Ae Follis - Constantine Ist The Great ( 306 to 307 ) - Alexandria. RIC VI 63 (Alexandria) - 11,3 grams - 27 mm - R. Constantine, whom posterity was supposed to call the Great. Others portray him as vain, greedy and suspicious, a master manipulator and tyrant who put to death his wife, father-in-law, eldest son, and numerous others. Bruun, The Roman Imperial Coinage 7: Constantine and Licinius AD 313- 337 (London 1966) 108. Ae Follis - Constantine Ist The Great ( 306 to 307 ) - Alexandria. It was unbelievable what was to be seen on Constantines new coins. He has been seen by some as a great military commander and hero, an empire rebuilder and reformer, and a paragon of Christian virtue. Assessment of Constantine as a man and emperor has been polarised since ancient times. He founded the great city of Constantinople (modern day Istanbul) and made it the new centre of his Empire, from where he ruled for a further thirteen years until his death in AD 337. Many of the coins that survive today are bronze coins, although some technically were silver coins. As Constantine had a position of power for nearly 30 years, his coinage was large, varied, and covered a multitude of denominations.

By successively defeating the emperors Maximian, Maxentius, and Licinius, he made himself the sole master of the Roman Empire by AD 324.Ĭonstantine was the first Roman emperor to openly support Christianity and become a Christian. The coins of Constantine were minted in roughly 19 different locations throughout the Roman Empire. During the civil strife that began with the collapse of the Tetrarchic institution, Constantine, with the support of his late father's legions and a number of opportunistic political alliances, saw his power grow from strength to strength. REVERSE: PROVIDEN-TIAE AVGG, campgate with 6 layers, 2 turrets, star between R-wreath-P in exergue.Ĭonstantine was the son of Constantius I, one of the two junior co-rulers serving under emperors Diocletian and Maximian during the First Tetrarchy. OBVERSE: CONSTAN-TINVS AVG, laureate bust right.

Constantine the great coinage