Silbermedaillon von Constantin I. dem Großen

Staatliche Münzsammlung München

Description

Obverse: Three-quarter portrait of Constantine the Great wearing a helmet and armour, holding a horse at the bridle with his right hand. On the galerus worn on the left shoulder is a depiction of the she-wolf, suckling Romulus and Remus, while on the helmet is the Christogramme.

Reverse: Emperor addressing the army.

In late antiquity, medals in silver or gold were a widespread phenomenon of imperial distribution policy. They were always a means of propaganda that was intended to work as well beyond the boundaries of the Empire. Such medals were handed out at special events to soldiers and officers but also given as presents to foreign princes and generals. That way, they could have a propagandistic effect beyond the empire’s borders.

This medal was minted only in a few exemplars in c.AD 315, and thus only a few years after the victory of Constantine the Great (306-337) in the battle of the Milvian Bridge in 312. The medal is the earliest pictorial testimony for Constantine’s beginning conversion towards Christianity. On the helmet, the emperor wears the Christogramme, a combination of the two Greek letters X (Chi) and P (Rho). The remaining attributes and the reverse refer to Rome and to the importance of the army.