Type 31:  AE2.  VIRTVS EXERCITI
Emperor standing right, spurning captive, holding standard and globe.
383-388  [RIC]   386-393  [DO]
Common for Valentinian II, Theodosius, and Arcadius. Extremely rare for Magnus Maximus.



Valentinian II
22 mm. 4.82 grams.

VIRTVS EXERCITI
ANTΔ

RIC Antioch 63b

   (More images below)




 

 
mint RIC V2 T MM A
Her 24 S C   C
Con 83 S C 4 C
Cyz 25 S C   C
Nic 44 S S   S
Ant 63 R,S C,C   C,S
Ale 18 S C,S   C

For Arcadius at Constantinople the obverse legend always spells out the whole title "AVGVSTVS", but often with "I" for "T": "AVGVSIVS", another. Reference works do not seem to acknowledge this. Is the substitution because the pronunciation was changing? Elsewhere, the usual "AVG" is found.

RIC photos: V2-XIV.16 (Ant), V2-XVI.10 (Ale), A-XVI.11 (Ale [big letters]), A-XVI.12 (Con [AVGVSTVS (with "T")])

Cayon G-54 (1 photo, Her), T-57 (2 photos, Ant, Ale), MM-20 (0), A-43 (0), A-45 (1 photo, Con). (A-43 is without cross in filed left, A-45 is with cross.)
    Note, Cayon 96 for Valentinian I (1 photo, page 2695) is an error. It is really this type for Valentinian II.
Hunter  V2-84.53 (Ant), T-86.46 (Nic), T-86.60 (Ant), T-86.61 (Ant), A-92.29 (Con).
DOC for Arcadius, very common. 17 examples. Table 20, "Eastern AE2, 386-393," page 112.
Ratto photos, Arcadius 105, 107, 109.


 


More images.
 

Valentinian II:

V2


Heraclea





Nikomedia?
 


V2V2
Another Antioch mint piece.

 

Theodosius:
Cyzicus
Alexandria
    Note the unusually large letters on coins of the Alexandria mint.


Constantinople
Antioch


 



Arcadius




Arcadius
22 mm. 2.28 grams. 12:00.
RIC IX Cyzicus 25c, 383-388. 


 





Arcadius
Note:  This mint spells out "Augustus" (which is unusual) and
misspells it as "AVGVSIVS".  This is not an error, unique to one die. It is always like this. I think it reflects local pronunciation, which was changing.
23 mm. 5.87 grams. 6:00
RIC Constantinople 83c2

 
 

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