Maximinus II Daia   308 - 313   A.D.

By clicking on the pictures you'll be linked to a more complete description of the coin. At the bottom of this page there is a more elaborate biography of the emperor.

	Obverse: GAL VAL MAXIMINVS NOB CAES
	Reverse: GENIO CAESARIS
	Fieldmarks:K (in the left field) and ε over P (in the right field)
	Exergue: ALE

Maximinus II Daia   308 - 313   A.D.

      Gaius Valerius Galerius Maximinus, more commonly known as Maximinus Daia, was born on the 20th of November 270 in Illyricum and was the son of emperor Galerius' sister. He started his life as a herdsman of cattle, but later joined the army. Where he served as a scutarius and protector, in 305 AD he served as a military tribune and was adopted as Galerius' son. Maximinus Daia had a wife and daughter, whose names are unknown, and a son called Maximus. When on the 1st of may 305 both Diocletian and Maximianus resigned their posts of emperor, they were succeeded by Constantius Chlorus and Galerius as Augusti. Maximinus Daia was promoted to the rank of Caesar by Galerius, with responsibility for the dioceses Orientis, which included the important provinces of Syria and Egypt. Soon after his appointment Maximinus assumed the more regal name Gaius Galerius Valerius Maximinus. To further strengthen the bond between himself and Galerius, his young daughter was betrothed to Candidianus, the illegitimate son of Galerius.

      Immediately after his appointment to the rank of Caesar, Maximinus went east where he spent several years at Caesarea in Palestine. When Constantius Chlorus died in July 306, Galerius was forced by the course of events to accept Constantius' son Constantine as Caesar in the West. On the 28th of October 306 AD, Maxentius, with the apparent backing of his father Maximianus, was acclaimed Augustus by the people of Rome. Several attempts to overthrow Maxentius failed and because of the escalating nature of these internal conflicts, a conference for all Augusti and Caesars was called by Galerius at Carnuntum in October 308. During this conference, for which Diocletian came out of retirement, it was decided that Licinius would be appointed Augustus in Severus' place (who had been defeated and subsequently put to death by Maxentius). Maximinus Daia and Constantine were denoted filii Augustorum (sons of the emperor) they where both very upset by this decision because the rules of the tetrarchy clearly would have demanded one of the Caesar's to be promoted to the post of Augustus and not Licinius who hadn't even been appointed Caesar. Constantine would have been next in line for the job but Maximinus' close ties to Galerius had obviously built up his hopes. His hostility towards Licinius where to remain a constant reminder of this denial of the status of Augustus in 308 AD. Maximinus Daia continued his reign in the Oriens and quickly proved to be a fervent believer in the old Roman gods and he was determined to repress the upcoming Christian faith. In 309 AD his pagan fanaticism went so far as to demand that everyone, even babies, were to attend the public sacrifices to the state gods and that everyone had to eat from the meat offered to the gods (to prove they weren 't Christian). He also tried to create a uniform pagan religion by remodeling it after the Christian church this quite brilliant idea could have worked weren't it for the fact that, after Maxentius (Maximinus Daia's only pagan ally) was defeated, he was forced by Constantine to cease his persecution of the Christians.

      In 310 AD Maximinus decided that he could no longer live with the insult of being Caesar and he had himself acclaimed Augustus by his own troops while campaigning against the Persians. Galerius who was already quite ill could do nothing about this and he accepted the usurper in the east. When Galerius died in 311, Licinius met Maximinus Daia at the Bosporus during the early summer of that year. They concluded a treaty and divided Galerius' realm between them. Licinius got the Balkan territories and Maximinus Daia got the territories of Asia Minor, Syria and Egypt the Bosporus would be the border between their territories. In the autumn of 312 Maximinus Daia appears to have been campaigning against the Armenians but he was back in Syria by February 313 when he learned about the marital alliance between Licinius and Constantine and the death of Maxentius his only ally. Maximinus realized he had to act soon and with Constantine busy fending of Germans along the Danube he saw his chance and started an offense against Licinius. He quickly moved his army trough a wintery Asia Minor and, in April 313, crossed the Bosporus and went to Byzantium, which he took from Licinius after an eleven day siege. Maximinus Daia then moved to Heraclea, which he captured after a short siege. With only a small contingent of men, Licinius arrived at Adrianopolis while Daia was besieging Heraclea. On the 30th of April 313 AD the armies of both emperors clashed on the Campus Serenus. Maximinus Daia's troops who had been quickly driven across a wintery and snow bound Asia Minor were on the brink of exhaustion and despite their highly superior numbers they were defeated by Licinius and fatigue. Maximinus Daia threw of his purple robes and fled, dressed like a slave to avoid capture, back to Nicomedia and from there he withdrew behind the Taurus mountains to Tarsus. First Licinius moved to Nicomedia where he promulgated the Edict of Milan granting complete freedom of worship to all Christians. A last ditch stand by Maximinus Daia at the Cilician Gates failed and he either succumbed to serious illness or the effects of poison around August 313. Once Licinius had defeated Maximinus Daia he gained all his territories and was welcomed by its people who where apparently glad to be rid of the ruthless dictator. Soon after his victory Licinius put Daia's wife and children to death and the relatives of Galerius and Severus II who Maximinus had granted asylum in his domain.

For this biography I've used the texts from the following websites:
http://www.imperiumromanum.com/
http://www.roman-emperors.org/
http://www.roman-empire.net/
And from: Gibbon's Decline and fall of the Roman empire.