I am of course always trying to learn as much as possible as quickly as possible, i have always wondered what the meanings are that are usually inside a Wreath on the reverse of these ancient coins, take this Julian II for example. It was minted at Sirmium thus the SIRM in the bottom exergue but what does the A at the beginning of the exergue indicate? Also of course there is the VOT and X's in every Wreath, what do they indicate? and on this particular one MVLT indicates???? 19.8mm / 2.1gm.
Votis decennalibus/ Multis vicennalibus celebrates the 10th government jubilee , while already makes the vows for the next 10 years with MVLT XX (vota suscepta).
The A means the coin was produced by the first workshop at that mint. Had the coin been made by the 2nd shop, it would read BSIRM. You might enjoy my page on the subject: http://www.forumancientcoins.com/dougsmith/officina.html
Beautiful coin! Vota coins essentially mean, "I vow to be a faithful Emperor for (5, 10, 20, 30) years, and God(s) willing, for (10, 20, 30)" They usually preceded the date, often significantly - adds a nice touch of irony when emperors like Julian issued coins in anticipation of 20 years in the purple when they were dead in 1-3 years.
Thanks All, Now in this case, Julian II could not have initiated this 10th government jubilee, as he was not in power for such time, Who did?
Ok, let's see if I've got this: In this coins case the reverse reads to means VOT X "I fulfilled my vows to be faithful to the Emperor /Empire for 10 years, then MVLT XX (vota suscepta) indicates, I now vow to be faithful to the Emperor / Empire for another 20 years into the future...! Does this sound somewhat correct?
@Steven Michael Gardner, emperors celebrated their 5 years of reign (cinquennalia), 10 years of reign (decennalia), 15 years of reign (quindecennalia), 20 years of reign (vicennalia) etc. For each of these occasions the emperor was celebrated by the Senate and the people and he in turn made vows for another 5 or 10 years of reign, hopefully peaceful and prosperous for the Empire. For these occasions, and more so in the Late Empire in anticipation of these occasions, coinage was minted to mark it. Some issues were minted just at the occasion and/or as presentation pieces for donatio, others were minted as regular coinage for a period of time, with the common types of Constantius II for instance being minted as long as probably 3-4 years. In the case of Julian II, he began the coinage for his anticipated decennalia (that would have been in 365) as early as 362, after his monetary reform enlarged the centenionalis and re-introduced the large AE1 denomination (the double centenionalis?), this time throughout the Empire, not just in the West. The message conveyed on this coinage is that he celebrates 10 years of reign (remember that would have been in 365) and vows 10 more years. This of course did not happen, as Julian died in 363. Rome: Thessalonica:
That's a very nice specimen, @Steven Michael Gardner ! Here's one from the first officina at the Antioch mint: Julian II, 361-363. Roman Silvered AE 3 Centenionalis; 3.16 g. 18.3 mm. Antioch mint, AD 362-363. Obv: D N FL CL IVLIANVS P F, helmeted and cuirassed bust, left, holding spear and shield. Rev: VOT X MVLT XX, legend within wreath; in exergue: ANTA between two palm fronds. Refs: RIC 220; Cohen 151; RCV 19181; LRBC 2642.
Well this was a fun educational topic for me, and we all got to see some very nice Julian II's on top of it all, Thanks for clearing this up in my head...
This discussion helps me as well. I had to look it up while identifying a pair of my coins. I have a Gratian VOT X MVLT XX and a Constantius II VOT XX MVLT XXX.
Eckhel's ninth observation about decennalian vows, Doctrina VIII, 1798, p. 484: Many late Roman emperors anticipated upcoming vows even before they had fulfilled their current vows. Tacitus, for example, reigned only six months, yet we find on his coins VOTIS X ET XX. In reality he was unable to fulfill even his quinquennalian vows, but he still used the same formula as emperors who had actually fulfilled their decennalian vows. Surprising inscriptions of this sort occur on the coins of Licinius, Constans, Magnentius, Constantius Gallus, Julian, Jovian, Valentinian I, Valens, Zeno, and Anastasius. As Banduri remarked with respect to such coins, many emperors appear to have celebrated vicennalian vows only as a hope, and in their imaginations.
"Quinquennalian" a fantastic word for the world spelling bee contest, I just hope that they don't ask them the meaning behind also....
