Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-fscjk Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-25T08:09:30.519Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Notes on the Coinage of Julian the Apostate

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 September 2012

Frank D. Gilliard
Frank D. Gilliard
Affiliation:
American Academy in Rome
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

Julian the Apostate is one of the best-known figures of Roman imperial history. Perhaps for this very reason, what is not known about him is all the more tantalizing. Some of the gaps in our knowledge of his life may be filled by analysis of the coins struck between 355 and 363, the eight years during which he was either Caesar or Augustus. The study of his coinage is in its infancy, but it is to be hoped that the forthcoming publication of the relevant volume of Roman Imperial Coinage will present to students a satisfactory corpus of coins, without which any study must be provisional.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Journal of Roman Studies , Volume 54 , Issue 1-2 , November 1964 , pp. 135 - 141
Copyright
Copyright ©Frank D. Gilliard 1964. Exclusive Licence to Publish: The Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1 This paper is based on the coins of the American Numismatic Society, augmented by the Society's collection of photographs from auction catalogues.

2 See, for example, Babelon, E., ‘L'iconographie monétaire de Julien l'Apostat’, RN ser. 4, vol. 7 (1903), 130–163Google Scholar; Castellane, Comte de, ‘Sou d'or de Julien l'Apostat frappé à Antioche en 363’, RN ser. 4, vol. 27 (1924), 29–32.Google Scholar

3 op. cit.

4 Amm. Marc. 15, 8, 1.

5 ibid.

6 Ep. ad Ath., 274C. This and following translations of Julian and Ammianus are from the Loeb editions of Wright, Wilmer C., The Works of the Emperor julian, 3 vols. (London, 1913–1923)Google Scholar and Rolfe, John C., Ammianus Marcellinus, 3 vols. (London, 1935–1939).Google Scholar

7 op. cit., 278A; cf. Bidez, J., La vie de l'Empereur julien (Paris, 1930), 130–82.Google Scholar

8 280D; cf. Wright, op. cit. (above, n. 6) vol. I, XIV, also cf. Julian, op. cit., 271D for his comparison of his own attitude with that of Gallus.

9 Amm. Marc. 20, 4; cf. Julian, op. cit., 284C. Perhaps the best proof that Julian was reluctant to accept the army's acclamation is that the Christian historian Sozomen (5, 2)—no friend of the pagan emperor—accepted the tradition of his unwillingness in this regard.

10 Julian, op. cit., 280D, 285D; Amm. Marc. 20, 4, 16; 20, 8, 4–18, and passim; cf. Julian Augustus coins of this time, (Pl. X, no. 1), with legend VICTORIA DD NN AVG (sic); the VICTORIA AVGVSTORVM coins do not refer to Julian and Constantius, but to the general concept of Augusti. This is based on the fact that coins with this legend are found for Julian Caesar, struck at Antioch. They must have been approved by Constantius.

11 Amm. Marc. 21, 1, 1 and 6.

12 ibid. 21, 2, 3–4.

13 Neumann, K. J., ‘Das Geburtsjahr Kaiser Iulians’, Philologus 50 (1891), 761–2.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

14 Babelon, op. cit. (above, n. 2), 140: ‘Après la mort de Constance, le 3 novembre 361, Julien, reconnu universellement comme seul empereur, resta pendant quelques semaines encore imberbe. Ce fut seulement après son entrée à Constantinople, le II novembre 361, qu'il se remit a laisser croître sa barbe comme au temps où il jouait au philosophe.’ Babelon inadvertently gave the second date as well as the first in this passage as November, although Ammianus clearly says II December 361 (22, 2, 4). For the dismissal of the palace barbers see Amm. Marc. 22, 4, 9–10.

15 Amm. Marc. 25, 4, 22.

16 See Mattingly, Harold, ‘The Imperial “Vota”’, PBA 36 (1950), 155–195Google Scholar and 37 (1951), 219–268 for a listing of numismatic and literary information relative to imperial vota of the first five centuries.

17 15, 8, 17.

18 Seeck, Otto, Regesten der Kaiser und Päpste (Stuttgart, 1919), 207.Google Scholar

19 Amm. Marc. 21, 1, 4.

20 Kent, J. P. C., ‘An Introduction to the Coinage of Julian the Apostate’, NC ser. 6, vol. 19 (1959)Google Scholar, Plate XI, nos. 5 and 6. If my argument is correct, however, Kent (pp. 110 ff.) has misdated the vota issues of Julian. The quinquennial games referred to in Amm. Marc. 21, 1, 4 celebrated the completion, not the inauguration, of a five-year period. For example, cf. the vicennalia celebration by Constantine in 325: Eus., V. Const. 3, 15.

21 Pearce, J. W. E., The Roman Imperial Coinage 9 (London, 1951), 3.Google Scholar

22 Amm. Marc. 21, 10.

23 cf. Kent, op. cit. (above, n. 20), 111–112.

24 Bruun, Patrick, Studies in Constantinian Chronology: Numismatic Notes and Monographs No. 146 (New York, 1961)Google Scholar, Plate II, p–u; cf. pp. 18 f.

25 ibid., The Constantinian Coinage of Arelate (Helsinki, 1953), Plate III, nos. 11–13.

26 ibid., op. cit. (above, n. 24), Plate VIII, no. 317.

27 ibid., op. cit. (above, n. 25), Plates V and VI, passim.

28 Plate X, nos. 2 and 3; Kent, op. cit. (above n. 20), Plate XI, no. 12, shows a bearded portrait— VOT X siliqua of Arelate, which he describes as without an eagle in the wreath. The upper wreath is mutilated, however, and the presence or absence of an eagle is unclear.

29 Elmer, Georg, ‘Die Kupfergeldreform unter Julianus Philosophus’, NZ N.F. 30 (1937), 34Google Scholar. I have not seen any of the maiorinae which show a wreath vice an eagle-with-wreath.

30 Plate X, no. 4.

31 cf. Soz. 5, 17 : ‘And on the public images he took care that next to him should appear Jupiter, as if coming from heaven and presenting to him the imperial insignia, the crown and the purple. Or he would show Mars or Mercury gazing at him as if to testify that he was skilled in words and warfare.’

32 Pearce, op. cit. (above, n. 21), 3, 35, 54.

33 Misop., 355D.

34 Soc. 3, 17; Soz. 5, 19; cf. Amm. Marc. 22, 12, 16.

35 Soc. 3, 17.

36 22, 14, 6.

37 Eckhel, Joseph, Doctrina Numorum Veterum part 2, vol. 8 (Vienna, 1798), 133.Google Scholar

38 Babelon, op. cit. (above, n. 2), 144, 148.

39 Stein, Ernst, Histoire du Bas-Empire I (Paris, 1959), 163.Google Scholar

40 Mattingly, Harold, Roman Coins (London, 1960), 240.Google Scholar

41 Elmer, op. cit. (above, n. 29), 26 ff.

42 Kent, J. P. C., ‘Notes on Some Fourth-Century Coin Types’, NC ser. 6, vol. 14 (1954), 216–217Google Scholar Dio Chrys., Or. 2, 66.

43 Kent, op. cit., 217.

44 Hermann, Alfred, ‘Der letzte Apisstier’, jbAC 3 (1960), p. 36Google Scholar, notes 29 and 30, and p. 37, notes 32, 35, and 39.

45 22, 14, 6.

46 22, 14, 7.

47 Plate x, nos. 5–9.

48 Amm. Marc. 22, 14, 7 notes that the Apis bull, sacred to the moon, was distinguished most conspicuously by a crescent moon on its right side.

49 Pietschmann, , ‘Apis’, P–W, RE I (1894), 2807–2809Google Scholar; Bailey, Cyril, Phases in the Religion of Ancient Rome (Berkeley, 1932), 198 ff.Google Scholar; Cumont, Franz, The Oriental Religions in Roman Paganism, trans. Showerman, Grant (New York, 1956), 73–102.Google Scholar

50 Epp. 6, 376A; 10, 378D–380D; 51, 432D–435A. (I have followed the numbering system of Hertlein's Teubner edition, Leipzig, 1875–6.)

51 Toutain, J., Les cultes païens dans l'empire romain 2 (Paris, 1911), 33.Google Scholar

52 Plate X, no. 10.

53 Especially for these reasons Thieler, Hermann, ‘Der Stier auf den Gross Kupfermünzen des Julianus Apostata (355–360–363 n. Chr.)’, Berliner Numismatische Zeitschrift 27 (1962), 49–54Google Scholar, is not convincing with his argument that the bull of the coins is a Mithraic bull. See Cumont, Franz, Textes et monuments figurés relatifs aux mystères de Mithra 2 (Brussels, 1899)Google Scholar, fig. 80, for a bowl showing both the tauroctonous and taurophorous Mithra.

54 cf. Kent, op. cit. (above, n. 42), 217.

55 Neumann, op. cit. (above, n. 13), 762, which is based on the heading to Anth. Pal. 14, 148 and Amm. Marc. 25, 3, 23. There is room for disputation about Julian's birthday. Just how much room can be ascertained from Baynes, Norman, ‘The Early Life of Julian the Apostate’, JHS 45 (1925), 251–254CrossRefGoogle Scholar and Richtsteig, Eberhard, ‘Einige Daten aus dem Leben Kaisers Julians’, PhW 51 (1931), 428.Google Scholar I think, however, that Neumann's conclusions are valid, for they alone reconcile the bulk of our most explicit and trustworthy information, i.e. Ammianus, Julian, and the Palatine Anthology.

56 It can be plausibly argued, however, that we cannot know for sure whether Julian thought of himself as a ‘Taurus’ because at his birth the sun was in Taurus, the moon was in Taurus, or the rising sign was Taurus. (Cf. Smyly, J. G., ‘The Second Book of Manilius’, Hermathena 17 (1913), 150–9.Google Scholar) Nevertheless, Julian's neo-Platonism and his impassioned praises of Helios lead one to believe that he would have considered himself a solar Taurus.

57 Setton, Kenneth M., Christian Attitude Towards the Emperor in the Fourth Century (New York, 1941), 61.Google Scholar

58 cf. Thorndike, Lynn, A History of Magic and Experimental Science I (New York, 1923), 513.Google Scholar

59 περὶ τῆς τελειοτάτης χαλδαϊκῆς θεολογίας, on which see Kroll, , s.v., ‘Iamblichos’, P–W, RE 9 (1914), 645–651.Google Scholar

60 Julian, , Or. 7, 235AGoogle Scholar; cf. Or. 4, 146A and 5, 172D.

61 For example: Or. 1, 10C, 13D; 4, 130D, 135B, 139B, 140A, 143B, 146C, 148C, 156B; 5, 161D, 172D, 173A; Ep. ad Them., 265C; Frag, ep., 295A.

62 Or. 4, 130D (my italics): οὐδὲ ἠπιστάμην ὅ τί ποτέ ἐστι τὸ χρῆμά πω τότε. Cf. Or. 4, 131 B and 5, 172D.

63 See Gundel, W., P–W, RE 6A (1936), 581–584Google Scholar, s.v., where Thrasyllus is called a ‘Forscher und Philosoph’.

64 265C.

65 21, 1, 6.

66 Amm. Marc. 21, 2, 2.

67 cf. Julian, , Or. 5, 170BGoogle Scholar, where he says: ‘For I think ordinary men derive benefit enough from the irrational myth which instructs them through symbols alone.’ Also cf. ibid., Frag. ep., 293A.

68 Martin, Edward J., The Emperor Julian (London, 1919), 82.Google Scholar

69 Kent, op. cit. (above, n. 42), 217.

70 Ptolemy, Alm. 7, 5 and Tetrabiblos 2, 11; cf. Encyclopaedia Britannica (14th ed., 1929), s.v. ‘Taurus’.

71 Plate X, no. 4.

72 Plate X, no. 13.

73 Plate X, nos. 11 and 12.

74 Elmer, op. cit. (above, n. 29), 26 ff. But see Downey, Glanville, A History of Antioch in Syria (Princeton, 1961), 384CrossRefGoogle Scholar, note 27, for a correction to Elmer's date. I do not understand why Thieler, op. cit. (above, n. 53), 52, would date the finding of the Apis bull in 363.

75 Amm. Marc. 22, 4. Cf. the decrees of the period of January–March 362 in Cod. Theod. 2, 29, 1; 8, 1, 6–7; 8, 5, 12; and 11, 16, 10.