ROMAN COINS AFTER CONSTANTINE.
Passing on to the Christian successors of Constantine the Great, we are
at once met with the significant fact that Constantine the Second
issued many different coins bearing a representation of the Sun-God
holding a small round object; and, as the surrounding legend, _Claritas
Reipublicae_.
Another coin of this son of Constantine the Great, and one which
deserves special attention, has upon its reverse a Cross and a Crescent
in juxtaposition, as if the cross signified the sun.
A very similar coin has the symbol {image "monogram3.gif"} between the
military standards.
Upon another coin we see on the reverse both this Christian Emperor and
the Sun-God; the former holding a small round object, and the latter
crowning him. The surrounding legend is _Soli Invicto Comiti_.
The reverse of another coin bears the same Sun-God legend, and
represents the Sun-God as holding a small round object.
Upon another coin we see Constantine holding a small round object
surmounted by a Victory. On the reverse is the symbol {image
"monogram3.gif"}.
Constans I., another son of Constantine the Great, issued a coin on
which he is represented as holding in one hand a simply formed labarum
or military standard consisting of a straight pole terminating at the
top in a crossbar, from which hangs a banner bearing the symbol {image
"monogram3.gif"}; while in the other hand he holds a small round object
surmounted by a _Phoenix_.
Constantius II., yet another son of Constantine the Great, issued a
coin on which is the symbol {image "monogram3.gif"} between the letters
{alpha} and {omega} (? APX{omega}); the legend being _Salus Aug
Nostri_.
On another coin is Constantius II. as the Sun, upon one side; and upon
the other the symbol {image "monogram3.gif"} between the letters alpha
and omega once again.
Nepotianus, a nephew of Constantine the Great who took Rome in A.C. 350
but was killed as an usurper the same year, issued a coin on the
reverse of which, surrounded by the legend _Urbs Roma_, is a female
figure representing Rome and holding in her hand a round object
surmounted by the symbol {image "monogram3.gif"}.
The symbol {image "monogram4.gif"} frequently occurs upon the coins of
Valeus (A.C. 364-378). And upon one coin of this Emperor we see the
letter P surmounting a cross; surrounded by the legend _Gloria
Romanorum_.
Upon a coin of Valentinianus II. we see Victory holding a round object
surmounted by a cross, the legend being _Victoria Augustorum_.
On the coins of Theodosius I. (A.C. 378-395) we find representations of
the Emperor holding a round object surmounted by a Phoenix, and of the
Emperor holding a round object surmounted by a Victory; as also of
Victory holding a round object surmounted by a cross.
This Emperor Theodosius I., better known as Theodosius the Great, after
securing sole control of the Roman Empire brought about the final
disruption of the world-wide dominions of Rome by bequeathing them in
two portions to his sons Arcadius and Honorius; the elder, Arcadius,
becoming Emperor of Constantinople and the East, while the younger,
Honorius, became Emperor of Rome and the West: A.C. 395.
Less than a century later, _viz._, between the years A.C. 475 and 480,
the Western Empire was finally extinguished by Odoacer; the Eastern
Empire surviving it nearly a thousand years, lasting as the latter did
from the partition in A.C. 395 to the capture of Constantinople by
Mahomet II. in A.C. 1453.
It was, as stated in a previous chapter, upon the coins of an Emperor
of the East, _viz._, Theodosius II., that the first example occurs of a
representation of an Emperor holding a round object surmounted by a
cross; though, as has been noted, instances of Victory carrying an
object so surmounted had previously occurred. And it need only be added
that the symbols {image "monogram3.gif"} and {image "monogram4.gif"},
often the centre of a circle or surrounded by a circular wreath of bay
or laurel, continually occur upon the coins of the Eastern Empire, the
symbol {image "asterisk.gif"} frequently, and the undisguised solar
wheel, {image "solarwheel1.gif"} upon the coins of Eudoxia, Theodosius
II., Leo I., and others.
The evidence of the coins of the Roman Empire given in this and the two
preceding chapters, coupled with the too-often forgotten fact that the
only form of cross which could possibly be a representation of the
instrument of execution to which Jesus was affixed was the very last
form of cross to be adopted as a Christian symbol, cannot, it will be
seen, lead the unprejudiced enquirer to any other conclusion than that
the cross became the symbol of Christendom because the advent of
Constantine and his Gauls made it a prominent symbol of the Roman
Empire. And that the symbol in question was not altogether unconnected
with Sun-God worship, should be equally clear to the reader.