Ancient Coins

Roman Imperial coins, Maximinus II (309-313), Solidus, Rome, c. 312-13, MAXIMIN–VS P F AVG, laureate head right, rev. VBIQVE V-ICTORES, Maximinus standing right, holding spear and globe, between two captives seated on ground; PR in exergue, 4.24g/11h (Seems to be unpublished, for type issued in the name of Constantine in Rome; cf. RIC VI p. 688, Addenda to p. 385, after no. 284 and Depeyrot 17/7; for a similar issue struck in the name of Maximinus in Trier cf. RIC VI p. 222, 817b). Extremely fine, UNIQUE £8,000-10,000

This coin was struck in Rome in the short period when Maximinus Daza, co-emperor with Licinius of the Eastern Empire, entered into a secret alliance with the usurper Maxentius, who controlled Italy. He came to an open rupture with Licinius in April 313 and sustained a crushing defeat at the Battle of Tzirallum and fled, first to Nicomedia and afterwards to Tarsus, where he died the following August. His death was ascribed by Edward Gibbon in Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, chapter 14, "to despair, to poison, and to the divine justice"