Semi-Autonomous issue of Antioch, time of Maximinus II Daia, c. 312

Antioch (semi-autonomous under Maximinus II Daia), AE unit, bronze, AD 310–313; struck at Antioch c. AD 312; 1.38 g; 15 mm.

Obv. GENIO ANTIOCHENI; the Genius of Antioch depicted, with surrounding legend as named. Rev. APOLLONI SANCTO; Apollonius of Tyana represented, the legend dedicating the type to him as “sanctus.” Struck at Antioch on a small module as a civic issue without imperial portrait. Published: NC 1993, no. 3. Issued during the eastern reign of Maximinus II Daia, this civic bronze reflects Antioch’s local religious identity (Genius Antiocheni) and the contemporaneous promotion of Apollonius of Tyana; the explicit APOLLONI SANCTO legend attests the application of the epithet “sanctus” to a pagan sage on coinage. These semi-autonomous types illustrate how a major metropolis used its mint to express civic and religious messaging on the eve of the political and religious changes of AD 313.