Valens 364-378 A.D.
| Coin Description | Valens, AE 15mm, Grade ??, The coin is struck off-center causing the left site of the legend on the reverse and the right site of the obverse to be missing. The obverse looks absolutely great well struck and shows lots of clear details the reverse unfortunately is either worn away or very weakly struck. VM 46 |
| Obverse | The portrait is of Valens a pearl-diademed, draped and cuirassed bust facing right. The legend reads DN (Dominus Noster /our lord showing the emperor to be the supreme ruler/dictator) VALENS (his name) PF (Pius Felix / Dutiful and Wise) AVG Augustus which defines him as being the emperor. The legend is broken which is a sign of the highest respect and signifies him as the senior Augustus. |
| Reverse |
The reverse shows Valens advancing right, dragging a bound captive by the hair and holding a labarum. The legend reads GLORIA ROMANORVM which translates as "The glory of /to the Romans". The coin also shows a star in the right field. |
| Mint | The exergue reads Sε meaning the fifth (epsilon) workshop of ?. In combination with the star on the reverse its possible to narrow it down to either TES (Thessalonica) or CONS (Constantinople). On Forvm`s discussion board the consensus was on Constantinople. |
| The Entire Story | The entire story of this coin would read: Our Lord Valens the Dutiful and Wise Augustus. The Glory of Rome is of course brought to the people by Valens by defeating the barbarians as symbolized by him dragging away the captive. |
