My Roman Coins With Early Christian Symbols

@tdziemia, I knew someone must have looked into this. Very interesting reading. Thanks for sharing!

@JohnConduitt, nice to see another Decentius!

@livingwater, I am honored to have someone that learned in this thread. When browsing through the online Celators (it ceased publication long before I got into ancients), your article immediately caught my attention. Very well worth reading. And the coins you show are super additions to the thread! The one with Chi-Rho on Constantine's helmet is rare. On your example the Chi-Rho is well visible.

Thanks for starting this thread @erafjel. The write-up and image of the double maiorina really piqued my interest, as did the other Chi-Rho coins you posted. I hadn't really thought much about the symbolism of the Chi-Rho or the Tau-Rho before, or the emergence of angels from Nike/Victory, so the thread has been a real eye opener.

Thanks also to @travelcoin, @JohnConduitt and @livingwater for the additional information and superb coin illustrations. The "First Christian Symbols on Roman Imperial Coins" is a most interesting read, @livingwater. Thank you.

A diminutive (just 12 mm across) issue of Valentinian II. Note the staurogram (tau-rho) in the lower left field on the reverse. Constatinople mint, RIC IX 86a.





Another of mine, an issue of Valens, Aquileia mint, with a distinct christogram (chi-rho) atop the labarum on the reverse.





One more from my collection, Theododius I (the Great), again with what looks to be a staurogram in the left field on the reverse. I believe this was struck at Cyzicus, and as such it would seem to be to RIC IX 26b.

I'd add that there's a transitional aspect to this last coin, something of a juxtaposition between Christianity and Greco-Roman religious beliefs, as evidenced by Victory being shown on the reverse as well. Beyond being a personification, she was in fact a goddess for the Romans just as Nike was to the Greeks. One last point to make is that in any case she certainly conforms to the later concepts of what an angel ought to look like.





A prior thread also touching on this topic: http://goccf.com/t/388894

Constantine I
A.D. 327
#1236; nummus 19mm 2.6g
CONSTANTINVS MAX AVG; laureate head right
SPES PVBLIC; chi-rho atop standard of 3 medallions impaling snake, in left field A.
in ex. CONS
RIC VII Constantinople 19





Constantine I
A.D. 328
#1236; nummus 21mm 3.2g
Anepigraphic: diademed head, looking up to heavens
CONSTANTINIANA DAFNE; Victory seated l. on cippus, palm branch in left hand and laurel branch in right hand, looking r.; trophy at front, at the foot is a kneeling captive with head turned being spurned by Victory; A in left field.
in ex. CONS
RIC VII Constantinople—

Thanks all for posting comments and coin pics. Hi Victor! You are THE MAN for Late Roman Bronze Coins. Your expertise is appreciated. As a collector and dealer you are helpful and honest.

An interesting topic, indeed! And while I have no problem with extending this thread to coins of later periods - and I think we have to move past Roman times - I think the topic may benefit from having its own thread. Otherwise we may miss those medievalists who do not also trigger on titles about Roman coins.

In any event, I think you are correct in pointing to Louis IX as at least the first French king who referred to Jesus on his coins. The gros tournois is one of his examples, he was also first to pick up XPC on his ecu d'or (with the inscription XPC VINCIT XPC REGNAT XPC IMPERAT - Christ conquers, Christ reigns, Christ commands). That was the first gold coin to be minted in France since Carolingian times - eight known specimens I think, I wish it was part of my collection so I could show it, but alas ... .

Louis, also known as Saint Louis (he was canonized in 1297), worked hard to live up to the tradition of the French kings being considered Rex Christianissimus, "The most Christian king." He participated in two crusades, showed pity for the poor, mercy for the rebels, and mutilated the blasphemists. Having a strong Christian message on his coins was completely in line with this.

But coinage from other regions I know less about. It would indeed be interesting to see what other examples of early references to Jesus or the Bible there are.

Beautiful coins.
I've seen one or two while detecting where the XP isn't overlapped, but never really figured out what those were.
like
*
X P
X

Are those in the same 'family' or something else?

@Gainn: An 'X' instead of an overlapped 'XP' would be in the same "family", I think. That is just an even shorter form of ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ. (Not to be confused with 'X' used for the number 10, like in the inscription 'VOT X'.)

If by '*' you mean an eight pointed star, that is a symbol used on several coins by Constantine the Great. It could represent Sol, an early patron god of his. It is not a Christian symbol anyway.

Non-overlapped 'XP' I don't think I have seen on Roman coins ... do you have an example of such a coin? (It does show up later on medieval coins as part of XPC, XPI and similar forms for "Christ".)

@Doucet: Thanks, nice contribution!