Author Topic: Constantine II as Augustus  (Read 4086 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Offline Victor

  • Administrator
  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 4080
  • Country: us
  • all my best friends are dead Romans
    • Victor's Imperial Coins
Constantine II as Augustus
« on: March 09, 2013, 04:26:15 PM »
Constantine II did not get a chance to issue many coins as Augustus since he ruled less than three years. He was elevated to the rank of Augustus along with his brothers on 9 Sept 337. He was the oldest of the three brothers and so technically he was senior. Initially the other brothers somewhat indulged him, but soon chafed under his pretensions, especially Constans, who was the youngest and was under the guardianship of Constantine II until he came of age. In an effort to exert his perceived primogeniture, Constantine II invaded Italy in the Spring of 340 and suffered defeat by the forces of his brother Constans. History has not been kind to Constantine II and has painted him as an ineffectual ruler and except for a few coins of Constantine II with the legend AVG almost "nothing beside remains" to give evidence of his rule as Augustus.


Ozymandias

I met a traveller from an antique land
Who said: Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desart. Near them, on the sand,
Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown,
And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them and the heart that fed:
And on the pedestal these words appear:
"My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:
Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!"
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away