Constantine I, 307/310-337. Solidus (Gold, 21 mm, 4.58 g, 6 h), Siscia, 335/6 or later. CONSTANTI-NVS MAX AVG Laurel-and-rosette-diademed, draped and cuirassed bust of Constantine I to right. Rev. VICTORIA CONSTANTINI AVG / SIS Victory standing right, her left foot set on bound captive seated right, head to left, and inscribing shield with VOT / XXX in two lines. Depeyrot I, 23/3 and II, 1/2. RIC 244. Rare. A very attractive piece, perfectly centered and with an impressive portrait. A few faint marks and with a thin die break on the reverse, otherwise, extremely fine.



Struck at the very end of Constantine’s long reign, this magnificent solidus belongs to the celebrations of his tricennalia, marking three decades since his accession in 306. The VOT / XXX inscribed by Victory on the shield records the vows associated with this extraordinary anniversary, which was celebrated with particular splendor in 335/6; Eusebius himself delivered his famous Tricennial Oration before the emperor at Constantinople.

The imagery, however, is anything but merely commemorative: Victory plants her foot upon a bound captive while recording Constantine’s thirty years on what is itself a martial trophy. The legend VICTORIA CONSTANTINI AVG makes the message strikingly personal – this is not Victory in the abstract, but the 'Victory of Constantine Augustus.' By this point Constantine had been sole ruler of the Roman world for more than a decade, and the type presents his long reign as one sustained and divinely favored sequence of victories. Struck only shortly before his death in 337, it is a fittingly emphatic image of Constantine at the summit of his power.