This is a fairly rare type for Constantine I depicting Hercules strangling the Nemean lion. It is interesting because the ancient writer Photius tells a story of how Constantine had to fight a lion...even though I don't believe this event actually happened. I think it is a rhetorical invention meant to make Constantine seem more heroic and compare him to Hercules.
"At that time Maximin, governor of Asia Minor,who happened to be there, determined to lay a plot against the youth and set him to fight with a savage lion. But Constantine overcame and slew the beast"
Constantine I
A.D. 307- 308
26mm 4.4gm
CONSTANTINVS P F AVG; laureate head right.
VIRTVS PER - PETVA AVG; Hercules left, club leaning against left leg, strangling Nemean lion.
in ex. ST
RIC VI Ticinum 99
