Constantine, 306-337, AE2

Constantine I, AE2, AE, reign AD 306-337, Rome mint, AD 312-313, 2.61 g, 20 mm. Obverse with laureate, draped and cuirassed bust of Constantine I right; legend IMP CONSTANTINVS P F AVG. Reverse with Sol standing left, chlamys over shoulder, raising right hand and holding globe in left; legend SOLI INVICTO COMITI. Struck on a compact flan with generally clear legends and well-centered principal types, with minor softness consistent with the issue. RIC VI Rome 342.

This Rome-mint bronze belongs to Constantine’s early imperial coinage after his consolidation of power in Italy, employing the established cultic imagery of Sol Invictus as a dynastic and military symbol. The reverse type “Soli Invicto Comiti” (“to the Unconquered Sun, companion [of the emperor]”) reflects continuity with late Tetrarchic iconography and Constantine’s presentation of divine favor and victory in the years surrounding his defeat of Maxentius and subsequent political realignment of the western empire.