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Nummus - Crispus as Caesar VOT V MVLT X, Thessalonica
| Issuer | Roman Imperial Mint, Thessalonica |
|---|---|
| Year | 318-319 |
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| Currency | Solidus, Reform of Constantine (AD 310/324 – 395) |
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| Reverse description | The reverse field displays a votive inscription arranged in three horizontal lines: VOT •V• on the first line, MVLT •X• on the second, and CAESS on the third, the whole set within a laurel wreath tied at the base. The inscription commemorates the completion of the fifth-year vows (vota quinquennalia) of the Caesars and anticipates their tenth anniversary. The exergue bears the officina mark of the Thessalonica mint (e.g. •TS•A• for the first officina), enclosed within a plain border of beaded denticles. |
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| Edge | Plain |
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| Additional information |
The VOT V MVLT X legend records the formal vow ceremony in which Crispus — Constantine's eldest son, then serving as Caesar — pledged the next five years of his reign and anticipated the tenth. These vota coinage issues were tied to specific administrative moments, not minted on a rolling basis. Thessalonica had only recently been absorbed into Constantine's sphere following the defeat of Licinius's ally Valens in 316, making this mint's early Constantinian output a direct product of post-war territorial reorganization.
Crispus would be executed on his father's orders in 326, his name subsequently struck from the record in a damnatio memoriae.