GALERIUS 309AD Large Ancient Roman Coin Mars War God Cult i40574

Item: i40574

Authentic Ancient Coin of:

Galerius –

Roman Emperor
:  305-311

Silvered Bronze  Follis 26mm (6.89 grams) Cyzicus mint 309-310 A.D.
Reference: RIC 59 (Cyzicus)
GALMAXIMIANVSPFAVG – Laureate head right.
VIRTVTIEXERCITVS Exe: B/MKV
–

Mars
advancing right, holding a spear, shield and trophy. 

You

Authenticity.

Mars was the

Roman

god of war

, the son of

Juno

and

Jupiter

, husband of

Bellona

, and the lover of

Venus

. He was the most prominent of the

military

gods that were

worshipped

by the

Roman legions

. The martial Romans considered him second in importance only

to Jupiter (their main god). His

festivals

were held in

March
(named for

him) and October. As the word Mars has no

Indo-European

derivation, it is most likely the

Latinised

form of the agricultural

Etruscan

god Maris

. Initially Mars was a Roman god of

fertility

and vegetation

and a protector of cattle, fields and boundaries and farmers. In

the second century BC, the conservative

Cato the Elder

advised “For your cattle, for them to be healthy, make this

sacrifice to Mars Silvanus you must make this sacrifice each year”.

Mars later became associated with battle as the growing

Roman

Empire
began to expand, and he came to be identified with the

Greek

god Ares
.

Unlike his Greek counterpart, Mars was generally revered and rivaled Jupiter as

the most honoured god. He was also the

tutelary

god of the city of Rome. As he was regarded as the legendary father

of Rome’s founder,

Romulus

, it was believed that all Romans were descendants of Mars.

Galerius

Maximianus (ca.

260 – late April or early May 311), formally Gaius

Galerius Valerius Maximianus was

Roman Emperor from 305 to 311.

//

 Early

life

Galerius was born on a small farm

estate, on the site where he later built his palace,

Felix Romuliana.[5] His father was a Thracian and his

mother Romula was a Dacian woman, who left Dacia because

of the Carpians’ attacks.[10] He originally followed his

father’s occupation, that of a herdsman, where he got

his surname of Armentarius (Latin: armentum, herd). He

served with distinction as a soldier under Emperors

Aurelian and Probus, and in 293 at the establishment of

the Tetrarchy, was designated Caesar along with

Constantius Chlorus, receiving in marriage Diocletian’s

daughter Valeria (later known as Galeria Valeria), and

at the same time being entrusted with the care of the

Illyrian provinces. Soon after his appointment, Galerius

would be dispatched to Egypt to fight the rebellious

cities Busiris and Coptos.[11]

 War

with Persia

 Invasion,

counterinvasion

In 294,

Narseh

, a son of Shapur who had been passed over for

the Sassanid succession, came into power in Persia.

Narseh probably moved to eliminate

Bahram III

, a young man installed by a noble named

Vahunam in the wake of Bahram II’s death in 293.^[12]

In early 294, Narseh sent Diocletian the customary

package of gifts, but within Persia he was destroying

every trace of his immediate predecessors, erasing their

names from public monuments. He sought to identify

himself with the warlike reigns of

Ardashir

(r. 226–41) and

Shapur

(r. 241–72), the same Shapur who had sacked

Roman Antioch, skinned the Emperor

Valerian

(r. 253–260) to decorate his war temple.^[13]

In 295 or 296, Narseh declared war on

Rome. He appears to have first invaded western Armenia,

retaking the lands delivered to Tiridates in the peace

of 287. He would occupy the lands there until the

following year.^[14]

Narseh then moved south into Roman Mesopotamia, where he

inflicted a severe defeat on Galerius, then commander of

the Eastern forces, in the region between Carrhae (Harran,

Turkey) and Callinicum (Ar-Raqqah,

Syria).^[15]

Diocletian may or may not have been present at the

battle,^[16]

but would present himself soon afterwards at Antioch,

where the official version of events was made clear:

Galerius was to take all the blame for the affair. In

Antioch, Diocletian forced Galerius to walk a mile in

advance of his imperial cart while still clad in the

purple robes of an emperor.^[17]

The message conveyed was clear: the loss at Carrhae was

not due to the failings of the empire’s soldiers, but

due to the failings of their commander, and Galerius’

failures would not be accepted.^[18]

(It is also possible that Galerius’ position at the head

of the caravan was merely the conventional organization

of an imperial progression, designed to show a Caesar’s

deference to his Augustus.)^[19]

Galerius had been reinforced,

probably in the spring of 298, by a new contingent

collected from the empire’s Danubian holdings.^[21]

Narseh did not advance from Armenia and Mesopotamia,

leaving Galerius to lead the offensive in 298 with an

attack on northern Mesopotamia via Armenia.^[18]

Diocletian may or may not have been present to assist

the campaign.^[22]

Narseh retreated to Armenia to fight Galerius’ force, to

Narseh’s disadvantage: the rugged Armenian terrain was

favorable to Roman infantry, but unfavorable to Sassanid

cavalry. Local aid gave Galerius the advantage of

surprise over the Persian forces, and, in two successive

battles, Galerius secured victories over Narseh.^[23]

During the second encounter, Roman

forces seized Narseh’s camp, his treasury, his harem,

and his wife along with it.^[23]

Narseh’s wife would live out the remainder of the war in

Daphne, a suburb of Antioch, serving to the Persians as

a constant reminder of Roman victory.^[18]

Galerius advanced into

Media

and

Adiabene

, winning continuous victories, most

prominently near Erzurum,^[20]

and securing Nisibis (Nusaybin,

Turkey) before October 1, 298. He moved down the Tigris,

taking Ctesiphon, and gazing onwards to the ruins of

Babylon before returning to Roman territory via the

Euphrates.^[24]

 Peace

negotiations

Narseh had previously sent an

ambassador to Galerius to plead for the return of his

wives and children, but Galerius had dismissed this

ambassador, reminding him of how Shapur had treated

Valerian.^[21]

The Romans, in any case, treated Narseh’s captured

family with tact, perhaps seeking to evoke comparisons

to

Alexander

and his beneficent conduct towards the

family of

Darius III

.^[18]

Peace negotiations began in the spring of 299, with both

Diocletian and Galerius presiding. Their magister

memoriae (secretary) Sicorius Probus was sent to

Narseh to present terms.^[21]

The conditions of the peace were

heavy:^[18]

Persia would give up territory to Rome, making the

Tigris the boundary between the two empires. Further

terms specified that Armenia was returned to Roman

domination, with the fort of Ziatha as its border;

Caucasian Iberia

would pay allegiance to Rome under

a Roman appointee; Nisibis, now under Roman rule, would

become the sole conduit for trade between Persia and

Rome; and Rome would exercise control over the five

satrapies between the Tigris and Armenia:

Ingilene

, Sophanene (Sophene),

Arzanene (Aghdznik),

Corduene

, and

Zabdicene

(near modern

Hakkâri

, Turkey). These regions included the passage

of the Tigris through the

Anti-Taurus

range; the

Bitlis

pass, the quickest southerly route into

Persian Armenia; and access to the

Tur Abdin

plateau. With these territories, Rome

would have an advance station north of Ctesiphon, and

would be able to slow any future advance of Persian

forces through the region.^[25]

Under the terms of the peace Tiridates would regain both

his throne and the entirety of his ancestral claim, and

Rome would secure a wide zone of cultural influence in

the region.^[21]

The fact that the empire was able to sustain such

constant warfare on so many fronts has been taken as a

sign of the essential efficacy of the Diocletianic

system and the goodwill of the army towards the

tetrarchic enterprise.^[26]

 Persecution

of Christians

Christians had lived in peace during

most of the rule of Diocletian. The persecutions that

began with an edict of February 24, 303, were credited

by Christians to Galerius’ work, as he was a fierce

advocate of the old ways and old gods. Christian houses

of assembly were destroyed, for fear of sedition in

secret gatherings.

Diocletian

was not anti-Christian during the first

part of his reign, and historians have claimed that

Galerius decided to prod him into persecuting them by

secretly burning the Imperial Palace and blaming it on

Christian saboteurs. Regardless of who was at fault for

the fire, Diocletian’s rage was aroused and he began one

of the last and greatest Christian persecutions in the

history of the

Roman Empire

.

It was at the insistence of Galerius

that the last edicts of persecution against the

Christians

were published, beginning on February 24,

303, and this policy of repression was maintained by him

until the appearance of the general edict of toleration,

issued from

Nicomedia

in April 311, apparently during his last

bout of illness, in his own name and in those of

Licinius

and

Constantine

(see

).

Lactantius

gives the text of the edict in his

moralized chronicle of the bad ends to which all the

persecutors came, De Mortibus Persecutorum (“On

the Deaths of the Persecutors”, chapters 34, 35). This

marked the end of official persecution of Christians.

 Rule

as Augustus

After the elevation of

Constantius I

and Galerius to the rank of Augusti,

two new Caesars were required to supply their place, and

to complete the system of the Imperial government. The

two persons whom Galerius promoted to the rank of Caesar

were very much Galerius’ creatures, and he hoped to

enhance his authority throughout the empire with their

elevation.^[27]

First was

Maximinus Daia

, whose mother was Galerius’ sister.

An inexperienced youth with little formal education, he

was invested with the purple, exalted to the dignity of

Caesar, and assigned the command of Egypt and Syria.

Second was

Severus

, Galerius’ comrade in arms; he was sent to

Milan

to receive the possession of Italy and Africa.

According to the forms of the constitution, Severus

acknowledged the supremacy of the western emperor; but

he was absolutely devoted to the commands of his

benefactor Galerius, who, reserving to himself the

intermediate countries from the confines of Italy to

those of Syria, firmly established his power over three

quarters of the empire.^[27]

His hopes were dashed when his

colleague Constantius died at

York

in 306 and the legions elevated his son

Constantine

to the position of Augustus. Galerius

only discovered this when he received a letter from

Constantine, who informed him of his father’s death,

modestly asserted his natural claim to the succession,

and respectfully lamented that the enthusiastic violence

of his troops had not allowed him to obtain the Imperial

purple in the regular and constitutional manner. The

first emotions of Galerius were those of surprise,

disappointment, and rage; and, as he could seldom

restrain his passions, he threatened to burn both the

letter and the messenger.^[28]

But when he had time to reconsider

his position, he inevitably saw that his chances of

winning a war against Constantine was doubtful at best,

especially given that he was well aware of Constantine’s

strengths as Constantine had been his guest for some

time at

Nicomedia

, not to mention the attachment of the

troops to him^[27].

Therefore, without either condemning or ratifying the

choice of the British army, Galerius accepted the son of

his deceased colleague as the ruler of the provinces

beyond the Alps; but he gave him only the title of

Caesar, and the fourth rank among the Roman princes,

whilst he conferred the vacant place of Augustus on his

favourite Severus.

The ambitious spirit of Galerius was

only just gotten over this disappointment when he beheld

the unexpected loss of Italy to

Maxentius

. Galerius’ need for additional revenue had

persuaded him to make a very strict and rigorous

examination of the property of his subjects for the

purpose of a general taxation. A very minute survey was

taken of their real estates; and, wherever there was the

slightest suspicion of concealment, torture was used to

obtain a sincere declaration of their personal wealth.

Italy had traditionally been exempt from any form of

taxation^[27],

but Galerius ignored this precedent, and the officers of

the revenue already began to number the Roman people,

and to settle the proportion of the new taxes. Italy

began to murmur against this indignity and Maxentius

used this sentiment to declare himself emperor in Italy,

to the fury of Galerius. Therefore, Galerius ordered his

colleague Severus to immediately march to Rome, in the

full confidence that, by his unexpected arrival, he

would easily suppress the rebellion^[27].

Severus was quickly captured and executed by

Maximian

, who had once again been elevated to the

rank of co-emperor, this time by his son Maxentius.

The importance of the occasion needed

the presence and abilities of Galerius. At the head of a

powerful army collected from

Illyricum

and the East, he entered Italy, determined

to revenge the death of Severus and to punish the

rebellious Romans. But due to the skill of Maximian,

Galerius found every place hostile, fortified, and

inaccessible; and though he forced his way as far as

Narni

, within sixty miles of Rome, his control in

Italy was confined to the narrow limits of his camp.

Seeing that he was facing

ever-greater difficulties, Galerius made the first

advances towards reconciliation, and dispatched two

officers to tempt the Romans by the offer of a

conference, and the declaration of his paternal regard

for Maxentius, reminding them that they would obtain

much more from his willing generosity that anything that

might have been obtained through a military campaign^[27].

The offers of Galerius were rejected with firmness, his

friendship refused, and it was not long before he

discovered that unless he retreated, he might have

succumbed to the fate of Severus. It was not a moment

too soon; large monetary gifts from Maxentius to his

soldiers had corrupted the fidelity of the Illyrian

legions. When Galerius finally began his withdrawal from

Italy, it was only with great difficulty that he managed

to stop his veterans deserting him^[27].

In frustration, Galerius allowed his

legions to ravage the countryside as they passed

northwards. Maxentius declined to make a general

engagement.

With so many emperors now in

existence, in

308

Galerius, together with the retired emperor

Diocletian and the now active Maximian, called an

imperial ‘conference’ at

Carnuntum

on the River Danube to rectify the

situation and bring some order back into the imperial

government. Here it was agreed that Galerius’ long-time

friend and military companion

Licinius

, who had been entrusted by Galerius with

the defense of the Danube while Galerius was in Italy,

would become Augustus in the West, with Constantine as

his Caesar. In the East, Galerius remained Augustus and

Maximinus remained his Caesar. Maximian was to retire,

and Maxentius was declared a usurper.

Galerius’ plan soon failed. The news

of Licinius’ promotion was no sooner carried into the

East, than Maximinus, who governed, the provinces of

Egypt and Syria, rejected his position as Caesar, and,

notwithstanding the prayers as well as arguments of

Galerius, exacted, the equal title of Augustus^[27].

For the first, and indeed for the last time, six

emperors administered the Roman world. And though the

opposition of interest, and the memory of a recent war,

divided the empire into two great hostile powers, their

mutual fears and the fading authority of Galerius

produced an apparent tranquility in the imperial

government.

The last years of Galerius saw him

relinquishing his aspirations towards being the supreme

emperor of the empire, though he managed to retain the

position of first among equals. He spent the remainder

of his years enjoying himself and ordering some

important public works, such as discharging into the

Danube

the superfluous waters of

Lake Pelso

, and the cutting down the immense forests

that encompassed it^[27].

 Death

Galerius died on 5 May 311 from a

horribly gruesome disease described by

Eusebius

, possibly some form of

bowel cancer

,

gangrene

or

Fournier gangrene

.

Gamzigrad-Romuliana

, Palace of Galerius near

Zaječar

in

Serbia

he had constructed in his birthplace, was

inscribed into the

World Heritage List

in June 2007.