* Note: This photo from Victor Clark’s listing, 2020, and his reference site, constantinethegreatcoins.com.
Return to: “Barbarians, Captives & Enemies” (to this coin). Return to: Provenance Coins V: Roman (to this coin). Return to: Provenance Glossary (to Dattari).
Ex Giovanni Dattari (1853-1923) Collection of Late Roman Bronze Coins. A captive, hands bound in back, depicted with usual “barbarian” features: wild beard, baggy trousers, shirtless, and pointed Eastern cap (of Phrygian or Parthian style).
Licinius II AE Reduced Follis or Nummus (3.6g, 20 mm, 6h). Antioch mint, 317 – 320 CE.
Obverse: D N VAL LICIN LICINIVS NOB C. Laureate and draped bust to left, holding mappa, globus and sceptre.
Reverse: IOVI CONSERVATORI CAESS / H (right) / SMANT (exergue). Jupiter standing left holding Victory on globe and sceptre, bound captive to left.
References: RIC (VII) 29; Sear RCV 15415; see also Victor Clark’s “Constantine the Great Coins: Late Roman Bronze Coins,” Licinius II page (this coin illustrated).
Provenance: Ex Giovanni Dattari (1853-1923) Collection of Late Roman Bronze Coins; CNG e-Auction 470 (17 June 2020), Lot 641 (part of); purchased from Victor’s Imperial Coins (Victor Clark, 6 February 2021).
Numis. Notes: The captive is rendered in considerable detail on this die. A fascinating representation of the “barbarian other” in the 4th cent. Roman imagination. Captured perfectly in Victor Clark’s photo.
Hist. Notes: Licinius II (b. 315) was no more than 4 years old when this coin was struck, so we must look to his father Licinius I to understand its context. Licinius spent much of his rule in conflict with Constantine, though they held a temporary truce at this moment. This coin probably celebrates Licinius’ triumphs in the East against the Sarmatians, sanctioned by Jupiter. He had successfully campaigned nearly a decade earlier against Sarmatia, and was attacking again at the time this series was struck.
I particularly enjoy how much the portrait of young Licinius Jr. (especially with this coin’s dark coppery toning) resembles the Cairo Porphyry Licinius:
