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Silver Multiple - Honorius TRIVMFATOR GENT BARB, Rome
| Issuer | Western Roman Empire |
|---|---|
| Year | 404-408 |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Weight | 13.42 g |
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| Reverse description | Honorius stands facing in full military dress, head turned to the left, holding in his right hand a vexillum staff surmounted by a Christogram (Chi-Rho) and in his left hand a globe symbolising imperial dominion over the world. To his left, a bound barbarian captive kneels facing left with head turned back toward the emperor in a gesture of submission, alluding to Roman victories over Germanic peoples. The mintmark RMPS appears in the exergue, attributing the issue to the Rome mint. The surrounding legend TRIVMFATOR GENT BARB proclaims the emperor as Triumphator over the Barbarian Nations. |
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| Mint | RMPS Rome (ancient), Italy (?-476) |
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| Additional information |
The reverse legend TRIVMFATOR GENT BARB — "Triumpher over barbarian peoples" — was almost certainly struck in direct response to Stilicho's campaigns against Alaric's Visigoths, culminating in the battles of Pollentia (402) and Verona (403). These were the last occasions on which a Roman general could plausibly claim field victories over Alaric before the political situation collapsed entirely. Stilicho was executed in 408, and within two years Alaric sacked Rome.
Large silver multiples of this type were not circulation coinage — they functioned as donatives, distributed to officers and court figures on ceremonial occasions. The survival rate is accordingly low, and most known specimens trace back to hoard or treasury contexts rather than casual loss.