AE Follis, 25 mm, 7.2 g, 12h,
Treveri (Trier) Mint, c. CE 307-308
RCV 13449
RIC Trier 768
O: IMP C VAL MAXIMIANVS PF AVG, laur cuir bust r.
R: GENIO-POPROM, Genius
stg l holding patera in r and cornucopia in l. in field on left S on right A in
ex, PTR.
ex Warren Esty 2020
Michael Grant in his book The Roman Emperors; A Biographical Guide to the Rulers of Imperial Rome 31BC-AD476 writes a description of Maximianus on pp. 212-213 that quotes an earlier writer "...as Eutropius has suggested, he [Maximianus] was also thoroughly coarse, savage, brutal, impatient and impossible to get on with. His coin portraits, showing him enveloped in the head-dress of his divine patron Hercules, are at pains to emphasize this ferocious toughness of character. It was combined with a remorseless hankering to return to the power he had been induced to abdicate, supported by an infinite capacity for treacherous intrigue to secure that end--shown, for example, in his willingness to betray both his son Maxentius and his son-in-law Constantine."
One does not have to easily imagine that due to such ambitions, the initial triumph of the tetrarchic system of Diocletian came crashing down within a year of the founder's abdication leaving the empire in no better straights than it had been during the last half of the third century, until Constantine established himself and his family as paramount rulers on the ashes of Diocletian's attempt at bringing order to chaos.
Michael Grant in his book The Roman Emperors; A Biographical Guide to the Rulers of Imperial Rome 31BC-AD476 writes a description of Maximianus on pp. 212-213 that quotes an earlier writer "...as Eutropius has suggested, he [Maximianus] was also thoroughly coarse, savage, brutal, impatient and impossible to get on with. His coin portraits, showing him enveloped in the head-dress of his divine patron Hercules, are at pains to emphasize this ferocious toughness of character. It was combined with a remorseless hankering to return to the power he had been induced to abdicate, supported by an infinite capacity for treacherous intrigue to secure that end--shown, for example, in his willingness to betray both his son Maxentius and his son-in-law Constantine."
One does not have to easily imagine that due to such ambitions, the initial triumph of the tetrarchic system of Diocletian came crashing down within a year of the founder's abdication leaving the empire in no better straights than it had been during the last half of the third century, until Constantine established himself and his family as paramount rulers on the ashes of Diocletian's attempt at bringing order to chaos.
