Maximian: Gold aureus Coinage

Coinage Scope and Selected Issues

The Gold aureus coinage issued in the name of Maximian includes issues distinguished by their portraits, inscriptions, reverse designs and mint attribution. This study concentrates on the Herculian issues of Trier, rather than presenting one design as the entire denomination.

The issue dates and detailed iconographic descriptions below apply to the discussed groups, not automatically to every coin bearing the ruler's name. Other types and mints require their own catalogue comparison. An individual gallery coin must be assessed from its own inscriptions and institutional record; its measurements and provenance do not define the whole coinage.

Historical Context

The creation of the Tetrarchic system under Diocletian in 293 CE resolved decades of political instability and military fragmentation by dividing administrative authority across four collegiate rulers. Two senior Augusti governed the empire, with Diocletian managing the East and Maximian directing the West, while two junior Caesars, Galerius and Constantius Chlorus, supported and secured regional frontiers. Beyond bureaucratic structuring, Diocletian reinforced collegiate stability through an explicit theological ideology. Diocletian claimed descent from and patronage under Jupiter (Iovius), asserting supreme cosmic order and overarching authority. Maximian took the title Herculius, affiliating his lineage with Hercules, the divine son whose physical endurance, military labor, and loyalty pacified a turbulent world. Constantius was integrated into the Herculean branch as Caesar, while Galerius became affiliated with the Jovian line.

Following Constantius's recovery of Britain from the secessionist regime of Allectus in 296 CE, Augusta Treverorum (Trier) served as the primary administrative seat and military capital for the western Caesar. The mint established at Trier became a prolific center for all currency denominations, striking bronze nummi, reformed silver argentei, and high-purity gold aurei and medallions. In late 303 CE, the imperial college marked twin milestones: the Vicennalia (twentieth anniversary of imperial acclamation) for Augusti Diocletian and Maximian, alongside the Decennalia (tenth anniversary) for Caesars Constantius and Galerius. To mark these celebrations and furnish imperial donatives (donativa) for senior commanders and civil dignitaries, the Trier mint produced a coordinated gold emission dedicating the imperial college to their divine protectors.

Selected Issues: Obverse Iconographic Composition

The obverse displays a right-facing portrait of Maximian Herculius wearing a laurel wreath tied at the nape of the neck, with ribbon ties trailing down across the rear hairline. Maximian is rendered in the distinctive, block-like cubist aesthetic developed across Tetrarchic imperial mints. His portrait features a heavy, squared jaw, short cropped hair, a close-trimmed military beard, a furrowed brow, and a thick, muscular neck.

Rather than seeking naturalistic, individualized Hellenistic verism, this visual program abandoned dynastic delicacy in favor of severe, soldierly uniformity. The heavy facial proportions, shared in parallel portrait dies across all four rulers, projected unyielding vigilance, martial discipline, and collegiate concord (concordia). A well-defined border of uniform beads encircles the imperial image.

Selected Issues: Obverse Epigraphy and Inscriptions

The obverse inscription is executed in monumental Latin epigraphic capitals and is divided across the top of the laurel wreath:

• Legend: MAXIMIA - NVS P F AVG
• Epigraphic break: MAXIMIA to the left, NVS P F AVG to the right.
• Transliteration: Maximianus Pius Felix Augustus
• English Translation: "Maximian, Pious and Blessed [or Fortunate] Augustus"

This title clearly identifies Maximian as the senior Western Augustus. The formula P F AVG (Pius Felix Augustus) distinguishes his issues from contemporaneous gold struck at Trier for Galerius, whose coins also carry the family name Maximian but bear the junior title MAXIMIANVS NOB C (Nobilissimus Caesar).

Selected Issues: Reverse Iconographic Composition

The reverse portrays Hercules standing facing, with his head turned left in profile and his muscular torso shown nude. His right hand rests downward upon a knotted wooden club positioned vertically against the exergual groundline. Draped over his left shoulder and wrapped securely around his left forearm is the pelt of the Nemean Lion, its paws hanging beside his left thigh.

In his left hand, Hercules grasps a strung recurve bow. Slung across his back, the strap and upper casing of a quiver filled with arrows project behind his right shoulder. Below the horizontal groundline in the exergue appears the mint signature of Trier (TR). The entire composition is enclosed within a fine circular border of beads.

Selected Issues: Reverse Epigraphy and Inscriptions

The reverse legend encircles the deity in Latin monumental lettering, accompanied by the exergual mintmark:

• Legend: HERCVLI CONSER AVGG ET CAESS NN
• Exergue: TR
• Transliteration: Herculi Conservatori Augustorum et Caesarum Nostrorum / Treveris
• English Translation: "To Hercules, Protector of our Augusti and Caesars" / "At Trier"

The legend contracts the epithet Conservatori to CONSER. The epigraphic gemination of consonants represents standard Roman legal and administrative notation for grammatical plurals: AVGG denotes Augustorum (of the two Augusti), CAESS denotes Caesarum (of the two Caesars), and NN represents Nostrorum (of ours). Through this formula, the Herculean western mint dedicated the health, victories, and jubilee longevity of the entire four-man Tetrarchy to Hercules as universal guardian.

Typology and Documented Variants

Struck under the Diocletianic monetary reform of c. 294 CE, this aureus belongs to the standard tariffed at 1/60th of a Roman pound (libra), giving a theoretical standard weight of approximately 5.45 grams. The issue forms an integral part of a coordinated four-part collegiate emission produced at Trier around 303 CE:

• Maximian Augustus (Herculian): Obverse MAXIMIA - NVS P F AVG, reverse HERCVLI CONSER AVGG ET CAESS NN / TR (RIC VI Treveri 43; Calicó 4651; Sear 13011).
• Constantius Caesar (Herculian): Obverse CONSTAN - TIVS NOB C, reverse HERCVLI CONSER AVGG ET CAESS NN / TR (RIC VI Treveri 45; Calicó 4836; Sear 14421).
• Diocletian Augustus (Jovian): Obverse DIOCLETI - ANVS P F AVG, reverse IOVI CONSERVAT AVGG ET CAESS NN / TR (RIC VI Treveri 41-42; Calicó 4513; Sear 12595).
• Galerius Caesar (Jovian): Obverse MAXIMI - ANVS NOB C, reverse IOVI CONSERVAT AVGG ET CAESS NN / TR (RIC VI Treveri 53; Calicó 4914; Sear 14324).

While early nineteenth-century catalogues (such as Cohen) occasionally transcribed the reverse epithet with full or varied spelling (CONSERVAT), hoard evidence demonstrates that the Trier dies for this Maximian issue consistently feature the contracted reading CONSER.

Scholarly Debates and Attribution Limitations

Three principal scholarly questions have surrounded this issue:

First, chronologies within The Roman Imperial Coinage (RIC VI) placed the emission broadly across the extended post-reform gold series of Trier between 295 and 305 CE. However, Pierre Bastien and Catherine Metzger's study of the 1922 Beaurains (Arras) hoard conclusively contextualized the AVGG ET CAESS NN legend within the donatives prepared for the joint Vicennalia of the Augusti and Decennalia of the Caesars celebrated in late 303 CE, establishing a tightly defined historical dating.

Second, early numismatic descriptions often catalogued Hercules as holding arrows in his left hand. Detailed die analysis confirms that the attributes held are a strung recurve bow in the left hand, while the arrows are stowed within a shoulder quiver projecting behind the right shoulder.

Third, classification requires vigilance regarding homonymous imperial names. Both Maximian (Marcus Aurelius Valerius Maximianus) and Galerius (Caius Galerius Valerius Maximianus) shared the name Maximianus on coinage. In First Tetrarchic issues at Trier prior to May 305 CE, titular distinctions remain absolute: Maximian is designated Augustus (AVG), whereas Galerius appears strictly as Caesar (NOB C).

References

1. The Roman Imperial Coinage, Volume VI: From Diocletian's Reform (A.D. 294) to the Death of Maximinus (A.D. 313). pp. 31-33, 92-95, 168-170, no. 43
2. Roman Coins and Their Values, Volume IV: The Tetrarchies and the Rise of the House of Constantine (A.D. 284-337). p. 77, no. 13011
3. Le trésor de Beaurains (dit d'Arras). Numismatique romaine 10 (1977), no. 347, with companion dies nos. 250, 329, 362
4. Aureus (Coin) Portraying Emperor Maximianus Herculius. The Art Institute of Chicago, Reference No. 2016.189, Artwork ID 236779
5. Description historique des monnaies frappées sous l'Empire romain, Volume 6. p. 524, Maximien no. 234
6. Aureus of Constantius I as Caesar, Trier. British Museum Registration No. 1867,0101.996
7. The Roman Avrei: Catalogue of Roman Gold Coins, 280 BC - AD 476. Vol. 2 (Barcelona: Áureo & Calicó, 2003), no. 4651