Aureus - Maximinus II IOVI CONSERVATORI AVGG; Thessalonica

Reverse

Jupiter, chlamys draped over left shoulder, standing left, holding thunderbolt in right hand and leaning on scepter with left hand; at feet to left, eagle holding wreath in beak; Σ (retrograde, mark of value) in right field, mintmark in exergue.

Scripts: Greek, Latin

Lettering:
IOVI CONSER-VATORI AVGG
Σ
•SM•TS•

Unabridged legend: Iovi Conservatori Augustorum

Translation: Jupiter Preserver of the Augusts

Comment

Maximinus II Daza ("The Dacian"), nephew of Galerius, was serving in the imperial bodyguard in AD 305, when his uncle plucked him from obscurity and elevated him to the rank of Caesar, establishing the Second Tetrarchy. Once established in power in his territories of Egypt and Syria, Daza seems not to have impressed his uncle greatly, for he was passed over for promotion twice in the chaotic years of AD 306-309. In AD 310, he took matters into his own hands by having his troops proclaim him Augustus, setting him against four other Augusti (Galerius, Licinius I, Constantine I, and the rebel Maxentius) and making a shambles of Diocletian's carefully constructed tetrarchic system. After Galerius' death in AD 311, Daza cast himself in his uncle's mold as the defender of paganism and a persecutor of Christianity, placing him in opposition to Constantine and Licinius, who favored religious toleration. After Constantine crushed Maxentius in AD 312, Daza attempted to do the same to Licinius, invading Thrace the following year with a sizeable force of 70,000. But his long forced marches exhausted his troops and the outnumbered army of Licinius won a resounding victory at the Battle of Tzirallum, in AD 313. Daza fled the field dressed as a slave, but soon died either of disease or by his own hand. His rule had been harsh and his subjects welcomed Licinius as a liberator. Christians in particular reviled Daza as the last great Roman persecutor.

Interesting fact