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Nummus - Diocletianus PROVIDENTIA DEORVM QVIES AVGG S-F, Serdica
| Issuer | Roman Imperial Mint, Serdica |
|---|---|
| Year | 305-306 |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Orientation | Variable alignment ↺ |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Latin |
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| Reverse description | Two standing figures face one another in the field: at left, a togate figure — representing Providentia (Providence) — extends his right hand toward the figure at right, who is Quies (Rest or Tranquillity), a draped female standing and holding a sceptre or branch. Between the two figures in the lower field appears the officina letter A, flanked by the mintmark letters S and F (Sacra Moneta Felix) in the field. The exergue bears the mint mark •SM•SD•, identifying the Serdica mint. The circumferential legend PROVIDENTIA DEORVM QVIES AVGG encircles the design, invoking the providence of the gods and the repose of the two Augusti following their abdication. |
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| Additional information |
Struck at Serdica (modern Sofia) in the final months before Diocletian's formal abdication in May 305, this nummus belongs to a transitional issue produced as the First Tetrarchy was dissolving. The PROVIDENTIA DEORVM QVIES AVGG reverse type — invoking divine providence and the repose of the two Augusti — was a propagandistic effort to frame Diocletian and Maximian's retirement as divinely ordained tranquility rather than political concession. Diocletian's abdication was the first voluntary resignation of a reigning Roman emperor, and the Serdica mint, close to his Balkan powerbase, was among the facilities producing coinage framing that unprecedented act as orderly succession.