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Nummus - Valens SECVRITAS REIPVBLICAE, Thessalonica
| Issuer | Roman Empire (27 BC - 395 AD) |
|---|---|
| Year | 367-375 |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Weight | 2 g |
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| Reverse description | The personification of Victory advancing to the left, depicted in flowing robes, holding a wreath in her extended right hand and a palm branch over her left shoulder — emblems of triumph and eternal victory. A control letter occupies the left field, while a star is placed in the right field above the exergue line. The mintmark of the Thessalonica mint (TES, with officina letter) appears in the exergue. The encircling legend SECVRITAS-REIPVBLICAE, meaning 'The Security of the State,' frames the reverse type in the standard late Roman epigraphic manner. |
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| Reverse lettering | SECVRITAS-REIPVBLICAE (Translation: The security of the state.) |
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| Additional information |
Valens ruled the Eastern Empire from Constantinople but never fully secured it — his reign ended at Adrianople in 378, where a Gothic coalition annihilated a Roman field army and killed the emperor himself, one of the most consequential military disasters in late imperial history. The SECVRITAS REIPVBLICAE type was struck throughout this period with almost mechanical regularity across multiple mints, the slogan increasingly at odds with actual conditions on the Danube frontier.
The Thessalonica mint was particularly active under Valens, functioning as a critical western supply point for Eastern campaigns. RIC IX 27B places this issue within the second officina of that mint.