Julian minted this issue during his time as Caesar under Constantius II, before the army proclamation at Paris in 360 forced the dynastic crisis that would make him Augustus. The SPES REIPVBLICAE type — "hope of the republic" — was a Constantinian-era slogan applied somewhat ironically to a Caesar who would within a few years repudiate Christian imperial policy entirely and attempt a restoration of traditional Roman cult. Siscia, on the Sava River in modern Croatia, was one of the empire's most productive western mints throughout the fourth century.
RIC VIII 394 places this among the smaller fractional maiorinae, struck at a reduced module reflecting the ongoing debasement cycle that had plagued bronze coinage since the 340s.
Julian minted this issue during his time as Caesar under Constantius II, before the army proclamation at Paris in 360 forced the dynastic crisis that would make him Augustus. The SPES REIPVBLICAE type — "hope of the republic" — was a Constantinian-era slogan applied somewhat ironically to a Caesar who would within a few years repudiate Christian imperial policy entirely and attempt a restoration of traditional Roman cult. Siscia, on the Sava River in modern Croatia, was one of the empire's most productive western mints throughout the fourth century.
RIC VIII 394 places this among the smaller fractional maiorinae, struck at a reduced module reflecting the ongoing debasement cycle that had plagued bronze coinage since the 340s.