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History rarely shows mercy to the children of defeated dynasties, and Valerius Licinianus Licinius II (~315–326 AD) stands as one of the Late Empire's most tragic and mysterious casualties. Born to Licinius I and Constantine’s half-sister Constantia, the young boy was a living political treaty whose very title was born of military defeat. Following the catastrophic conclusion of the First Licinian War in 317 AD, the elder Licinius was forced to sign a humiliating peace treaty at Serdica. To cement this fragile truce and formalize the new balance of power, both emperors declared their young sons as Caesars. While Constantine elevated his teenage son Crispus and infant Constantine II, the defeated Eastern Augustus was permitted to elevate his Licinius II. Just a twenty-month-old infant, Licinius II was never an actual ruler as much as a dynastic insurance policy designed to keep a balance of power and prevent a second civil war.
This mint-state nummus, struck at Siscia (modern-day Sisak, Croatia) circa 320 to 321 AD, captures the young Caesar suspended in that brief, tense window of peace between the two Licinian wars. The obverse features a crisp, laureate portrait of the boy king, encircled by the legend LICINIVS IVN NOB C (Licinius Junior, Noble Caesar). The reverse displays a wreath enclosing VOT / V, celebrating the public vows undertaken for the successful completion of his first five years in office. Surrounding the wreath is the proclamation CAESARVM NOSTRORVM (Of Our Caesars), an official nod to the supposedly unified college of imperial youth. The coin boasts a spectacular state of preservation, providing a brilliant, tangible snapshot of a childhood spent entirely in the shadow of an impending showdown.
The safety of that shared imperial college collapsed when the Second Licinian War broke out in 324 AD. It was a disastrous loss for the Licinian dynasty. Stripped of his titles following his father’s total defeat at Chrysopolis, the nine-year-old boy's life was initially spared only because his mother, Constantia, pleaded on her knees before her brother, Constantine. This leniency was short-lived. A few months later, in the spring of 325 AD, Constantine accused the elder Licinius of conspiring with Gothic barbarians to ignite a rebellion, promptly ordering his execution by hanging. Once again, Constantia begged for her son’s life, and once again, Constantine relented, keeping his young nephew under house arrest.
Then came the catastrophic domestic bloodbath of 326 AD, an episode driven by a sudden, violent psychological break within Constantine himself. While traveling with his court through the northern Adriatic, the Emperor turned inward to obliterate his own family. At the transit city of Pola, Constantine ordered the sudden execution of his eldest son and military hero, Crispus—the very co-Caesar honored alongside Licinius II on the
Caesarvm Nostrorvm coinage just a few years prior.
While mainstream history has long viewed the simultaneous execution of eleven-year-old Licinius II as a routine piece of dynastic housekeeping, his death was deeply entangled in the dark, unexamined recesses of his uncle's fracturing psyche. In a telling detail, the boy was not executed quietly at his place of exile, but was brought to Pola to be put to death at the exact same time and flashpoint as Crispus. Once his favorite son was dead, any remaining tolerance for a rival's bloodline in the household completely evaporated. The young prince was executed to ensure the imperial slate was wiped completely clean, leaving his memory to survive on coins like this one, which ironically celebrates a milestone that he sadly did not reach.
Coin Details: ROMAN EMPIRE, Licinius II, 317-324 AD, BI Nummus (3.57g, 19 mm), Siscia mint, Struck 320-321 AD, NGC Grade: MS, Strike: 5/5, Surface: 2/5, Obverse: Laureate head right, LICINIVS IVN NOB C, Reverse: VOT / V in two lines within wreath, CAESARVM NOSTRORVM / ЄSIS (star), Reference: RIC 162.
Image: Sony ɑ 7R Ⅴ camera / Sony FE 90mm f/2.8 Macro G OSS lens.