Galerius, Roman Emperor AD 293-311.
GENIO POPVLI ROMANI
Caesar of the first tetrarchy of the Roman Empire, 293-305, and Augustus of the second, 305-311.
(Go to the page of folles of Diocletian, Maximian, Constantius, or later rulers. Folles by mint.)
Roman coins ("folles") of the common GENIO POPVLI ROMANI type from various mints. Each has
Genius standing left with a (small) modiusn1 on his head and holding a patera and cornucopia, naked but for a cloak ("chlamys") over his left shoulder and hanging down behind the cornucopia.
What's new? 2024, July 19: Click on the images to see enlargements. Trier, as Augustus.
2 024, March 8: Larger fonts. Minor formating changes.
2023, April 12: Galerius as Augustus at Heraclea.
2023, Jan. 30: Galerius as Augustus at Cyzicus.
2022, Sept. 22: Galerius as Caesar at Antioch with K V / ANT mintmark.
London, Treveri, Lugdunum (Lyons), Ticinum, Aquileia (none here), Rome, Siscia (none here), Serdica, Thessalonica, Heraclea, Nicomedia, Cyzicus (none here), Antioch, and Alexandria. [Carthage and Ostia are also in RIC volume VI, but neither minted this type.]
(Click the obverse image to go to a larger image of both sides and its description.)
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| London |
Trier |
Lugdunum |
Lugdunum |
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| Lugdunum |
Ticinum |
Rome |
Serdica |
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| Serdica, as Augustus |
Thessalonica |
Heraclea, as Augustus |
Heraclea |
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| Heraclea |
Nicomedia, as Caesar |
Nicomedia, as Augustus |
Cyzicus, as Augustus |
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| Antioch, as Caesar |
Antioch, as Caesar |
Antioch, as Augustus |
Alexandria |
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| Trier, as Augustus |
Galerius, as Caesar
London
MAXIMIANVS NOB CAES
28-26 mm. 8.23 grams.
nothing in exergue
RIC London 15 "c. 300 onward"
This legend has "MAXIMIANVS" in it but the coin is of Galerius and not of the emperor we call Maximianus. Here is a short note at the bottom of this page on how to distinguish the two emperors.]
Galerius, as Caesar
Trier
28-26 mm. 9.66 grams.
MAXIMIANVS NOBIL C
S in left field, F in right field
PTR in exergue
RIC Trier 594b "c. 303- 1 May 305" (i.e. the last issue before becoming Augustus)
Galerius, as Augustus
Trier
28-27 mm. 9.19 grams
IMP MAXIMIANVS PF AVG
S in left feld, F in right
PTR
RIC Trier 652b, "1 May 305 - early 307"
Galerius, as Caesar
Lyons
28 mm. 10.43 grams.
MAXIMIANVS NOB C
altar left, A in right field
PLG in exergue
RIC Lugdunum (Lyons) 166b "c. 301-303"
Galerius, as Caesar
Lyons
29-28 mm. 11.12 grams.
MAXIMIANVS NOB CAES
Consular bust, laureate, left with eagle-tipped scepter
altar left, A in right field
PLG in exergue
RIC Lugdunum 146b "c. 301-303"
Galerius, as Caesar
Lyons
28-25 mm. 7.55 grams.
MAXIMIANVS NOB C
laureate and cuirassed bust right
PLG in exergue
Altar to left, star (weak) in right field
RIC Lugdunum 164b "301-303"
Galerius, as Caesar
Ticinum
26 mm. 9.81 grams.
MAXIMINVS NOB CAES
✳ in left field
ST in exergue
RIC Ticinum 32b "c. 296-297"
Galerius, as Caesar
Rome
31-26 mm. 6.60 grams (thin and light!)
MAXIMINVS NOB CAES
Q✳ in exergue
RIC Rome 95b "c. 299"
Galerius, as Caesar
Serdica
28-27 mm. 10.32 grams.
GAL VAL MAXIMIANVS NOB CAES
A
•SM•SD•
RIC Serdica 4b "c. 303/4-5"
Galerius, as Augustus
Serdica
27 mm. 9.42 grams.
IMP C GAL VAL MAXIMIANVS PF AVG
E in right field
•SM•SD• in exergue
RIC Serdica 12b "May 305 - 25 July 306"
(i.e. After he became Augustus and before Constantius died.)
Galerius, as Caesar
Thessaloncia
28-27 mm. 11.33 grams.
GAL VAL MAXIMIANVS NOB CAES
TSB in exergue
RIC Thessalonica 20b "c. 298-299"
Galerius, as Caesar
Heraclea
28 mm. 10.06 grams.
GAL VAL MAXIMIANVS NOB CAES
HTΔ in exergue
RIC Heraclea 18b "296-297"
Galerius, as Caesar
Heraclea
28 mm. 9.71 grams.
GAL VAL MAXIMIANVS NOB CAES
HTS in exergue
RIC Heraclea 20b "297-298"
Galerius, as Augustus
Heraclea
30-27 mm. 9.42 grams.
IMP C GAL AL MAXIMIANVS PF AVG
HTЄ in exergue
RIC Heraclea 24a
Galerius, as Augustus
Cyzicus
27 mm. 8.49 grams.
IMP C GAL VAL MAXIMIANVS PF AVG
*
KA
RIC Cyzicus 27b (but with unlisted officina number A)
Galerius, as Caesar
Nicomedia
28-27 mm. 9.84 grams.
GAL VAL MAXIMIANVS NOB CAES
SMNA in exergue
RIC Nicomedia 30b "c. 303-4"
Note the "bull neck" found at Nicomedia on portraits of the the tetrarchs.
Galerius, as Augustus
Nicomedia
27-26 mm. 9.16 grams.
IMP C GAL VAL MAXIMIANVS PF AVG
SMNA in exergue.
RIC Nicomedia 39b "1 May 305 - 25 July 306"
Nicomedia often has portraits with an extreme bull-neck. This must be one of the most extreme.
Galerius, as Caesar
Antioch
28-26 mm. 8.52 grams.
GAL VAL MAXIMIANVS NOB CAES
A in right field
ANT in exergue
RIC Antioch 59b "c. 304-305"
Galerius as Caesar
Antioch
27 mm. 10.06 grams
GAL VAL MAXIMIANVS NOB CAES
Z
K V
ANT
RIC Antioch 55b "c. 300-1"
Galerius, as Augustus
Antioch
27 mm. 10.96 grams.
IMP C GAL V MAXIMIANVS PF AVG
I in right field
ANT•
RIC Antioch 70b "c. 305"
Galerius, as Caesar
Alexandria
26 mm. 10.80 grams.
GAL VAL MAXIMIANVS NOB CAES
XXI in left field, Δ in right field
ALE in exergue
RIC Alexandria 31b "c. 300"
The revival of the mark "XXI" suggests Diocletian's Edict of Maximum Prices was accompanied by an attempt to assure the people that the coins had the composition introduced by Aurelian, "20 parts copper and one part silver" (nearly 5% silver). Since silver was worth 80 times the value of copper, [in Diocletian's Edict on Maximum Prices] every percent mattered to the intrinsic value of the coin.
Note 1: * RIC makes a distinction between a "modius on head" 
and a "head towered" 
. Often the headdress is somewhere in between these examples and it is so hard to draw the line that I have decided not to attempt to make the distinction. It is not obvious it is a meaningful difference.
Note 2: The coins of Galerius give "MAXIMIANVS" as part of his name which is the name we use for a different ruler, Maximianus. The main parts of their names were the same so modern writers distinguish them by using
"Galerius" for Gaius Galerius Valerius Maximianus and
"Maximianus" for Marcus Aurelius Valerius Maximianus.
Maximianus was never Caesar on his coin legends and Galerius was Caesar for 11 years, so any coin with "MAXIMIANVS" as Caesar must be of Galerius. By the way, the emperor we call "Maximinus II" was Galerius Valerius Maximinus, and his coin-legends often differ from those of Galerius by only one easy-to-overlook letter. Coins of Maximinus II omit the A in MAXIMIANVS.
Go to the next page with other GENIO POPVLI ROMANI folles.
Go to the pages with folles of Diocletian, Maximian, or Constantius.
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