There is a series of coins
from Siscia issued for Maximianus and
Diocletian with a secret code. In 1872,
the Viennese numismatist Joseph Van Kolb
was the first person (at least recorded in
modern times) who figured out the meaning
of these coins. Diocletian and Maximianus
claimed lineage with the gods; which is
why the reverse legend translates as
“Defender/Protector of the Augusti.” In
the East, Diocletian was in the family of
Jupiter and in the West, Maximianus was in
the family of Hercules. These coins have
the names of the gods incorporated into
the reverses. The coins of Diocletian have
a reverse with him and Jupiter and the
reverses for Maximianus depict him and
Hercules. The normal Hercules reverse is
leaning on a club, but a rarer type has
him holding the club with a lion skin.
There
is a theory that
Diocletian and Maximianus
started to proclaim their
relationship with Jupiter
and Hercules because of
the revolt of Carausius.
It was "an attempt to
impose a divine order on
the administering of the
Empire, a "cosmic unity"
that would automatically
exclude any usurper from a
place within the Empire."
(In Praise of Later Roman
Emperors pg 48) It
is impossible to prove,
but an interesting idea.
see: William Seston
"Dioclétien et la
Tétrarchie"
Here is a quote from
Lactantius, a Christian author of the 4th century, who mocks the
Tetrarchy for their affiliation with the
pagan gods--
“Where now are the
surnames of the Jovii and
the Herculii, once
so glorious and renowned among
the nations; surnames insolently assumed
at first by Diocles and Maximian, and
afterwards transferred to their
successors?” Lactantius LII
The first part of the mint
mark for this issue reads XXI, which must be a mark of
value-- twenty parts copper to one part silver. The next
bit is the code, which is in Greek. There were three
workshops in the Siscia mint at this time-- workshop A, B
and Γ.
The workshop (A,B,Γ) can be in the exergue
(bottom) as part of the mint mark or separate, in the left
or right field. In the mintmark it is sometimes separated
from XXI by a dot.
workshop
A= I, workshop B= O and workshop Γ = BI I/O/BI for Jupiter
(Diocletian)
workshop
A= HP, workshop B= KOY and workshop Γ = ΛI HP/KOY/ΛI for
Hercules (Maximianus)