Constantine

12/4/2011                                                                                    link back up to main Chapter 262 Coins

Campgate

My 326 Constantine I The Great coin features the camp gate or city gate you see in Europe at the edge of towns meant to keep out barbarians. Had his son Constans nice coin but the great general does deserve a little more coverage. He exited the city gates of Rome moving to now Istanbul, Turkey when he set up the capitol of the Eastern (Byzantine) Empire named after himself Constantinople . Persecution of Christians, feeding them to the beasts, setting them on fire, and in general killing them ceased with Constantine, a major turning point for the establishment of Christianity as a religion.  

 There he built this city gate that exist today and a grand city wall around Constantinople his new home, the same time my coin was made. The gates are interspersed at intervals to allow access. There is some controversy about the 2 turrets, beacons, or watchtowers on top of the gate in the coin shaped like Weber grills. Some believe them to be fire signal devises where soldiers built fire signals to alert the next gate of impending trouble (barbarians like Attila the Hun). The ancients did use fire signals although the structures could have simply been standard constructed turrets.

 Having pulled some duty in this guard tower my interest is a little more than academic. That function was primarily to keep our prisoners inside the wire walls. The Pope also locked up the undesirables (the Jewish population) at night within walled sections of the city. They were considered sub human and only allowed dirty and rag picker jobs [like Kirk Douglas (aka Spartacus) father in Amsterdam].

  Kathy and I passed through this city gate from Rome (built 312 BC) on the Apian Way on our way to Naples and Pompeii. Six thousand slaves were crucified down there after Spartacus lost his battle with the establishment. Took a quick snap shot of the Forum here but the history and the artifacts were just overwhelming. The monumental Constantine Arch  a few hundred feet away on the way to the nearby Coliseum.

AAH* Constantine I "AE Campgate" Constantine I "the Great" AD 306-337 AE3

Obv: CONSTAN-TINVS AVG - Laureate head right.

Rev: PROVIDEN-TIAE AVGG- Campgate with no doors two turrets and one star. Exe: (dot) SMKG (sacred money of Kyzikos)(delta) (dot) Cyzicus mint: AD 325-326 = RIC VII, 44G  2.87 g.,19mm

(although 71 different Constantine campgates, only one has the correct lettering and S M K G gamma mint mark)

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