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Heraclius, AD 610-641

The Byzantine Empire, Heraclius, AD 610-641 with colleagues from 613; Gold AV Solidus (4.43 g). Heraclius, in center, Heraclius Constantine on right and Heraclonas on left, standing facing, each wearing chlamys and globus cruciger. Reverse: VICTORIA, Cross potent on four steps; In exergue, CONOB.

History of coin subject "Heraclius": Heraclius, Byzantine emperor, born c. 575, Cappadocia died Feb. 11, 641, Constantinople Eastern Roman emperor (A.D.610-641) who reorganized and strengthened the imperial administration and the imperial armies but who, nevertheless, lost Syria, Palestine, Egypt, and Byzantine Mesopotamia to the Arab Muslims.

Heraclius was born in eastern Anatolia. His father, probably of Armenian descent, was governor of the Roman province of Africa when an appeal came from Constantinople to save the Eastern Roman Empire from the terror and incompetence of the emperor Phocas. The Governor equipped an expeditionary force and put his devout son, the blond and gray-eyed Heraclius, in command of it.

In October 610 Heraclius dropped anchor off Constantinople, deposed Phocas, and was crowned emperor of a crumbling state, occupied by invaders and wracked with internal dissension. Slavs swarmed over the Balkan Peninsula. The Persians occupied extensive parts of Anatolia. The Turkic Avars, who ruled over the Slavic and other tribes that occupied the region between the Don and the Alps, exacted tribute. With its economy disrupted, its administration disorganized, its army depleted and demoralized, its factions engaging in civil strife, its peasants enfeebled by excessive exactions, its religious dissenters alienated by persecution, and its authority challenged by a powerful aristocracy, the empire lacked the strength necessary to expel the invaders, and possibly even to survive.

In 614 the Persians conquered Syria and Palestine, taking Jerusalem and what was believed to be Christ's Cross, and in 619 occupied Egypt and Libya. In an effort to placate the Avars, Heraclius met them at Thracian Heraclea (617 or 619). They sought to capture him, and he rode madly back to Constantinople, hotly pursued. Overlooking their perfidy, he finally made peace with them and was free to take the offensive against the Persians.

The next two years he devoted to campaigns in Armenia, the manpower of which was vital to the empire, and to a devastating invasion of Persia. In 625 Heraclius retired to Anatolia. He had encamped on the west bank of the Sarus River when the Persian forces appeared on the opposite bank. Many of his men rushed impetuously across the bridge and were ambushed and annihilated by the enemy.

Emerging from his tent, Heraclius saw the triumphant Persians crossing the bridge. The fate of the empire hung in the balance. Seizing his sword, he ran to the bridge and struck down the Persian leader. His soldiers closed rank behind him and beat back the foe.

In 626 the Persians advanced to the Bosporus, hoping to join the Avars in an assault on the land walls of Constantinople. But the Romans sank the primitive Avar fleet that was to transport Persian units across the Bosporus and repelled the unsupported Avar assault. Heraclius again invaded Persia and in December 627, after a march across the Armenian highlands into the Tigris plain, met the Persians near the ruins of Nineveh. There, astride his renowned war-horse, he killed three Persian generals in single combat, charged into enemy ranks at the head of his troops, killed the Persian commander, and scattered the Persian host.

No doubt he was an inspiring military leader who fired his army with religious fervour and whose personal intrepidity, imaginative tactics, and constant concern for his men evoked their love and loyalty. But he was also a cautious and calculating strategist who did not hesitate to employ religion to serve his military ends. Thus, when in 623 his victorious soldiers wanted to penetrate deeper into Persia, contrary to his plan to retire, he referred the matter to God. After his troops had fasted and prayed three days, he opened the Bible in their presence, apparently at random, and read a passage that could be interpreted only as a divine command to withdraw. Moreover, even though he fostered the crusading spirit, he waged war in a less inhumane manner than most of his contemporaries. He did not enslave or massacre the inhabitants of conquered towns and he treated his prisoners of war well, releasing them rather than butchering them when he could not feed them. His mercy contrasted sharply with Khosrow's acerbity and probably hastened his victory in Persia.

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Licinius I, AD 308-324

Roman Empire Licinius I, AD 308-324, BI Reduced Nummus (3.13g) Nicomedia Mint. Obverse: Licinius, his radiate, draped and cuirassed bust facing right. Reverse: Jupiter standing left, chlamys across left shoulder, leaning on scepter with eagle, victory on globe in right hand, flanked by eagle holding wreath on the left, and captive on the right. SMNB in Exergue.

History of coin subject "Licinius I": Roman emperor from 308 to 324.

Born of Illyrian peasant stock, Licinius advanced in the army and was suddenly elevated to the rank of augustus (November 308) by his friend Galerius, who had become emperor. Galerius hoped to have him rule the West, but since Italy, Africa, and Spain were held by the usurper Maxentius, while Constantine reigned in Gaul and Britain, Licinius had to content himself with ruling Pannonia. When Galerius died in 311, Licinius took over Galerius’ European dominions. He married Constantine’s half sister Constantia (313) and in the same year defeated the Eastern emperor Maximinus at Tzurulum, east of Adrianople, Thrace, pursuing him into Asia, where Maximinus died. Licinius thus added the entire eastern half of the empire to his dominion.

After a brief accord between the two augusti, Constantine forced Licinius to surrender the provinces of Pannonia and Moesia. There followed 10 years of uneasy peace in which Licinius built up his army and accumulated a huge reserve of treasure. In 324 Constantine defeated him at Adrianople and again at Chrysopolis (now ?sk?dar, Tur.). Licinius surrendered, was exiled to Thessalonica, and was executed the next year on a charge of attempted rebellion.

During the campaign against Maximinus, Licinius had made his army use a monotheistic form of prayer closely resembling that later imposed by Constantine. On June 5, 313, he had issued an edict granting toleration to the Christians and restoring church property. Hence his contemporaries, the Latin writer Lactantius and Bishop Eusebius, hailed him as a convert. But he eventually became alienated from the Christians and about 320 initiated a mild form of persecution.

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Lucilla, AD 164-182

Roman Empire - (Annia Aurelia Galeria) Lucilla AD 164-182/3 AV Aureus (7.30g) reverse: Venus holding and apple and septer

History of coin subject "Lucilla": Annia Aurelia Galeria Lucilla (March 7, 148 or 150-182) was the second daughter and third child of Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius and Roman Empress Faustina the Younger and an elder sister to future Roman Emperor Commodus.

Lucilla was the younger twin. Her elder brother Gemellus Lucillae died around 150. She was born and raised in Rome. Lucilla’s maternal grandparents were Roman Emperor Antoninus Pius and Roman Empress Faustina the Elder and her paternal grandparents were Domitia Lucilla and praetor Marcus Annius Verus.

Lucilla in 161, was betrothed to her father’s co-ruler Lucius Verus and they married in 164, in Ephesus. At that time, Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus were a fighting a Parthian war in Syria. She received the title of Augusta and became a Roman Empress.

Lucilla bore Lucius three children: two daughters and a son. The first daughter was born in 165 in Antioch. The elder daughter and son died young. Lucilla was an influential and respectable woman and she enjoyed her status. She spent much time in Rome, while Lucius was away from Rome much of the time, fulfilling his duties as a co-ruler. Lucius died around 168/169.

Sometime in 169, Marcus Aurelius forced her to marry Tiberius Claudius Pompeianus Quintianus, a Syrian Roman who was twice consul and a political ally to her father. Lucilla and her mother were against this marriage, because Quintianus was an older man and Lucilla preferred to marry a younger man. Lucilla around 170, bore Quintianus a son called Pompeianus.

Lucilla and Quintianus accompanied Marcus Aurelius in 172, to Vienna in support of the Danube military campaign. They were with him until March 17 180, when her father died and Commodus became the new emperor. They returned to Rome and any hope of Lucilla becoming empress again was now lost.

Lucilla was not happy living as a quiet, private citizen in Rome and became jealous of her brother and her sister-in-law because of all the attention that they received. Also she became very concerned due to the unstable behavior of her brother.

In 182 Lucilla, her daughter from her first marriage, her nephew-in-marriage and with help from her paternal cousins the former consul Marcus Ummidius Quadratus and his sister Ummidia Cornificia Faustina, had planned to assassinate Commodus and replace him with her husband and herself as the new rulers of Rome.

Quintianus’ nephew of the same name burst from his place of hiding with a dagger, trying to stab Commodus. He said to him "Here is the dagger the senate sends to you", giving away his intentions before he had the chance to act. The guards were faster than he was. He was overpowered and disarmed without doing the emperor any harm.

Commodus had ordered the deaths of her nephew-in-marriage and Marcus Ummidius Quadratus. Lucilla, her daughter and Ummidia Cornificia Faustina were banished to the Italian island of Capri. The Emperor then sent a centurion to Capri to execute the three women later that year.

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Maximian, AD 286-310

Roman Empire, Maximianus Herculius, AD286-310 (Silver) AR Argenteus, Serdica circa 303-305, (3.37g). MAXIMIA, NVS AVG Laureate head right. Reverse: VIRTVS MILITVM Camp gate with three turrets; in exergue, SMSDE.

History of coin subject "Maximian": Maximian was born ca 250. He was adopted by Diocletian and made co-Augustus in 286; Maximian effectively ruled the western part of the empire while Diocletian dealt with problems in the north and east. With Diocletian, Maximian restored the Forum in Rome and built a set of baths even bigger than Caracallas. He adopted Constantius as his son and successor when Diocletian adopted Maximian; he abdicated power with Diocletian in 305. However, Maximian did not take well to retirement. As a Senior Augustus, he continued to involve himself at times in affairs of the empire. He died at Marseilles in 310; he may have been murdered, or may have committed suicide.

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Maximian, AD 286-310

History of coin subject "Maximian": Maximian was born ca 250. He was adopted by Diocletian and made co-Augustus in 286; Maximian effectively ruled the western part of the empire while Diocletian dealt with problems in the north and east. With Diocletian, Maximian restored the Forum in Rome and built a set of baths even bigger than Caracallas. He adopted Constantius as his son and successor when Diocletian adopted Maximian; he abdicated power with Diocletian in 305. However, Maximian did not take well to retirement. As a Senior Augustus, he continued to involve himself at times in affairs of the empire. He died at Marseilles in 310; he may have been murdered, or may have committed suicide.

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