#argenteus

[lionofchaeronea]

Argenteus (diameter=18 mm; weight=3.33 g), minted ca. 295-297 CE by the Roman emperor Galerius during his period as Caesar under Diocletian. As Diocletian's second-in-command and heir presumptive, Galerius waged war on multiple fronts; perhaps his greatest military achievement was a crushing victory over the Persian king Narses that led to a decades-long peace between the two great empires. However, thanks to Christian writers such as Lactantius and Eusebius, Galerius has gone down in history chiefly as a zealous persecutor of Christians who sought to restore traditional Roman religion at any cost.

On the obverse of this coin is a laureate bust of Galerius. He is identified as "Maximianus Caesar" because he changed his cognomen Maximinus to Maximianus upon being made Caesar, in a gesture of respect to Diocletian's co-Augustus Maximian. (Confused yet?) The portrait of Galerius is very similar to those of the other Tetrarchs on coins and in sculpture, reflecting both a tendency toward idealization in late antique art and Diocletian's ideology of uniformity among the four co-rulers.

On the reverse, fittingly, are four figures in military garb: they have been variously identified as the Tetrarchs themselves or as soldiers representing them, although given the co-rulers' constant wars, for them to be shown as soldiers would not have been surprising. The figures are shown sacrificing over a tripod before a six-turreted representation of a city.

The surrounding inscription reads VICTORIA SARMAT, evoking a Roman victory over the Sarmatians (Sarmatae). Of Iranian origin, the Sarmatians were a nomadic people known and feared for their heavy cavalry. By the end of the third century CE their military power was in decline, as they were pressed against the Danube frontier by the emergent power of the Huns. While the Romans often clashed with and defeated the Sarmatians, they regarded the tribe as a useful buffer against the Huns and other, stronger peoples, and indeed many Sarmatians were taken on as auxiliaries in the Roman army.

Photo credit: Classical Numismatic Group, Inc. http://www.cngcoins.com | Wikimedia Commons | Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.5 Generic

[lionofchaeronea]

Argenteus of Constantius I Chlorus (250-306 CE), minted at Antioch, 294-295. The argenteus was a silver coin introduced by Diocletian in a bid to reform the currency and combat rampant inflation that had afflicted the Empire throughout the third century.

This coin is meant to promote the harmony of the Tetrarchy, the system put in place by Diocletian to manage the Empire. Two senior emperors with the title "Augustus" were to rule the two halves of the Empire, Diocletian in the East and his junior colleague Maximian in the West. Each man had a "Caesar" intended to succeed him, Galerius (East) and Constantius (West). The reverse of the coin depicts the four Tetrarchs sacrificing jointly, with the inscription VICTORIAE SARMATICAE.

Given responsibility over Gaul, Britain, and possibly Spain as well, with his capital at Augusta Treverorum (modern-day Trier, Germany), Constantius successfully put down the usurper Carausius and waged war against various Germanic tribes. During the "Great Persecution" of Christians promoted by Diocletian and Galerius beginning in 303, he took only desultory action, which would later win him praise from ecclesiastical historians such as Eusebius of Caesarea, some of whom went so far as to claim him as a crypto-Christian.

When Diocletian abdicated in 305 and forced Maximian to follow suit, Constantius became Augustus in the West. He died the next year at Eboracum (modern-day York, England, UK), while campaigning against the Picts. His troops ignored his "Caesar," Severus, and acclaimed his son Constantine as Augustus, beginning a train of events that would lead to momentous political, social, and religious changes in the Empire.

Photo credit: Classical Numismatic Group, Inc. http://www.cngcoins.com | Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported

[ajtostolahazba]

biztos velem van a baj

Épp @gwendolinne-al beszélgetek chaten, meséli,hogy beszélt az apjával, hogy szerdán ha megyek Győrbe felvinném Pestre, mert csütörtökön lesz a karácsonyi partijuk és akkor ott aludna praktikus okokból, amikor becsörög a MESSENGER bazmeg (sóherság lvl10000000000000), épp hív (ex). Kinyomom,visszahívom,mint egy ember, hogy mizu. Szinte sosem beszélünk. Nem mert bunkó vagyok (mert egyébként de), hanem mert nincs miről. Aszongya: ez most milyen koncert? Mondom neki, hogy jótékonysági, Gwendi vezényel is. Ja, ez ugyanaz,mint egyszer (3 éve kb.volt itt egy ilyenen)? Mondom koncert, nyilván nem ugyanaz, de ja,karácsonyi, jótékonysági. Aszongya: ühüm....Mondom lejöhetnél...évente 1x láthatnád,hogy mivel foglalkozik a gyerek....csend...-fejemet verem a falba most is,de kimondtam: alhatsz itt. (Faszom, de marha vagyok!!!! Takaríthatok megint...) Aszongya: Megkérdezi Emesét (a nője), hogy mi a programja(nem Emesének, neki), hogy el tud-e jönni. Hát el. Hely mondjuk van, de legszívesebben elhúznék otthonról, hogy ne kelljen kerülgetni. Nyilván -bár francia ágyam van nem osztom meg vele, majd alszik a nappaliban, de szerdán hajnalban meg indulhatok Győrbe. Azt is megértem, hogy Gwendi szerint már az is nagy dolog magához képest, hogy eljutott idáig, hogy eszébe jusson megnézni a koncertet, de én meg nem tudok az egekig ugrálni, hogy ez mennyire jófejség már, mert szerintem ez nem jófejség, hanem alap. De jóvan elegáns vagyok, elfogadom, hogy egy papucs,aki 50 évesen megkérdezi a nőjét, hogy eljöhet-e (el tud-e jönni) a gyereke koncertjére, és az tényleg nagy dolog magához képest, hogy egyáltalán érdekli. Az is lehet persze, hogy így túl az 50-en rájött, hogy hiányoznak neki a lányok, nemtom. Próbálok kultúrlényként hozzáállni, de nem felejtem el sosem, amikor a Szolnoki Szigligetiben énekelt  Gwendi teltház előtt, és  akkor ő volt a  legbüszkébb apa, holott ellenezte az egész ének-zene tanulást, mert csak a sport, de begyűjtötte a gratulációkat. Hónapokkal előtte meg felnyomott a gyámhatóságon, hogy szar anya vagyok...

[thlpp]

Green-striped Vine Snake (Xenoxybelis argenteus) by cowyeow Via Flickr: Found in the Peruvian Amazon