Item: i94037

 Authentic Ancient Coin of:

Saint

Helena –
Roman Empress 324-328/330 A.D.
Bronze AE3 (BI Nummus) 
18mm (1.79 grams) Nicomedia mint, struck circa 325-325 A.D.
Reference: RIC VII 129; Sear 16620
FL HELENA AVGVSTA, diademed bust 
right, wearing mantle and necklace.
SECVRITAS REIPVBLICE / MNΓ, 
Securitas standing left, lowering branch with right hand, raising hem of 
robe with left hand.

You are bidding on the exact item pictured, provided with a Certificate 
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Securitas – Security, as a goddess worshipped by the Romans, is 
delineated in a great variety of ways on their imperial coins. She 
appears for the most part under the form of a woman in matronly costume; 
though in some few instances she is but half clothed, having a veil 
thrown over the lower extremities. Sometimes she is quietly seated, as 
if perfectly at her ease and having nothing to fear. That is to say, her 
right or her left elbow rests on her chair, and the hand supports her 
head, as in Nero. Or else one of her arms is placed above the head; an 
attitude which ancient artists regarded as characteristic of repose. She 
holds in one or other of her hands either a sceptre, or a scipio, or the 
hasta pura, or a cornucopia, or a patera, or a globe. On some medals 
there is near her a lighted altar; on others she stands leaning against, 
or with her arm upon, a column or cippus, having sometimes the legs 
crossed in a tranquil, easy posture, carrying one of the above-mentioned 
symbols, or otherwise holding before her a branch or a crown of olive, 
or a palm branch. The meaning of these various attitudes and attributes 
is on the whole too evident to require explanation. There are medals of 
nearly all the emperors (with flagrant inappropriateness to most of the 
reigns) from Otho and Vitellius to Constans and Constantius jun., which 
have for the type of their reverses this figure of Security, and present 
for their legend the word SECVRITAS, with the addition of the words, 
AVGVSTI, or AVGVSTORVM (security of the emperor or of the emperors); 
ORBIS (security of the world) ; PVBLICA (public security) ; PERPETVA 
(perpetual security) ; POPVLI ROMANI (security of the Roman people) 
TEMPORVM (of the Times) ; IMPERII (of the empire) SAECVLI (of the age) ; 
REPVBLICAE (of the republic), etc.

Helena – Augusta, 324-328/330 A.D.

| First 
Wife of
Constantius I | Mother of
Constantine the the Great | Step-mother of Constantia and
Licinius I | Grandmother of
Crispus,
Constantine II,
Constantius II,
Constans, Constantina (wife of
Hanniballianus &
Constantius Gallus) and Helena the Younger | Great Grandmother of 
Constantia (wife of
Gratian) |

Helena,
Saint Helena, or St. Helen (Greek: Αγία Ελένη, Latin:
Flavia Iulia Helena Augusta; c. 250 – c. 330), was a Greek native 
from the Greek city of Drepana (Δρέπανα) in the province of Bithynia in 
Asia Minor. She became the consort of the future Roman Emperor 
Constantius Chlorus (reigned 293-306) and the mother of the future 
Emperor Constantine the Great (reigned 306-337). She ranks as an 
important figure in the history of Christianity and of the world due to 
her major influence on her son. Tradition credits her with a pilgrimage 
to Syria Palaestina, particularly to Jerusalem, during which she 
allegedly discovered the True Cross. Pious beliefs also associate her to 
the foundation of the Vatican Gardens.

The Eastern Orthodox 
Church, Oriental Orthodox Church, Roman Catholic Church, and the 
Anglican Communion revere her as a saint; the Lutheran Church 
commemorates her.

Family life

Saint Helena with the Cross, Lucas Cranach the Elder

Helena of Constantinople by Cima da Conegliano

Helena’s birthplace 
is not known with certainty. The 6th-century historian Procopius is the 
earliest authority for the statement that Helena was a native of 
Drepanum, in the province of Bithynia in Asia Minor. Her son Constantine 
renamed the city “Helenopolis” after her death around 330, which 
supports the belief that the city was her birthplace. The Byzantinist 
Cyril Mango has argued that Helenopolis was refounded to strengthen the 
communication network around his new capital in Constantinople, and was 
renamed simply to honor Helena, not to mark her birthplace. There was 
also a Helenopolis in Palestine  and a Helenopolis in Lydia. These 
cities, and the province of Helenopontus in the Diocese of Pontus, were 
probably both named after Constantine’s mother.

The bishop and 
historian Eusebius of Caesarea states that she was about 80 on her 
return from Palestine. Since that journey has been dated to 326-28, 
Helena was probably born in 248 or 250. Little is known of her early 
life. Fourth-century sources, following Eutropius’ “Breviarium,” 
record that she came from a low background. Saint Ambrose was the first 
to call her a stabularia, a term translated as “stable-maid” or 
“inn-keeper”. He makes this fact a virtue, calling Helena a bona 
stabularia, a “good stable-maid”. Other sources, especially those 
written after Constantine’s proclamation as emperor, gloss over or 
ignore her background.

It is unknown where she first met 
Constantius. The historian Timothy Barness has suggested that 
Constantius, while serving under Emperor Aurelian, could have met her 
while stationed in Asia Minor for the campaign against Zenobia. It is 
said that upon meeting they were wearing identical silver bracelets; 
Constantius saw her as his soulmate sent by God. Barnes calls attention 
to an epitaph at Nicomedia of one of Aurelian’s protectors, which could 
indicate the emperor’s presence in the Bithynian region soon after 270. 
The precise legal nature of the relationship between Helena and 
Constantius is also unknown. The sources are equivocal on the point, 
sometimes calling Helena Constantius’ “wife”, and sometimes, following 
the dismissive propaganda of Constantine’s rival Maxentius, calling her 
his “concubine”. Jerome, perhaps confused by the vague terminology of 
his own sources, manages to do both.

Helena’s sarcophagus in the Museo Pio-Clementino, Vatican Museum, Rome

Some scholars, such as the historian Jan Drijvers, assert that 
Constantius and Helena were joined in a common-law marriage, a 
cohabitation recognized in fact but not in law. Others, like Timothy 
Barnes, assert that Constantius and Helena were joined in an official 
marriage, on the grounds that the sources claiming an official marriage 
are more reliable.

Helena gave birth to the future emperor 
Constantine I on 27 February of an uncertain year soon after 270 
(probably around 272). At the time, she was in Naissus (Niš, Serbia). In 
order to obtain a wife more consonant with his rising status, 
Constantius divorced Helena some time before 289, when he married 
Theodora, Maximian’s daughter under his command. (The narrative sources 
date the marriage to 293, but the Latin panegyric of 289 refers to the 
couple as already married). Helena and her son were dispatched to the 
court of Diocletian at Nicomedia, where Constantine grew to be a member 
of the inner circle. Helena never remarried and lived for a time in 
obscurity, though close to her only son, who had a deep regard and 
affection for her.

The shrine to Saint Helena in St. Peter’s Basilica

Constantine was 
proclaimed Augustus of the Roman Empire in 306 by Constantius’ troops 
after the latter had died, and following his elevation his mother was 
brought back to the public life in 312, returning to the imperial court. 
She appears in the Eagle Cameo portraying Constantine’s family, probably 
commemorating the birth of Constantine’s son Constantine II in the 
summer of 316. She received the title of Augusta in 325 and died 
around 330, with her son at her side. She was buried in the Mausoleum of 
Helena, outside Rome on the Via Labicana. Her sarcophagus is on display 
in the Pio-Clementine Vatican Museum, although the connection is often 
questioned. Next to her is the sarcophagus of her granddaughter Saint 
Constantina (Saint Constance). Her skull is displayed in the Cathedral 
of Trier, in Germany.

Sainthood

Orthodox Bulgarian icon of Constantine and St. Helena

Helena is 
considered by the Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, Eastern and Latin 
Catholic churches, as well as by the Anglican Communion and Lutheran 
Churches, as a saint, famed for her piety. She is sometimes known as 
Helen of Constantinople to distinguish her from others with similar 
names.

Her feast day as a saint of the Orthodox Christian Church 
is celebrated with her son on 21 May, the “Feast of the Holy Great 
Sovereigns Constantine and Helen, Equal to the Apostles.” Likewise, 
Anglican churches, and some Lutheran churches, keep the Eastern date. 
Her feast day in the Roman Catholic Church falls on 18 August. Her feast 
day in the Coptic Orthodox Church is on 9 Pashons.

Eusebius 
records the details of her pilgrimage to Palestine and other eastern 
provinces (though not her discovery of the True Cross). She is the 
patron saint of new discoveries.

Her discovery of the Cross along 
with Constantine is dramatised in the Santacruzan, a ritual 
pageant in the Philippines. Held in May (when Roodmas was once 
celebrated), the procession also bears elements of the month’s Marian 
devotions.

Letter From Constantine to Macarius of Jerusalem
“Such is our Saviour’s grace, that no power of language seems adequate 
to describe the wondrous circumstance to which I am about to refer. For, 
that the monument (the cross) of his (Christ) most holy Passion, 
so long ago buried beneath the ground, should have remained 
unknown for so long a series of years, until its reappearance to his 
servants now set free through the removal of him who was the common 
enemy of all, is a fact which truly surpasses all admiration. I have no 
greater care than how I may best adorn with a splendid structure that 
sacred spot, which, under Divine direction, I have disencumbered as it 
were of the heavy weight of foul idol worship;(Roman temple of Venus) a 
spot which has been accounted holy from the beginning in God’s judgment, 
but which now appears holier still, since it has brought to light a 
clear assurance of our Saviour’s passion. “

“There was a temple of 
Venus on the spot. This the queen (Helena) had destroyed.”

Relic 
discoveries

See also: Early centers of Christianity § Jerusalem

Titular statue of Santa Liena, Birkirkara Malta, during the village 
festa procession, 21 August 2011

Constantine appointed his mother 
Helena as Augusta Imperatrix, and gave her unlimited access to the 
imperial treasury in order to locate the relics of Judeo-Christian 
tradition. In 326-28 Helena undertook a trip to the Holy Places in 
Palestine. According to Eusebius of Caesarea she was responsible for the 
construction or beautification of two churches, the Church of the 
Nativity, Bethlehem, and the Church of Eleona on the Mount of Olives, 
sites of Christ’s birth and ascension, respectively. Local founding 
legend attributes to Helena’s orders the construction of a church in 
Egypt to identify the Burning Bush of Sinai. The chapel at Saint 
Catherine’s Monastery-often referred to as the Chapel of Saint Helen-is 
dated to the year AD 330.

Jerusalem was still being rebuilt 
following the destruction caused by Titus in AD 70. Emperor Hadrian had 
built during the 130s a temple over the site of Jesus’s tomb near 
Calvary, and renamed the city Aelia Capitolina. Accounts differ 
concerning whether the temple was dedicated to Venus or Jupiter 
According to tradition, Helena ordered the temple torn down and, 
according to the legend that arose at the end of the 4th century, chose 
a site to begin excavating, which led to the recovery of three different 
crosses. The legend is recounted in Ambrose, On the Death of 
Theodosius (died 395) and at length in Rufinus’ chapters appended to 
his translation into Latin of Eusebius’ Ecclesiastical History, 
the main body of which does not mention the event. Then, Rufinus 
relates, the empress refused to be swayed by anything short of solid 
proof and performed a test. Possibly through Bishop Macarius of 
Jerusalem, she had a woman who was near death brought from the city. 
When the woman touched the first and second crosses, her condition did 
not change, but when she touched the third and final cross she suddenly 
recovered, and Helena declared the cross with which the woman had been 
touched to be the True Cross. On the site of discovery, Constantine 
ordered the building of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre; churches were 
also built on other sites detected by Helena. Sozomen and Theodoret 
claim that Helena also found the nails of the crucifixion. To use their 
miraculous power to aid her son, Helena allegedly had one placed in 
Constantine’s helmet, and another in the bridle of his horse.

Helena’s head relic in the crypt of Trier cathedral

Helena left 
Jerusalem and the eastern provinces in 327 to return to Rome, bringing 
with her large parts of the True Cross and other relics, which were then 
stored in her palace’s private chapel, where they can be still seen 
today. Her palace was later converted into the Basilica of the Holy 
Cross in Jerusalem. This has been maintained by Cistercian monks in the 
monastery which has been attached to the church for centuries.

Tradition says that the site of the Vatican Gardens was spread with 
earth brought from Golgotha by Helena to symbolically unite the blood of 
Christ with that shed by thousands of early Christians, who died in the 
persecutions of Nero.

According to one tradition, Helena acquired 
the Holy Tunic on her trip to Jerusalem and sent it to Trier.

According to Byzantine tradition, Helena is responsible for the large 
population of cats in Cyprus. Local tradition holds that she imported 
hundreds of cats from Egypt or Palestine in the fourth century AD to rid 
a monastery of snakes. The monastery is today known as “St. Nicholas of 
the Cats” (Greek Άγιος Νικόλαος των Γατών) and is located near Limassol.

Several relics purportedly discovered by Saint Helena are now in Cyprus, 
where she spent some time. Among them are items believed to be part of 
Jesus Christ’s tunic, pieces of the holy cross, and pieces of the rope 
with which Jesus was tied on the Cross. The rope, considered to be the 
only relic of its kind, has been held at the Stavrovouni Monastery, 
which was also founded by Saint Helena.

Depictions in British 
folklore

Helena finding the True Cross, Italian manuscript c. 825

In Great 
Britain, later legend, mentioned by Henry of Huntingdon but made popular 
by Geoffrey of Monmouth, claimed that Helena was a daughter of the King 
of Britain, Cole of Colchester, who allied with Constantius to avoid 
more war between the Britons and Rome. Geoffrey further states that she 
was brought up in the manner of a queen, as she had no brothers to 
inherit the throne of Britain. The source for this may have been 
Sozomen’s Historia Ecclesiastica, which however does not claim 
Helena was British but only that her son Constantine picked up his 
Christianity there. Constantine was with his father when he died in 
York, but neither had spent much time in Britain.

The statement 
made by English chroniclers of the Middle Ages, according to which 
Helena was supposed to have been the daughter of a British prince, is 
entirely without historical foundation. It may arise from the 
similarly-named Welsh princess Saint Elen (alleged to have married 
Magnus Maximus and to have borne a son named Constantine) or from the 
misinterpretation of a term used in the fourth chapter of the panegyric 
on Constantine’s marriage with Fausta. The description of Constantine 
honoring Britain oriendo (lit. “from the outset”, “from the 
beginning”) may have been taken as an allusion to his birth (“from
his beginning”) although it was actually discussing the beginning of 
his reign.

At least twenty-five holy wells currently exist in the 
United Kingdom dedicated to a Saint Helen. She is also the patron saint 
of Abingdon and Colchester. St Helen’s Chapel in Colchester was believed 
to have been founded by Helena herself, and since the 15th century, the 
town’s coat of arms has shown a representation of the True Cross and 
three crowned nails in her honour. Colchester Town Halll has a Victorian 
statue of the saint on top of its 50-metre-high (160 ft) tower. The arms 
of Nottingham are almost identical because of the city’s connection with 
Cole, her supposed father.

Depictions in fiction

In 
medieval legend and chivalric romance, Helena appears as a persecuted 
heroine, in the vein of such women as Emaré and Constance; 
separated from her husband, she lives a quiet life, supporting herself 
on her embroidery, until such time as her son’s charm and grace wins her 
husband’s attention and so the revelation of their identities.

Helena is the protagonist of Evelyn Waugh’s novel Helena. She is 
also the main character of Priestess of Avalon (2000), a fantasy 
novel by Marion Zimmer Bradley and Diana L. Paxson. She is given the 
name Eilan and depicted as a trained priestess of Avalon.

Helena 
is also the protagonist of Louis de Wohl’s novel The Living Wood, 
1947, in which she is again the daughter of King Coel of Colchester.