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Solidus - Theodosius II VICTORIA AVGGG RV, Ravenna
| Issuer | Western Roman Empire |
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| Year | 408-423 |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Weight | 4.04 g |
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| Obverse description | Right-facing diademed, draped, and cuirassed bust of Theodosius II, the imperial effigy adorned with a pearl diadem and elaborate military paludamentum fastened at the shoulder with a fibula. The emperor's features are rendered in the frontalizing late antique style characteristic of fifth-century solidus coinage, with large stylized eyes and a youthful countenance. The circumferential legend in Latin reads D N THEODO-SIVS P F AVG, distributed around the portrait in the field. The flan exhibits the slightly irregular rounding typical of hand-struck solidi produced at the Ravenna mint during this period. |
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| Reverse script | Latin |
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Theodosius II was Eastern emperor; solidi attributed to Ravenna under his name during 408–423 reflect the co-regency arrangements between East and West, with the young Honorius still nominally ruling from Ravenna after the court's flight from Milan following Stilicho's execution in 408. The VICTORIA AVGGG reverse — three Gs for three Augusti — acknowledges the college of emperors then in power, a numismatic formality that masked the near-total dysfunction of western administration during these years.
Ravenna's mint had only been activated as an imperial facility around 402, when Honorius relocated there precisely because its marshes made it defensible.