MAGNUSMAXIMUS by PETER E. LEWIS€¦ · 03/11/2018  · ) Figure 8 – Portrait of Magnus Maximus on the coin in Figure 7 with colour added. Figure 7 – Solidus of Magnus Maximus

YOU have heard of Alexander theGreat, Herod the Great, and other

greats, but the greatest great (in hisown estimation) was Magnus Maximus.His name is Latin for “greatest great”.History, however, has judged him differ-ently and a more appropriate namewould be “loser”. In any case, his storyis a fascinating one and significant notonly politically but theologically. Hiscoins are certainly worth the attentionof collectors.Maximus was born in Spain in about

335 AD and he was probably a distantrelative of Theodosius I, who was a

Roman emperor from 379 to 395. (Fig-ure 1) Theodosius was born at Cauca innorth-west Spain and he was a success-ful general in the Roman army when hewas appointed to be the emperor of theeastern part of the empire by Gratian,who was the emperor of the western half.Gratian’s uncle, Valens, who had beenthe emperor in the east, was killed in abattle against the Goths in 379 and astrong man like Theodosius was neededto protect that part of the empire. Max-imus was also a general in the Romanarmy. He had command of the troops inBritain and was successful in defending

the country against the Picts and theScots. Gratian (Figure 2) was only 15 when

his father Valentinian I died suddenlyin 375 and he became the ruler of thewestern empire. The soldiers in Britainwere dissatisfied with Gratian becausehe had granted privileges to barbar-ian units in the army and in 383 theydeclared Maximus to be the emperor.Maximus re-opened the mint at Londin-ium (London) which had been closed forover fifty years and issued gold coinsnaming himself emperor. (Figure 3) Onthese coins the letters in the exergue areAVG for “Augusta”, which was the nameof London at the time. According to DavidSear in Volume Five ofRoman Coins andtheir Values published in 2014, “Therehas been some controversy over theidentification of the ephemeral mintsigning itself ‘AVG’. Scholarly opinion nowseems to favour an attribution to Lon-don (Londinium) which since the time ofJulian had born the name ‘Augusta’.”Maximus crossed over into Gaul with

most of his army while Gratianmarched his troops west to confrontMaximus. As Gratian moved towardsLutetia (Paris) expecting to engageMaximus in battle his soldiers began todesert and transfer their allegiance toMaximus. Eventually finding himselfalone Gratian fled south but was pur-

MAGNUS MAXIMUS by PETER E. LEWIS

Figure 17 – Terracotta relief showing Roman legionariesat Castleford in West Yorkshire. (Wikimedia Commons.Photo by Bernard Bradley.)

Figure 1 – Bronze coin of Theodosius I minted at Antioch between 393 and 395 AD. Diameter 22mms. Obverse: bust of Theodosius. Reverse: Theodosius stands holding a standard and a globe.The legend means “Glory of the Romans.” (Author’s collection)

sued by one of Maximus’ officers whocaptured and killed him at Lugdunum(Lyon). He was only 24. Maximus madehis headquarters at Trier (See map,Figure 4) and claimed all of Gaul, Spainand Britain as his territory. In Italy thedeath of Gratian meant that he wassucceeded as emperor by his brother,Valentinian II, who was only 12 years old.(Figure 5) During this time Theodosiushad been occupied in the east defendingthe empire against the Sasanians whoruled Persia, and he reluctantly recog-nized Maximus as an emperor in order tosave Valentinian II who could still be theemperor of Italy, Pannonia (Slovenia) andNorth Africa. An uneasy peace reigned for about

three years during which Maximusminted gold coins at Trier, London, andArelate (Arles), which showed twoemperors (Maximus and Theodosius) onthe reverse. (Figure 6) At Trier heminted a gold coin with only himself onthe reverse. (Figures 7 and 8) He alsoissued coins in silver (Figure 9) andbronze (Figure 10). He was establishinghis empire and ingratiating himself withTheodosius. It is important to understandthat this century was very significantfor the history of Christianity. In 325Constantine the Great had convened theCouncil of Nicaea to decide questionsabout the nature of Jesus Christ, buttheological dissension persisted amongstthe Christians in the empire. Theodosiuswas a devout Christian with rigid viewson theological matters, and to squashdissent he convened the Council of Con-stantinople in 381. The Council promul-gated the doctrine of the Trinity, thatthere was “one Divinity of the Father, Sonand Holy Ghost.” Dissenting views werecondemned and those who held themwere declared to be heretics. Theodosiuswent on to forbid pagan worship through-out the empire. Living in Spain at this time was a

wealthy, cultured gentleman called Pris-cillian who held theological views differ-ent from the mainstream. In other wordshe was a heretic. Apparently he taughtthat the Son differed from the Father inname only, and even today scholars stilldispute whether he really was a heretic.At the time some Spanish bishops foll-owed Priscillian while others opposedhim. A synod (meeting of clergy) atBordeaux in Gaul put him on trial, but toavoid condemnation he appealed directlyto the emperor, Magnus Maximus, inTrier. Maximus was a fanatical Christian,and wanting to take a tough stance inline with Theodosius, he ordered thatPriscillian and his followers be executed.This was the first time in history that aChristian was put to death for being aheretic. It set a precedent that led to thedeath of countless people in later times.

Figure 2 – Bronze coin of Gratian minted at Siscia between 372 and 375 AD. Diameter 17 mms.Obverse: bust of Gratian. Reverse: Gratian drags captive by the hair and holds a standard with theChi-Rho monogram of Christ on it. The legend means “Glory of the Romans.” (Author’s collection)

Figure 3 – Solidus of Magnus Maximus minted at London in 383 AD. Obverse: bust of Maximus.Reverse: Maximus holds a standard and Victory on a globe. The legend means “Restorer of theRepublic.” (Photocopy with colour added of coin 20630 in Volume 5 of Roman Coins and theirValues by David Sear. Permission kindly granted by Spink & Son Ltd.)

Figure 4 – Map of the western half of the Roman Empire. Santiago de Compostela did not exist at the time.

In a small way Priscillian still influ-ences us today. If you have a Bible go tothe First Letter of John and read verses7 and 8 in chapter 5. (Figure 11) If yourBible is the King James Version the

words that I have printed in red will bejust part of the text. If your Bible is amodern one, e.g. NIV or NRSV, the wordsin red will not be in the text but therewill be a note at the bottom of the page

Figure 5 – Bronze coin of Valentinian II minted atSiscia from 384 to 387 AD. Diameter 13 mms.Obverse: bust of Valentinian II. Reverse: Victoryadvances with wreath. The Legend VICTORIAAVGGG means “Victory of the three Augusti.”Presumably they are Valentinian, Theodosiusand Arcadius (the son and co-emperor ofTheodosius). (Author’s collection)

Figure 6 – Solidus of Magnus Maximus mintedat London from 383 to 384 AD. Obverse: bustof Maximus. Reverse: two emperors hold aglobe while Victory hovers in the background.The legend means “Victory of the two Augusti”.(Heritage Auction 3030, Lot 23982) Figure 8 – Portrait of Magnus Maximus on the coin in Figure 7 with colour added.

Figure 7 – Solidus of Magnus Maximus minted at Trier from 383 to 384 AD. Obverse: bust ofMaximus. Reverse: Maximus stands holding Victory on a globe and a standard with the Chi-Rhomonogram of Christ on it. The legend means “Restorer of the Republic.” (Obolos by Nomos, Webauction 5, Lot 888)

explaining that the words appear onlyin some old Latin manuscripts of theBible. What must have happened is thatPriscillian or one of his followers wrotethe words in the margin of the Bible theywere using and they were later incorpo-rated into the text. We know this becausethe earliest instance of the words beingquoted as part of John’s letter is in abook, Liber Apologeticus, which wasoriginally written by Priscillian or one ofhis followers. Priscillian’s body was taken to his home

country which was in the north-west cor-

ner of Spain where he was held in highregard. According to Sulpicius Severuswho wrote his Chronica (Histories) inabout 400 AD, his funeral was “cele-brated with great pomp.” What is inter-esting in all this is that some scholarsbelieve that the remains entombed inthe great cathedral of Santiago de Com-postela (Figure 12) are not those of SaintJames but of Priscillian. The name“Santiago” is Spanish for “Saint James”.It seems that after his funeral in 385Priscillian was forgotten by the people

Figure 9 – Siliqua of Magnus Maximus minted at Trier from 384 to 388 AD. Diameter 14 mms.The coin has been clipped as often occurred with Maximus’ silver coins. Obverse: bust of Max-imus. Reverse: Roma enthroned. The legend means “Courage of the Romans”. (Author’s collection)

Figure 10 – Bronze coin of Magnus Maximus minted at Arelate (Arles) from 383 to 386 AD. Di-ameter 22 mms. Obverse: bust of Maximus. Reverse: Maximus holds Victory on a globe andraises a kneeling figure. The legend means “Restoration of the Republic.” (Author’s collection)

Figure 11 – Verses 7 and 8 in Chapter 5 of the First Letter of John. The words in red are not present in modern versions.

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and there were just vague memories ofsome important Christian person buriedthere. A fanciful legend developed thatafter the apostle James was martyred inJerusalem in 44 AD his body was takento north-west Spain where it was dis-covered in 813 and revealed to be thatof the saint. Today thousands of Chris-tians including many Australians makethe pilgrimage across northern Spain toSantiago de Compostela and they findthe experience inspirational. It does

not matter whether the tomb is that ofJames, Priscillian or Donald Duck. It isthe journey that matters not the desti-nation. There are many religious tokensand medals that relate to this pilgrim-age, and in 2016 a 5-cents coin was issuedby the Spanish government showingthe façade of the cathedral. (Figure 13)By 387 the ambition and greed of Max-

imus had become so intense that hedeclared his young son, Flavius Victor, tobe co-emperor (Figure 14), and invaded

Italy. Valentinian II and his relatives fledfrom Milan to Thessalonica in Greece andsought the protection of Theodosius.Theodosius probably would have allowedhis Spanish kinsman to take over Italyif it were not for an unexpected happen-ing. He fell in love with Valentinian’s sis-ter, the lovely Galla. Theodosius’ wife,Aelia Flaccilla had died in 386 and thelonely emperor was smitten by the beaut-iful young woman. They married in 388on condition that Theodosius wouldinvade Italy and remove Maximus frompower. The child of their union wasGalla Placidia who had an adventurousand influential life in the next century.It is amazing how love can change thecourse of history. Maximus consolidated his hold on

northern Italy minting coins at Milanand Aquileia (Figure 15). It is interest-ing to note that except for the occasionalappearance of the Chi-Rho monogramof Christ there are no Christian symbolsor words on any of the coins of Maximus,Theodosius or Valentinian. The coinswere all intended to promote the imageof the emperor, and one wonders just howgenuine was their Christian faith. In 388 Theodosius and his army ad-

vanced into Italy and Maximus was sooncaptured in his headquarters at Aquileiaand beheaded. Flavius Victor, who hadbeen left behind in Gaul, was also cap-tured and strangled. Valentinian returnedto Italy as the sole ruler of the westernhalf of the Roman Empire. But just as

Figure 12 – Façade of the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela in Spain.(Wikimedia Commons. Photo by Antoine Cardotte)

Figure 13 – Five-cents Euro coin issued by Spain in 2016 showing the façade of the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela. (Author’s collection)

Figure 14 – Siliqua of Flavius Victor minted atMilan from 387 to 388 AD. Diameter 16 mms.Obverse: bust of Flavius Victor. Reverse: Romaenthroned. The legend means “Courage of theRomans.” This coin was part of the Filey Hoardfound in North Yorkshire in 2009. (Classical Nu-mismatic Group, Triton XX, Lot 900)

Figure 15 – Bronze coin of Magnus Maximus minted at Aquileia from 387 to 388 AD. Diameter13 mms. Obverse: bust of Magnus Maximus. Reverse: camp-gate with star between the turrets.The legend means “Hope of the Romans.” (Author’s collection)

Figure 16 – Eglwys Llanbeblig at Caernafon in North Wales (Wikimedia Commons. Photo by Alan Fryer)

the memory of Priscillian persisted in adistorted way, so did that of Maximus.He must have made an impression on thepeople of Wales when he was fighting inBritain because stories about him becameincorporated into Welsh legends. Overtime, accounts of his deeds became em-bellished and eventually there was amythology about Macsen Wledig, whichis Welsh for “Emperor Maximus”. Hewas said to be the ancestor of Welsh kingsand even the father of a saint. There isan old church in Caernafon in northWales dedicated to this holy person,Saint Peblig, who founded a monasterythere. The present church, Eglwys Llan-beblig (Figure 16) dates from the 13thcentury but there has been a church onthe site since the 5th century. The site wasnext to a Roman fort that had existedfrom 77 to 394 AD. Today the area isurbanized, and the churchyard andcemetery have been vandalized and arefrequented by drunks and drug addicts.This should remind us that althoughMaximus was a capable general he hada dark side represented by the tragicfate of Priscillian and his followers.

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