Owner Comments:
If you have ever relocated, you appreciate the great deal of planning, expense, and effort involved. Now, imagine expanding that complexity to the scale of an entire city. Add the fact that this city is the capital of an Empire, and the new metropolis must be constructed simultaneously from the ground up. Finally, imagine the staggering difficulty of executing all this without the aid of modern technology.
Yet, that gargantuan task is exactly what Constantine pulled off when he moved the Empire's capital from Rome to Byzantium. The physical construction took roughly six years of unrelenting labor. To fund this epochal undertaking without collapsing the imperial treasury, Constantine began stripping the accumulated wealth of ancient pagan temples across the Empire. He then deployed tens of thousands of legionaries — the master engineers of the ancient world — alongside a massive workforce of artisans to execute his vision. On May 11, 330 AD, the newly christened capital of Constantinople was officially inaugurated. That such an unprecedented logistical feat was even considered, let alone successfully carried out, is striking.
The sheer enormity of this task begs the question: why go through all the trouble? The answer lies in the urgency to secure the realm's long-term survival. The Empire had miraculously survived the catastrophic Crisis of the Third Century, but its geopolitical center of gravity had permanently shifted. The ancient capital was now geographically isolated from the Empire's true wealth and its most pressing military frontiers along the Danube and the Persian border. Furthermore, Rome remained deeply entrenched in traditional paganism, anchored by a conservative, powerful senatorial elite. In context, it made perfect strategic sense for Constantine to shift the center of his power from West to East. It is no wonder that almost immediately after defeating his final rival, Licinius, in 324 AD, Constantine selected the location of the new capital, began construction, and set the unyielding deadline for its grand inauguration.
To build this magnificent capital and entice the Roman elite to uproot their lives, enormous wealth and logistical control were required. Constantine established a second Senate in his new city, aggressively luring Western patricians eastward with lavish estates, free grain distributions, and high-ranking titles. To ensure payment for all the involved parties, it was a high priority to establish a local mint. Within just a year and a half, the Empire had not only launched a new mint, but also its largest, comprising no fewer than eleven
officinae (workshops)
More than establishing a new mint, Constantine executed a massive numismatic overhaul unparalleled in Roman history: a complete, simultaneous replacement of the Empire’s circulating bronze currency. Virtually overnight, the production of all existing coin types was halted at mints spanning from Lugdunum in the West to Antioch in the East. In their place, a strictly controlled, Empire-wide propaganda campaign was launched to ensure no citizen could possibly remain ignorant of his new world order.
This unprecedented propaganda campaign materialized as a massive, carefully paired series of commemorative coins celebrating both the old and new imperial capitals. In a stunning departure from standard Roman currency, these new issues completely omitted the name and portrait of the Emperor himself. Instead, they featured the divine personifications of the two capitals. To visually enforce their exact equality, Constantine mandated that the mints produce the two distinct types in virtually a 50/50 split, comprising over 99% of the empire's circulating commemorative bronze. Half of the production was dedicated to VRBS ROMA (the City of Rome). Its reverse featured the ancient she-wolf suckling Romulus and Remus, a calculated diplomatic move designed to reassure the West that their mythological foundations remained deeply revered. The other half was dedicated to CONSTANTINOPOLIS (the City of Constantine). Its reverse featured a winged Victory standing on the prow of a warship, a direct nod to the naval triumph that secured Constantine's absolute power.
Unlike the retrospective VRBS ROMA issues atop this Gallery Page that honor a glorious mythological past, the Constantinopolis city commemoratives, such as this example, were aggressively forward-looking. In a striking departure from standard portraiture, the obverse features the newly personified Tyche (guardian spirit) of Constantinople. Wearing a laureate helmet and wielding a scepter over her shoulder, she projects fresh, undisputed imperial authority. The reverse is equally triumphant, featuring a winged Victory standing proudly on the prow of a warship. This is a direct, hard-hitting historical callback to the pivotal naval victory at the Hellespont in 324 AD, where an underdog fleet led by Constantine's son Crispus annihilated the armada of Eastern Augustus Licinius. This specific naval triumph allowed Constantine to capture Byzantium, paving the way for his sole rule and the foundation of his namesake city.
This specific Constantinopolis commemorative was struck at Nicomedia (modern-day İzmit, Turkey). Located only 100 km from Constantinople, Nicomedia was the capital and power base for Eastern Augustus Licinius up until his final fall at Chrysopolis. This pedigree is discerned from the mintmark SMNA, located in the reverse exergue. The first two letters denote
Sacra Moneta, or Sacred Mint, the third letter indicates the location of Nicomedia, and the final letter denotes that this coin was produced at the first
officina (workshop). Interestingly, from the Owner's research thus far, the appearance of SM on Constantinopolis city commemorative coins was limited to the established Eastern mints: Alexandria, Antioch, Cyzicus, Heraclea, and Nicomedia. The new mint at Constantinople, however, aligned with Western mints that had abandoned this convention a decade earlier. This seems hardly a coincidence. Rather, it is an intriguing glimpse into the past. The old Eastern mints passed sequentially through the hands of Eastern Tetrarchal Augusti from Diocletian to Licinius, maintaining the tradition; either Constantine took no note, or he allowed it to continue. In any case, one can only wonder about the morale of the ancient Nicomedean celators as they engraved coins celebrating that their city no longer held the title of most powerful city of the Roman world. If morale was affected, it didn't show up in the craftsmanship of this coin. At the time, Nicomedia's numismatic artistry was undergoing an evolution from the flat, unrealistic, and formulaic profiles of the Tetrarchy to the higher-relief, expressive portraiture such as that shown on this piece.
The legend forming the perimeter of the obverse reveals another fascinating regional quirk. Close inspection shows the spelling CONSTANTINOPOLI rather than the standard CONSTANTINOPOLIS. This missing "S" was no engraver's error; it was a deliberate shift from the Latin nominative to the dative case, changing the meaning from simply "Constantinople" to an active, formal dedication: "To Constantinople." Interestingly, this grammatical dedication was not used Empire-wide. It was an exclusive convention adopted only by the four specific mints geographically clustered around the Bosporus and the Sea of Marmara: Constantinople, Cyzicus, Heraclea, and Nicomedia. While distant mints merely stamped the city's name, these localized mints issued a deeply respectful dedication to their new center of the world.
Given that Constantinian city commemoratives like this one were produced in vast quantities with the exact same design, you might think that collecting them would be uninteresting. But that is decidedly not the case! These coins were the product of a fascinating, pivotal era in the history of the Roman Empire. Because they are common, these issues are relatively inexpensive to acquire, making it easier to amass a set of different mints and administrative marks. Consider the fascinating details revealed on this specific coin: the expressive, high-relief portrait on the obverse accompanied by the dative case used for the epithet, and on the reverse, and the inclusion of the
Sacra Moneta convention in the mintmark. Uncovering such details for yourself embodies the true wonder and fun of collecting ancient Roman coins.
Additional Reading: "Coins and Medallions struck for the Inauguration of Constantinopolis 11 May 330," L. Ranskold, June 2010, Conference: Niš & Byzantium, Volume IX.
Coin Details: ROMAN EMPIRE, Constantinian, City Commemorative, circa 330-340 AD, Nicomedia, Bi Nummus (17mm, 2.5g), NGC Grade: AU, Strike: 5/5, Surface: 5/5, Obverse: Laureate and helmeted bust of Constantinopolis left, CONSTAN-TINOPOLI, Reverse: Victory standing left on prow, holding spear and resting on shield, SMNA in exergue, Reference: RIC 196.
Image: Sony ɑ 7R Ⅴ camera / Sony FE 90mm f/2.8 Macro G OSS lens.