Catalog
See full images - free registration
Continue with Google - no registration!
or register with email
Why register? Just to keep bots out of our catalog. Your email stays private - we will never share it or send you anything uninvited. We guarantee you that!
Nummus - Crispus PRINCIPIA IVVENTVTIS, Arelate
| Issuer | Roman Imperial Mint, Arelate |
|---|---|
| Year | 318 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Solidus, Reform of Constantine (AD 310/324 – 395) |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Weight | Log in to see details |
| Diameter | Log in to see details |
| Thickness | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Log in to see details |
| Technique | Log in to see details |
| Orientation | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | Log in to see details |
| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | A helmeted and cuirassed military figure, personifying the Princeps Iuventutis, stands facing left in a martial pose, holding an upright spear or standard in the right hand and resting the left hand upon a large round shield set on the ground. A letter P appears in the right field as a mint control mark. The exergue bears the officina and mint mark Q-crescent-A, denoting the fourth workshop of the Arelate mint. The surrounding legend PRINCIPIA IVVENTVTIS proclaims Crispus as the foremost leader of Rome's youth. |
| Reverse script | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Edge | Plain (irregular) |
| Mint | Log in to see details |
| Mintage | Log in to see details |
| Additional information |
Crispus was Constantine's eldest son, born of his concubine Minervina and elevated to Caesar in 317 AD — the same year that set this issue in motion. His PRINCIPIA IVVENTVTIS coinage was part of a deliberate propaganda campaign to establish dynastic legitimacy for a son whose birth was technically illegitimate. The Arelate mint, modern Arles, was one of the western mints Constantine relied on heavily after consolidating power in Gaul.
Crispus was executed by his own father in 326, after which his name was systematically erased from inscriptions across the empire — making any surviving coinage bearing his titles a quiet relic of a deliberately suppressed memory.