Maximian, Gold Aureus, Hercules, Ch AU 5/5 4/5, 286-7 AD

Maximian, First Reign (286-310 AD), gold Aureus, Antioch or Cyzicus, 286-287 AD. IMP C M A MAXIMIANVS AVG, laureate, draped, and cuirassed bust of Maximian right, seen from front, rev. VIRTVTI HERCVLIS, Hercules, nude, standing facing, head right, resting right hand on hip, left hand placed on club set on rock, lion skin draped on left arm; S C in exergue, 5.45g, 7h (RIC V.II 605. Calicó 4758). Rare and beautifully struck with the entire artistic design clearly displayed. From the Randy & Nancy Best Collection. NGC Choice AU Strike 5/5 - Surface 4/5, brushed.

NGC Certification 8748630-005

This stunning aureus was struck shortly after Maximian was raised to the rank of co-Augustus in 286 AD. Like Diocletian, Maximian was of hardy peasant stock and rose through the ranks of the Roman Army during the war-torn later third century. Once Diocletian was installed as emperor, he almost immediately offered to share power with his old comrade in arms, whom he seems to have trusted implicitly. Maximian was appointed Caesar in 284 AD and was raised to Augustus two years later. Though less of a thinker than Diocletian, Maximian was a better soldier, a fact Diocletian understood and even appreciated. Maximian thus became Hercules to Diocletian's Jupiter, the man of action following the lead of a great planner and organizer. This duality is expressed on the reverse of this aureus, where a well-muscled Hercules is shown leaning on his club. In 293 AD the Dyarchy was expanded to a Tetrarchy with the addition of two subordinate rulers, the Caesars Constantius I and Galerius.

The pose of Hercules on the reverse seems to be modelled on the famous "Farnese Hercules" statue, discovered at the Baths of Caracalla in 1546 AD. The statue, an icon of male virility, was sculpted in early AD third century by a certain Glycon, who signed his name on the base, however the pose was copied from a Greek original sculpted by Lysippus in the 4th century BC.

The obverse legend IMP C M A MAXIMIANVS AVG translates to "Emperor Caesar Marcus Aurelius Maximianus Augustus."

The reverse legend VIRTVTI HERCVLIS translates to "To the Valour of Hercules."