Second Brass of Valentinian II AD

Second Brass of Valentinian II AD

Bronze

Obv: Vanentinian II, helmeted, with pearl diadem, draped, cuirassed, holding spear and shield in front. D.N.VALENTINIANVS P.F. AVG. Rev: Emperor standing on galley, right hand raised, Victory seated at helm. GLORIA ROMANORVM ᴥ┴+, ANTε (below) "There seem to be four issues of the AE2 Goria Romanorum 'Emperor on ship', distinguished by variations in the mintmarks...Valentinian II's [officina seems to be regularly] e." (RIC, vol 9, p267) Valentinian II, son of Valentinian I and Justina, was proclaimed Augustus after his father's death in A.D. 375, being five or six years of age. Valentinian and his brother Gratian, then about sixteen, divided the West between them, Valentinian taking Italy, Illyricum and Africa, and Gratian Gaul, Sjpain and Britain. As the former was so young, Gratian was really sovereign of the West. The usurper Magnus Maximus had Gratian murdered in 383 and subsequently drove Valentinian II and Justina from Italy. In 388 Theodosius I, Emperor of the East, defeated and killed Maximus and reinstated Valentinian as sole Emperor of the West.

Bronze, Minted in Antioch

Transfered from the University of Queensland Library, Brisbane, 1979.

378 - AD 383

C.187