Antoninianus - Maximianus VOT XX, Rome

The VOT XX ("vota vicennalia") legend on this issue marks the formal vow renewal at Maximianus's twentieth year of rule — a ceremony with deep roots in the imperial cult, where emperors made public pledges to the gods in exchange for continued divine protection of the state. By 297–298, Maximianus was co-emperor under Diocletian's tetrarchic system, which meant these vow ceremonies were increasingly coordinated political theater, synchronizing legitimacy across multiple rulers simultaneously.

RIC V.2 76b places this piece at the Rome mint. The bronze antoninianus by this date was a debased ghost of its silver ancestor — the denomination had collapsed in real value decades earlier during the third-century crisis.