Valens was the Eastern emperor killed at Adrianople in August 378 — the single most catastrophic Roman military defeat since Cannae — when a Gothic cavalry charge annihilated two-thirds of his field army and left his body unrecoverable on the battlefield. This solidus, struck at Trier in the final years of his reign, was produced while Valens was increasingly consumed by the Gothic crisis he had himself triggered by mismanaging the 376 Danube crossing that allowed the Visigoths to settle, and then starve, on Roman soil.
Trier's mint was the primary gold-striking facility for the Western court under Gratian during this period, which accounts for the joint victory legend despite the two emperors operating largely independently across the divided empire.
Valens was the Eastern emperor killed at Adrianople in August 378 — the single most catastrophic Roman military defeat since Cannae — when a Gothic cavalry charge annihilated two-thirds of his field army and left his body unrecoverable on the battlefield. This solidus, struck at Trier in the final years of his reign, was produced while Valens was increasingly consumed by the Gothic crisis he had himself triggered by mismanaging the 376 Danube crossing that allowed the Visigoths to settle, and then starve, on Roman soil.
Trier's mint was the primary gold-striking facility for the Western court under Gratian during this period, which accounts for the joint victory legend despite the two emperors operating largely independently across the divided empire.