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Solidus - Romulus Augustulus Mediolanum
| Issuer | Western Roman Empire (Rome) |
|---|---|
| Year | 475-476 |
| Type | Standard circulation coin |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Latin |
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| Reverse description | A winged, draped figure of Victory stands facing left, holding aloft a tall, jeweled cross in both hands. A star appears in the right field, partially obliterated by the M of the mint mark. The exergual inscription COMOB identifies the mint and the gold standard, confirming production at Mediolanum using Constantinopolitan-weight gold. The composition reflects the standard late antique solidus reverse type, celebrating Christian imperial ideology through the cross as a symbol of divine victory. |
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| Additional information |
Romulus Augustulus was deposed by Odoacer in September 476 — the date conventionally used to mark the fall of the Western Roman Empire — yet his reign lasted barely ten months. He was never recognized as legitimate emperor by the Eastern court in Constantinople, which considered Julius Nepos, still alive in Dalmatia, the rightful Augustus. That political ambiguity makes the coinage doubly anomalous: struck at Mediolanum for a ruler most contemporaries refused to acknowledge, during a regime his own father Orestes had engineered through coup.
Surviving examples are rare by any measure. The mint at Mediolanum was among the last functioning in the West.