CONSTANTIUS GALLUS 351AD Roman Ancient Coin BATTLE Horse man i33258

Item: i33258

Authentic Ancient

Coin of:

Constantius Gallus – Roman Caesar:

Bronze AE3 16mm (2.61 grams) Constantinople mint: 351-354 A.D.
Reference: RIC VIII 122
 DN FL CL CONSTANTIVS NOB CAES, bare-headed, draped, cuirassed bust right

 FEL TEMP REPARATIO, soldier spearing fallen horseman who is bare-headed,

bearded, reaching backwards. Dot in centre, CONS
in ex.

You are bidding on the exact item pictured,

Authenticity.

Flavius Claudius Constantius Gallus (ca. 325/326 –

354), better known as Constantius Gallus, was a member of the

Constantinian dynasty

and

Caesar

of the

Roman

Empire
(351-354). Gallus was

consul

three years, from 352 to 354.

//

 Family

Son of

Julius Constantius

by his first wife Galla, Gallus’ paternal grandparents

were

Western Roman Emperor

Constantius Chlorus

and his second wife

Flavia Maximiana Theodora

.

Julius Constantius was also a half-brother of

Roman

Emperor

Constantine I

, and thus Gallus was a first cousin of Emperors

Constantine II

,

Constantius II

and

Constans
.

The older sister of Gallus, of unknown name, was the

first wife of Constantius II

. Julius Constantius had married a second wife,

Basilina, who had borne him a son, Flavius Claudius Iulianus, later emperor, and

known as

Julian

.

 Appearance

Gallus was very good looking, with soft blond hair.

 Youth

Gallus was born in

,

Italia

, after his father had returned from exile. In 337, during the purges

that hit the imperial family after the death of Constantine I, Gallus saw his

father and his elder brother killed, probably by order of his cousin

Constantius. The only imperial males surviving were the three Emperors, Gallus,

and Julian, who were probably too young or ill (Banchich) to be a menace to

Constantius.

With regards to Gallus’ youth, the most accepted view is that

he lived with Julian under

Eusebius

, bishop of

Nicomedia
,

then in

Constantinople

since 340 (when Eusebius became bishop of the capital). After

341 (death of Eusebius), Constantius sent Gallus and Julian to the imperial

manor in Macellum

,

Cappadocia
.

An alternative view accepts hints from sources that want Gallus in Ephesus to

study, and then going to Macellum from an exile in Tralles.

 Caesar

In 350,

Magnentius

had rebelled and killed the emperor

Constans
,

claiming the purple.

Constantius II

prepared to move against the usurper, but needed a

representative in the East, so he called Gallus at

Sirmium
,

raised him to the rank of

caesar

(15

March 351
),

gave him the name Constantius, and strengthened the bonds with his cousin

by allowing Gallus to marry his sister

Constantina

. Gallus and Constantina, who probably shared her brother’s aim

of controlling the young caesar, set up residence in

Antioch
.

During his rule, Gallus had to deal with a

Jewish

rebellion in

Judea
/Palestine

(see

War against Gallus

). The rebellion, possibly started before Gallus’

elevation to caesar, was crushed by Gallus’ general,

Ursicinus

, who ordered all the rebels slain.

Gallus was saved from an assassination plot by a woman, who

revealed that some members of her household were planning the murder. Some

sources, among whom are

Joannes Zonaras

, claim that this plot had been organized by Magnentius in

order to distract Constantius from Magnentius himself.

Some sources (Philostorgius)

claim Gallus’ generals won a campaign against the

Sassanids

. Others, basing their views on an almost-peaceful situation

between Sassanids and Romans, dismiss this claim. In 354, Gallus sent the

Comes
Orientis,

Nebridius, against the

Isaurians
,

who had been raiding the city of

Seleucia on the Tigris

.

As a consequence of the need to gather food for the troops of

a Persian campaign or because of drought, the grain supply in Antioch decreased.

In order to counter the higher price of grain, Gallus forced the passage of some

laws regardless of the opinion of the Senate, thus alienating the support of the

senatorial class of Antioch.

Ammianus Marcellinus

, a philo-senatorial writer, tells how the anger of the

people of Antioch for the famine was diverted by Gallus towards the

Syriae Theophilus, who was killed by the mob.

Ammianus reports also that Gallus and Constantina started

several trials for magic against wealthy people, ending in the execution of

innocents and in the confiscation of their wealth. The same source claims that

Gallus walked anonymously in Antioch by night, asking passersby for their

opinion on their caesar, while Julian records the great amount of time spent by

Gallus at the Hippodrome, probably to obtain popular support.

Doubting his cousin’s loyalty, Constantius reduced the troops

under Gallus, and sent the

Praetorian Prefect

Domitianus to Antioch to urge Gallus to go to Italy.

Different sources tell different stories, but all agree that Gallus arrested

Domitianus and the quaestor Montius who had come to his aid, and that the two

officers were killed.

The arrest of Montius led to the discovery of what seems to

be a plot to elevate an usurper against Gallus. The conspirators had the support

of two tribuni fabricarum (officers of the weapons factories) who had

promised the weapons for an uprising (Ammianus Marcellinus,

14.7.18

), and probably of the troops in Mesopotamia, as well as of the

rector of the province of Phoenice. All of those involved in the plot were

sentenced to death.

 Fall and death

Constantius was informed of the trials in Antioch during a

campaign against the

Alamanni
.

Having signed a peace with the Germanic tribe, Constantius decided to settle the

matter with his cousin. First he summoned Ursicinus to the West, whom he

suspected to have been inciting Gallus in order to create the occasion for a

revolt and the usurpation of his own son.

Next, Constantius summoned Gallus and Constantina to Milan.

Constantina left first, in order to gain some of her brother’s trust, but died

at Caeni Gallicani in

Bithynia
.

Gallus, whose bonds to Constantius had been weakened, stayed in Antioch.

Constantius tried to lure Gallus, sending the tribunus scutariorum

Scudilo to tell Gallus that Constantius wanted to raise him to

. Gallus desiring to finally obtain the rank of

, took Constantius’s bait and left

Antioch
to

meet him. Gallus in an exhibition of his presumed soon to be Augustus powers,

staged a chariot race in Constantinople’s

and crowned the victor, an honor reserved only for those that

are Augustus. This insolence of Gallus enraged Constantius, further adding to

his dislike for the upstart Caesar. In an attempt to further isolate Gallus from

any form of military protection, Constantius had the garrisons removed from the

towns in Gallus’s path.

When Gallus arrived to

Poetovio

in Noricum

, Barbatio

, an officer who had been supporting Gallus’ dismissal within

Constantius’ court, surrounded the palace of the caesar and arrested him,

stripping Gallus of the imperial robes, but assuring him that no harm would come

to him. Gallus was led to

Pola, Istria (now

Pula, Croatia). Here he was interrogated by some of the highest officials of

Constantius’ court, including the eunuch praepositus cubiculi Eusebius

and the agens in rebus

Apodemius
.

Gallus tried to put the blame of all of his actions on Constantina, but

Constantius sentenced him to death; The emperor later changed his mind, and

ordered the caesar to be spared, but Eusebius ordered that the news was not to

reach the executioners.