
LIBERATORI/RESTITVTORI VRBIS SVAE or the entrance of the city of Rome in the orbit of Constantine. Ist Part.
Milvian Bridge battle took place october 28th of A.D. 312. very close to the southern abutment of that bridge which, saving the Tiber current, provided continuity to the Via Flaminia to the heart of the crowded streets of Rome.
This battle
faced the famous emperor Constantine, formal Caesar of western -although
Augustus in fact since the death of
Severus II in 307--, and the murderer of the latter, the usurper Maxentius: son of the old western Augustus Maximianus Herculius and
self-proclaimed emperor in Roma in 306, counting among his
dominions the Italian peninsula, Sicily and Proconsular African province, this one specially valuable for its
agricultural wealth. At stake was nothing less than supremacy
over the pars occidentalis, the western
half of the Roman Empire, which had been
in doubt almost from
the moment of the death of
Constantius Chlorus in 305: father
of Constantine and the last of the "legitimate" western Augustus, in the sense
of proclaimed under succession system
designed by architect tetrarchic system, the great Diocletian.
Although the strength of
numbers favored Maxentius,
who led an army of about
80,000 soldiers compared to just
over 40,000 which ranked his rival, the truth is that Constantine got the victory.
Leaving for a more detailed work possible supernatural divine
intervention ("in this sign conquer"), it seems reasonable to hypothesize as ultimate causes constantine´s victory both serious
tactical errors committed by Maxentius (leave the river behind him, with
a fragile temporary wooden bridge
-the Milvian had been disabled a few
days before the battle, as the only way to escape the city at
a pinch) and the difference in quality between the troops of both armies: hardened and disciplined frontier legionaries in the winner, poorly disciplined hardened praetorians with the
support of well-armed but little
experienced roman urban cohorts in the defeated
one.
Like many of his soldiers, Maxentius drown crossing the Tiber
river in a desperate attempt to protect himself within the powerful
walls of Rome that seemed so distant now
that the temporary bridge, collapsed
by the wild transcript of so many fugitives, had
felled with a crash at the height of the
battle. With his death closed a turbulent reign,
most likely not as sinister as Christian writers portray him (we lack of
alternative sources to inform us) although undoubtedly
fatally hampered by the severe economic
difficulties caused by the isolation respect the rest of roman empire
consequence of the sentence of
Maxentius as "outlaw", signed by the other lords
of the Empire at the conference of Carnuntum (308).
Anyway, we can highlight, as main axes of his policy of government, both his moderately militant paganism
(he didn't persecute to the Christians), including here
the cultivation of the most ancient
Roman religious traditions, and his
strong promotion of the political
importance of Rome: by then a city
as big as decadent
which, deprived of the vast majority of their once enormous power
and influence, had seen its political role reduced
to the status of mere capital "spirit" of the Empire.
Proof of this is the
erection of buildings as
sumptuous as the basilica or
the circus, the first on the forum, the second on
the outskirts of the city, or
the magnificent restoration of the
very famous temple of Venus and Rome, the
three projects designed by Maxentius as flagships of a aggrandizement campaign of the Eternal City as had
not been known for many decades.
As in so many other particularly dark times in the history of Rome, it also corresponds
to the study of the coinage of the
period go a little beyond the
information provided by the terse
written and / or archaeological
sources. In fact, Maxentius issues
are particularly interesting both their
accused peculiarity (their iconography is often
away enough of the
usual types in the rest of the
Empire) and the fact accurately
reflect the political environment in which they were conceived.
This is certainly a topic of great interest but for
its wide dimension beyond the
limited scope of this work, which revolves around a single issue: Constantine's one to be exact but directly
related with Maxentius emissions (formally they are very similar) although in an ideologically opposite direction.
We´ll return to this subject later, for now let's attending
the final collapse of the regime
of Maxentius, event which possess one exceptional archaeological testimony: the discovery in 2005 of
the imperial standards of Maxentius within a corroded
wooden box (we see them
in the following photos) in the Palatine hill, where they were buried by their defeated supporters the
night of 28th October 312 in order to prevent them from falling into the hands of the hated
Constantine.
Constantine
made his triumphal entry into Rome the day after the
battle of the Milvian Bridge. Gone
was a night of anguished fear for the people of the
city to the uncertainty about the
reaction of the winner for them.
And for good reason, certainly,
since both people and the Senate of Rome had overwhelmingly
supported Maxentius, obviously seduced by his
effort of returning to Rome the leadership
of the Empire and to preserve the privilege of tax
exemption enjoyed by the citizens of Rome
from almost immemorial time (167 BC specifically), which it had recently been removed
by the Augustus Galerius Maximianus
in what constituted a definitive test of the cessation of Rome as head of the
imperial power.
Moreover, Maxentius considered Rome as "their city", positioning it
above any other city
in the Roman world, which
naturally favored greatly their
appreciation by the people and
the Roman Senate. Achieved in this way the
love and approval of the romans, with all their immense significance both spiritual and harmonizing with centuries-old Roman
traditions, no longer seemed so necessary
the tetrarchic "official"
legitimacy so strongly refused to Maxentius at
the conference of Carnuntum. In
other words, the relationship
between Rome and Maxentius can be described as a mutually
beneficial interdependence whereby the decaying but still very prestigious Eternal City was responsible for the compensating of the Maxentius´
regime legitimacy deficit while Maxentius,
in turn, returned the favor replacing to
Rome on his throne of imperial
capital, head of
the roman world, as well as ensuring
the perpetuation of the many privileges obtained in the heyday of the city. Magnificent
proof of the above is the main type of reverse
that can be found on the coins of
Maxentius in which appears an allegory of
Rome deified (this is
the basic model existing several variants. In one of
them appears Maxentius himself, with military dresses, in an attitude of
worship the goddess Roma) inside a temple hexastyle
(actually it is the temple of Venus and Rome: true symbol of the city that, as we said, had been
charmingly restored by Maxentius)
all surrounded by the extended legend
SVAE VRBIS CONSERVATORES,
this is "the Preserver / Protector of His City".
As seen, a strong
statement of
intent by Maxentius towards Rome with little room for confusion or misinterpretation. In the following pictures we can see two excellent examples of these coins -verygood art, by the way- issued in the mints of Aquileia (1st) and Rome (2nd).
Comments
Mike
Level 7
Hi Mike I was trying to follow you but can't . I can still read your writings such are interesting think it over Mike
Kepi
Level 6
Beautiful coins and so much history! Thanks for sharing them with us!
CoinLady
Level 6
Beautiful coins with so much history. Ancients provide a never-ending learning experience
Big Nub Numismatics
Level 5
Lots of history in this period, and it shows on their coins.
Many
Level 4
A very interesting story, thanks for sharing it.
It's Mokie
Level 6
It continues to amaze me how beautiful ancient coins can be. With their minting techniques, you would not think that possible but they outdo most modern issues with their beauty. Thanks for sharing this.
"SUN"
Level 6
I enjoy reading about the history associated with coins. Thanks for the blog.
Longstrider
Level 6
Two very beautiful coins. I may be a bit prejudice as I am of Italian descent. Fantastic history lesson. I enjoyed it very much. Thank you for your research and hard work. Is it possible to see some of your sources for further reading? Thanks.
Mike
Level 7
Another very interesting blog. If I wanted to read up what book would you recommend . There were plenty of murders during the this time in histoty. Thank you . Mike