Julian II, 360-363. Solidus (Gold, 21 mm, 4.51 g, 6 h), Rome, 361-363. FL CL IVLIA-NVS P P AVG Pearl-diademed, draped and cuirassed bust of Julian II with long beard to right. Rev. VIRTVS EXERCI-TVS ROMANORVM / (ivy leaf)RB(ivy leaf) Roman soldier advancing right, head to left, holding trophy over his left shoulder and dragging bound captive with his right. Depeyrot 18/1 var. (officina unlisted). RIC -, cf. 324 (differing mintmark). Apparently unpublished and unique. A beautiful coin with an exceptionally attractive portrait. Extremely fine.


This exceptional solidus is remarkable not only for its rarity – the mintmark is unrecorded in RIC, while the second officina is not listed for the type by Depeyrot – but also for its extraordinary portrait. Julian appears with an elongated face, prominent nose, intensely modeled eye, and carefully articulated philosopher’s beard, producing an image at once highly individualized and distinctly unlike the more familiar portraits of the eastern mints. Since Julian never established his court at Rome, the portrait can hardly be understood simply as the product of direct observation; rather, it offers a fascinating Roman interpretation of the emperor’s deliberately fashioned image as philosopher-ruler.

Julian’s relationship with Rome was indeed largely conducted at a distance. Although his reign was centered first in Constantinople and later in Antioch, he cultivated relations with the Roman senatorial aristocracy and, already in 361, received the distinguished senators Avianius Symmachus and Maximus with honor, subsequently appointing the latter prefect of the city. The striking of this extremely rare gold issue at Rome therefore acquires a particular resonance: the old capital was giving numismatic form to an emperor who never ruled from there, yet whose restoration of pagan cults and deliberate appeal to Rome’s ancestral religion must have carried particular significance among a senatorial aristocracy in which attachment to the old gods remained especially strong.