CONSTANS Constantine I the Great son 337AD Ancient Roman Coin SECURITAS i20427

Item: i20427

Authentic Ancient

Coin of:

Constans – Roman Emperor: 337-350 A.D. –

Bronze AE4 14mm (1.32 grams) Rome mint 337-350 A.D.
Reference: RIC 11 (VIII, Rome), LRBC 588
 DNFLCONSTANSAVG – Diademed (rosettes), draped and cuirassed bust right.

 SECVRITASREIP Exe: palm/Γ
– Securitas standing left, leaning on column and with legs
crossed, holding scepter.

You are bidding on the exact item pictured,

Authenticity.

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.

Flavius

Julius Constans (320-350) was a

Roman Emperor

who ruled from 337 until his death. Constans was the

third and youngest son of

Constantine the Great

and

Fausta
,

Constantine’s second wife.

On 25 December 333 Constantine elevated Constans to Caesar.

In 337 he succeeded his father, jointly with his older

brothers

Constantine II

and

Constantius II

, receiving

Italy
,

Pannonia

and Africa
as

his portion. Constantine II, who ruled over Gaul, Spain and Britain, attempted

to take advantage of his youth and inexperience by invading Italy in 340, but

Constans defeated Constantine at

Aquileia
,

where the older brother died. The invasion was the effect of brotherly tensions

between the two emperors. Constantine II was, at first, Constans’s guardian. As

Constans grew older, Constantine II never relinquished that position.

In 341-2, Constans led a successful campaign against the

Franks
and in

the early months of 343 visited

Britain

. The source for this visit,

Julius Firmicus Maternus

, does not give a reason for this but the quick

movement and the danger involved in crossing the

channel

in the dangerous winter months, suggests it was in response to a

military emergency of some kind, possibly to repel the

Picts
and

Scots
.

Regarding religion, Constans was tolerant of Judaism but

promulgated an edict banning pagan sacrifices in 341. He suppressed

Donatism

in Africa and supported

Nicene orthodoxy

against

Arianism
,

which was championed by his brother Constantius the latter. Constans called the

Council of Sardica

, which unsuccessfully tried to settle the conflict.

In 350, the general

Magnentius

declared himself emperor with the support of the troops on the

Rhine
frontier,

and later the entire Western portion of the Roman Empire. Constans lacked any

support beyond his immediate household, and was forced to flee for his life.

Magnentius’ supporters cornered him in a fortification in Helena, southwestern

Gaul, where he was

killed by Magnentius’s assassins.