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Roman Empire. Aelia Flacilla. Solidus 378-383, AV 4.46g.

Currency:CHF Category:Coins & Paper Money / Coins: Ancient Start Price:32,000.00 CHF Estimated At:40,000.00 CHF
Roman Empire. Aelia Flacilla. Solidus 378-383, AV 4.46g.
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The Roman Empire. Aelia Flacilla, wife of Thodosius I. Solidus, Constantinopolis 378-383, AV 4.46g. AEL FLAC–CILLA AVG Draped bust r., with elaborate headdress, necklace and mantle. Rev. SALVS REI–PVBLICAE H Victory seated r. on throne, writing Christogram on shield held on small column; in exergue, CONOB. C 1. RIC 48. Depeyrot 36/1. Extremely rare and among the finest specimens. Perfectly struck on a very large flan and good extremely fine. Like her husband, the emperor Theodosius, Aelia Flaccilla was born to a good family in Spain, and when she married in about 376 it may never have occurred to her that Theodosius’ career would draw her far from her homeland. After a year or less of marriage Flaccilla gave birth to her first son, Arcadius, and about six years later (long after she had moved to Constantinople and been hailed Augusta) to her second son, Honorius. Throughout her life–even as an empress–she bore a reputation for her piety and her generosity to the poor. Her coins were the first struck for an empress since the 330s and they reinstated the practice, which soon took an especially firm hold in the East. On her coins it is easy to see the iconographic connection to earlier issues of Fausta, Helena and Theodora, and to observe how they influenced future empress coinages. Additionally, her name Aelia, which is abbreviated AEL on her coin inscriptions, apparently was assumed to have been part of her title, for it was adopted as a title by later Augustae.