Constantine I, 307/310-337. Follis (Bronze, 21 mm, 3.59 g, 6 h), Rome, circa 320. CONSTA-NTINVS AVG Helmeted and cuirassed bust of Constantine I to right. Rev. ROMAE A-ETERNAE / R ЄΡⲰC P Roma seated right, inscribing with her right hand shield set on her left knee with X/V in two lines; at her side, shield. RIC 194. Minor doubling and with very light roughness on the obverse, otherwise, about extremely fine.


While the 'ROMAE AETERNAE ЄPⲰC' reverse for Constantine I is one of the more common types from the 320 emissions of Rome, it is still quite interesting. The word 'Eros' is written in Greek, with the letters epsilon, rho and omega in a ligature. Eros translates into Latin as Amor, and Amor is an anagram for Roma. In Virgil's Aenid (4.347), Aeneas says to Dido that the Lycean Oracle commands him to go to the land of his 'amor' (which is Roma). The wordplay Amor-Roma is also known from the palindrome 'Roma tibi subito motibus ibit amor' (Rome, love will come to you suddenly) found, among other instances, in a letter of Sidonius Apollinaris and in an inscription from Aquincum.