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Flavia Theodora - Who Made Her Coins?

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Finn235's Avatar
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 Posted 01/03/2017  2:57 pm Show Profile   Bookmark this topic Add Finn235 to your friends list Get a Link to this Message Number of Subscribers
Going back through my Roman coins, and I found my little AE4 of Theodora, and got to thinking, who made it?

Theodora became the wife of Constantius I in 293 when he divorced his wife Helena to seal a more political marriage. This move caused Constantine I to be sent away to the court of Diocletian, only to come back to prominence when he served as a general under his father. Constantine was reasonably friendly with his half-siblings upon becoming emperor, and granted some of them political offices during his reign. After his death in 337, the empire was split between his sons Constantine II, Constans, and Constantius II as co-emperors, and his nephew Delmatius as caesar. Another nephew Haniballianus held a small amount of territory as rex. Shortly after the death of Constantine, Delmatius and just about every other surviving member of the marriage between Constantius I and Theodora was put to death to consolidate power between the "true" heirs of Constantine. Constantius Gallus and Julian II were spared due to their youth.

That raises some questions. There are a few minor variations on a small AE4 coin featuring Theodora on the obverse. They all are of the same type, PIETAS ROMANA, with Pietas breastfeeding an infant. Traditionally, they are attributed to the time period 337-340, when Constantine's sons were co-emperors.

It just doesn't all add up. If they had just killed all of her children and grandchildren, why did they issue a coin praising her for her piety? I would suggest that the coins were made by Delmatius, but they were only minted at Trier, Rome, and Constantinople, none of which Delmatius had any authority over.

Both this and the "pagan" representation of Pietas makes me wonder if perhaps they were issued by Julian II, later in the 360s?
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echizento's Avatar
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 Posted 01/03/2017  7:26 pm  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add echizento to your friends list Get a Link to this Reply
Good question Steve and one that I have no answer to. This might have to take some research to find the answer.
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 Posted 01/03/2017  8:23 pm  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add Spence to your friends list Get a Link to this Reply

Quote:
perhaps they were issued by Julian II, later in the 360s?


Yes very good question. As you know, ancient Rome isn't a current area of interest for me, but you may want to know what Vagi says on this subject. First, he states that Theodora's coins were likely issued posthumously. Evidently they were minted contemporaneously with posthumous commemorative coins of Helena. He gives the most likely candidates for ordering these coins to be minted as three of her step-grandchildren: Constantine II, Constans, and Constantius II.

You bring up some interesting points about why you think the coins were not minted during Theodora's lifetime, but Vagi cites the fact that there is no record of her being given the title of Augusta as being the primary evidence of the coins being made later. Overall, though, it seems like you pretty much nailed this one. Maybe post your AE4 to this thread?
"If you climb a good tree, you get a push."
-----Ghanaian proverb

"The danger we all now face is distinguishing between what is authentic and what is performed."
-----King Adz
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 Posted 01/03/2017  10:09 pm  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add Finn235 to your friends list Get a Link to this Reply
Here is mine, from the very first lot I ever purchased on ebay:

Flavia-Theodora---Who-Made-Her-Coins?
Flavia-Theodora---Who-Made-Her-Coins?

Old pics; I put the coin in a 2x2 but am eventually going to get around to taking it out.

A little searching indicates that she may have died in c.305, when her husband was still alive. It is probably safe to say that her coins were not made during the Tetrarchy; the art style and size just don't match up. That would make them posthumous, and I suppose the cross would firmly place them within the Christian era; Probably not during the time of Julian "the Apostate".

If they were indeed made by her step-grandsons, I can only think of two reasons:

1. To placate an upset populace who wanted her bloodline to be next in line for the throne.

2. Out of genuine remorse for killing nearly all of their family.
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 Posted 01/06/2017  7:07 pm  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add lrbguy to your friends list Get a Link to this Reply
John Kent in RIC VIII muses on this question a bit. Consideration of the coins for Theodora must be done in tandem with a contemporaneous issue for Helena. Kent observes, "In any event, the harmonious joint succession of the two families may have been the connotation originally intended." (p.7, n55). To that thought I add the rejoinder that if such a message were intended, then it heightens the duplicity of the "sons of Helena" that they would try to mollify the masses with such a message on the eve of destruction.
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