to writing exactly as they happened, lest the memory of events so important should perish, and lest any future historian of the persecutors should corrupt the truth."
In any case, Valeria, as the daughter of senior Augustus Diocletian, had no choice but to serve the role of an imperial pawn. As part of the deal to cement the New Tetrarchy, her father married her off to his fierce junior Caesar, Galerius, in 293 AD. By all accounts, the union was an unhappy one; Galerius was the architect of the Great Persecution, while Valeria lived quietly in the shadow of his brutality.
This bronze nummus, struck at the Cyzicus mint (c. 308-311 AD), stands in stark contrast to the misery described in the text. Produced mainly after the Conference of Carnuntum (308 AD), the coin was designed to project strength and harmony. The portrait is blocky and masculine, stylistically indistinguishable from the Emperors themselves. The reverse depicts Venus holding an apple and raising a fold of drapery, with the legend VENERI VICTRICI ("To Venus the Victorious").
The legend is bitterly ironic. As Lactantius reveals, there was no victory in Valeria’s future, even after she was widowed in 311 AD. At that time, she sought refuge in the court of the new Eastern Augustus, Maximinus II Daia. However, Daia "
became instantly inflamed with a passion for her", pressing her to marry him. Additional juicy details are revealed by Lactantius. According to the text, Valeria refused on three grounds: she was still in mourning, Daia already had a faithful wife, and it was indecent for a woman of her rank to wed a second time.
Enraged by the rejection, Daia stripped Valeria of her title and wealth, banished her to the Syrian desert, and executed her servants. She pleaded with her father, Diocletian, to intervene, but the retired old man was apparently powerless to save her. After Daia’s death, she spent fifteen months wandering about as a fugitive in disguise. In 315 AD she was discovered in Thessalonica and taken into imperial custody. Lactantius records the tragic conclusion at the hands of Emperor Licinius I:
"
She was apprehended, together with her mother Prisca, and suffered capital punishment...They were beheaded, and their bodies cast into the sea. Thus the chaste demeanor of Valeria, and the high rank of her and her mother, proved fatal to both of them."
Additional Reading: Lactantius,
De Mortibus Persecutorum, circa 316 AD.
Coin Details: ROMAN EMPIRE, Galeria Valeria (Augusta, 293-311), Nummus (6.08 g, 26 mm), Cyzicus, NGC Grade: AU, Strike: 4/5, Surface: 3/5, Obverse: Draped bust right, GAL VALERIA AVG, Reverse: Venus standing left, holding apple and adjusting drapery; Δ to left, star to right, VENERI VICTRICI / MKV, Reference: RIC 46.
Image: Sony ɑ 7R Ⅴ camera / Sony FE 90mm f/2.8 Macro G OSS lens.