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To participate in the forum you must log in or register. | Author |
 Replies: 6 / Views: 1,390 |
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Valued Member
United Kingdom
112 Posts |
I'm trying to make sense of Tetrarchy coins. It's confusing enough but to add to the difficulty Gaius Galerius Valerius Maximianus, emperor 305-311, is referred to by two different names... In Wikipedia and in one of my Roman history books he is Galerius but on ACSearch as Maximianus, and on VCoins as Maximianus mostly but occasionally as Galerius. The legend on my coin reads MAXIMIANVS so surely Galerius is not correct? Which should it be? Here's the coin I'm cataloguing Alexandria, 305-306 (-307?), RIC VI 59b, 21mm, 3.64gm   *** Moved by Staff moved to a more appropriate forum. *** |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
7066 Posts |
I recommend the moderators move this to the ancients/medieval section.
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Pillar of the Community
United Kingdom
725 Posts |
Galerius is Galerius. His name was Gaius Galerius Valerius Maximianus, and sometimes coins confusingly call him Maximianus without the GAL VAL part (although often they add those bits, so the legend becomes GAL VAL MAXIMIANVS). But there's already a Maximianus, who reigned at the same time, so we don't call Galerius that now. How to tell them apart? The straight nose is Galerius. This legend/reverse combination is also only Galerius. By the way, most Galerius coins are of him as Caesar (they end NOB CAES or similar), which distinguishes Galerius, as Maximian was not Caesar on coins. But coins of Galerius as Augustus are less common (and harder to tell apart). Maximian https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MaximianOn ACSearch https://www.acsearch.info/search.ht...erm=maximianGalerius https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GaleriusOn ACSearch https://www.acsearch.info/search.ht...erm=galeriusAnd beware of MAXIMINVS. He's someone different again. You will find similar confusion with ANTONINVS PIVS, who often isn't ANTONINVS PIVS. Edited by JohnConduitt
01/02/2023 5:19 pm
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Moderator
 Australia
16805 Posts |
We could reasonably be calling them "Maximianus I" and "Maximianus II". It wouldn't technically be "incorrect" to do so. But we don't do so, for much the same reason that we don't call Caracalla "Antoninus Pius II" or Elagabalus "Antoninus Pius III".
Historical convention.
In the case I've just mentioned above, it's because the ancient chroniclers didn't want the name of the good emperor "Antoninus Pius" tainted by using the same name for the latter two rotten emperors, so the rotten emperors got branded with nicknames.
Galerius may have suffered the same fate. Galerius was a notorious persecutor of Christians (he was considered the mastermind behind the persecutions under Diocletian), so later Christian chroniclers may have been reluctant to attach the same name to him as to his unrelated predecessor who, though a general and occasionally a rebel leader, was not noted for being anti-Christian. Maximianus' reputation was cleansed after his death; Galerius' wasn't.
In both cases, the names used by those original historians, writing not long after the emperors in question had perished, had set the precedent, and all subsequent historians (and coin collectors) have used the same naming conventions.
Don't say "infinitely" when you mean "very"; otherwise, you'll have no word left when you want to talk about something really infinite. - C. S. Lewis
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Pillar of the Community
Russian Federation
5172 Posts |
As I like to joke, I can accept referring to Varius Avitus Bassianus by his regnal name, Marcus Aurelius Antoninus III, but I don't like calling him by his divine name, El ag-Gabal ("God of the Mountain" in the local vaguely-Arabic dialect). Quote:
You will find similar confusion with ANTONINVS PIVS, who often isn't ANTONINVS PIVS. IIRC, if your coin says ANTONINVS PIVS, with nothing in between these words, it's almost certainly one of the later two; coins of the original Antoninus Pius say ANTONINVS AVG PIVS or similar. |
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CCF Advertiser
United States
1303 Posts |
A friend who was sick of me messing this up said: -->"Tetrarchy coins--Galerius, Maximian and Maximinus II, since they all have similar long names. The big rule on that is if it has no "A" in end of name "INVS" vs "IANVS" it's Maximinus II... if the A is there, and it's marked as Caesar, it's Galerius because Maximian was never Caesar... if it is marked as Augustus then you have to look it up because Galerius was eventually an Augustus, although sometimes it is rather obvious since Maximian has an upturned nose."<-- (Note photo as I pasted this to my lamp near where I work on coins...)  Edited by louisvillekyshop
01/03/2023 7:16 pm
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Valued Member
 United Kingdom
112 Posts |
Thanks everyone! Really helpful.
And to admins who moved this to the correct forum. I hadn't had any reply on the wrong forum so stopped checking back. Lots of interest to digest in your comments and I'll download them all for study.
All the best!
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Replies: 6 / Views: 1,390 |
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Posted 01/02/2023 4:47 pm
