The portrait of Constantine on the front (obverse) of this coin is among the last in the history of Roman coinage, for increasingly the emphasis lay not on the individual person of the emperor but on the office. Constantine’s luminous eyes in this coin portrait were said by his contemporaries to reflect his divine inspiration. On the back (reverse) of the coin, Constantine rides to the left on horseback, raising his right arm, and carrying a scepter in his left.
Date
Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.
Obverse: CONSTANTINVS P F AVG (Pius et Felix - dutiful and happy)
Reverse: AOVENTVS [sic] AVGVSTI N ; in exergue, SMAN* (mint mark signifying Sacra Moneta Antioch)
"The coming of our Augustus"
Dimensions
Diam.: 1.9 cm (3/4 in.)
Credit Line
Gift of Martin A. Ryerson
Reference Number
1922.4903
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Louise Berge and Karen Alexander, “Ancient Gold Work and Jewelry from Chicago Collections,” The Ancient World, vol. 11, nos. 1 and 2 (1985), p. 22.
Theresa Gross-Diaz, “Coin Showing Emperor Constantine the Great,” in “Ancient Art at the Art Institute of Chicago,” special issue, Art Institute of Chicago Museum Studies 20, 1 (1994), p. 77, cat. 57 (ill.).
The Art Institute of Chicago, The Essential Guide (Art Institute of Chicago, 2013), p. 76.
Karen B. Alexander, “From Plaster to Stone: Ancient Art at the Art Institute of Chicago,” in Karen Manchester, Recasting the Past: Collecting and Presenting Antiquities at the Art Institute of Chicago (Chicago: Art Institute of Chicago; New Haven: Yale University Press, 2012), pp. 29; 104–06, cat. 26B (ill.); 114.
Elizabeth Hahn Benge, “From Aegina to Andronicus: A Survey of Coinage at the Art Institute of Chicago,” in Historia Mundi n. 5 (January 2016), pp. 213, 214, (fig. 15).
Theresa Gross-Diaz, “Cat. 24 Solidus Portraying Emperor Constantine I: Curatorial Entry,” in Roman Art at the Art Institute of Chicago (Art Institute of Chicago, 2016).
Rachel C. Sabino, “Cat. 24 Solidus Portraying Emperor Constantine I: Technical Report,” in Roman Art at the Art Institute of Chicago (Art Institute of Chicago, 2016).
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