Nummus - Theodosius I VIRTVS EXERCITI, Constantinopolis

The VIRTVS EXERCITI type belongs to a period when Theodosius was consolidating military loyalty after the catastrophic Gothic settlement following Adrianople in 378 — a battle that had killed his predecessor Valens and left the eastern army in pieces. Striking coins that explicitly invoked military virtue was a calculated act of ideology as much as currency. Constantinople's mint was operating under considerable political pressure to project strength the empire had recently and visibly failed to demonstrate.

RIC IX 83b distinguishes this issue by officina mark, placing it within a tightly sequenced series from the Constantinople workshop during the years Theodosius was simultaneously managing the Magnus Maximus usurpation in the west.