Owner Comments:
By the late 340s AD, the Roman Empire was gearing up for a staggering, once-in-a-lifetime milestone: the 1100th anniversary of the founding of Rome. While Constantine the Great had successfully established Constantinople as the new center of gravity in the East, his surviving sons, Constantius II and Constans, recognized the immense political power of Rome's enduring legacy. To this end, in honor of the Eternal City's 1100th birthday in 348 AD, the sons of Constantine initiated a sweeping reform of the imperial bronze coinage.
Leading up to this massive anniversary overhaul, the mints revived the beloved VRBS ROMA and Constantinopolis city commemorative themes that Constantine had introduced nearly two decades earlier. However, while these new issues retained the original obverse designs, the reverses featured a dramatic departure from tradition. This coin provides a perfect example. From the obverse, it appears identical to the classic city commemorative featuring the visored bust of Roma and the famous legend VRBS ROMA. Flipping the coin, however, does not reveal the expected, nostalgic motif of the she-wolf suckling the twins.
Instead, the reverse displays a stark, purely textual message enclosed within a victor’s wreath: VOT / XX / MVLT / XXX. This specialized reverse was struck to celebrate imperial
vota (vows), a prominent Roman tradition where the Emperor would publicly pledge sacrifices to the gods in exchange for a set number of years of safe, prosperous rule. Once those years were completed, the vows were successfully "paid," and new ones were immediately undertaken. Below the wreath in the exergue is the mintmark SMNB, denoting
Sacra Moneta ("Sacred Money" or "Sacred Mint") and placing the strike firmly at the second
officina (workshop) of Nicomedia.
The specific numbers on this coin — vows paid for twenty years (XX), and multiplied or extended to thirty (XXX) — point directly to the senior reigning emperor, Constantius II. Elevated to the rank of Caesar by his father in the fall of 324 AD, Constantius officially reached his twenty-year milestone of imperial services (tenure as Caesar plus tenure as Augustus) in 344 AD. However, rather than limiting the celebration to a single year, the imperial mints locked in this triumphant messaging, continuing to proudly strike these votive issues right up until the massive coinage reform of 348 AD.
Given the violent history of the Roman Empire, Constantius II had already beaten the odds simply by fulfilling twenty years of service. Furthermore, his pledge to reach thirty years was remarkably ambitious, considering this milestone had only been achieved twice before in the long history of the Empire: first by Augustus, who reigned a staggering forty-one years at the Empire's genesis (27 BC to 14 AD), and later by Constantius's own father, Constantine, who ruled for thirty-one years (306–337 AD). Against all odds, Constantius II actually fulfilled the numismatic promise etched on this coin, ruling for an impressive thirty-seven years before succumbing to death by natural causes in 361 AD.
Coin Details: ROMAN EMPIRE, Constantinian, City Commemorative, Struck circa 347-348, AE4 (15 mm), Nicomedia mint, NGC Grade: Ch VF, Strike: 5/5, Surface: 2/5, Obverse: Bust of Roma, visored with crested helmet, wearing ornamental mantle, left, VRBS ROMA, Reverse: VOT/XX/MVLT/XXX within a wreath, mintmark: SMNB in exergue, Reference: RIC Nicomedia 53, "R".
Image: Sony ɑ 7R Ⅴ camera / Sony FE 90mm f/2.8 Macro G OSS lens.