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Aureus - Maximianus HERCVLI CONSERVAT, Hercules
| Issuer | Roman Empire (27 BC - 395 AD) |
|---|---|
| Year | 284-294 |
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| Value | Aureus (25⁄2) |
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|---|---|
| Obverse script | Latin |
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| Reverse description | Hercules, nude, stands facing right in a contrapposto pose, his weight shifted onto his right leg, leaning with his right arm upon his knotted club, which rests upon a rocky outcrop draped with the Nemean lion's skin. The figure is rendered in the classical heroic tradition, reflecting Maximianus's strong personal identification with the demigod under the cognomen Herculius. The reverse legend HERCVLI CONSERVAT arcs around the upper field, invoking Hercules as the divine protector of the emperor and the empire. |
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| Additional information |
Maximianus assumed the title Herculius — son of Hercules — when Diocletian reorganized imperial power under the Tetrarchy in 285 AD, yoking each emperor to a divine patron. Diocletian took Jupiter; Maximianus got Hercules, the laboring, suffering demigod who imposes order through brute force. The pairing was deliberate propaganda for a co-emperor whose role was explicitly military, tasked with suppressing the Bagaudae revolt in Gaul and later the usurper Carausius in Britain.
RIC V.2 538E places this emission within the pre-reform coinage before Diocletian's currency reforms of 294, after which the gold standard was systematically restructured.