Diocletian, Aureus, 284–294, Rome, Very rare, Gold, SUP, RIC146

  
Bust of Diocletian, laurel-crowned, draped, and cuirassed, facing right. Jupiter stands to the left, head turned backward, hurling a thunderbolt at a kneeling Titan/Giant. A superb-quality example, on a very broad flan, still retaining part of its original mint luster. There is only slight wear from circulation on the beard of the portrait; otherwise it is extremely well preserved. The reverse is equally splendid, with a striking mythological scene: Zeus striking down a giant with eel- or serpent-like legs, who is none other than Porphyrion, the “king of the giants,” or “the greatest of the giants.

” From Greek mythology, this giant was one of the principal figures in the Gigantomachy, the battle between the gods of Olympus and the Giants. Here he is shown kneeling, defeated by Zeus and being finished off by the thunderbolts of the king of the gods.

According to legend, Eros, who thought to kill him with one of his arrows (or Zeus himself), incites him to attack Hera and tear her robe. This prompts Zeus to intervene and strike him with his thunderbolt, after which the giant is finished off by a poisoned arrow from Heracles. Perhaps this should be seen as an instrument of imperial propaganda introduced by Diocletian, then Augustus and ruler of the western part of the Roman Empire, associating himself with the king of the gods and, through this mythological scene, perhaps equating his enemies—especially the usurper Carausius in Gaul and Roman Britain—with the giant Porphyrion being brought low by the gods, a sign of future victory over the man who had usurped the imperial throne.; Cohen 285; Calicó 4531 (these dies). DIOCLETIA - NVS P F AVG, IOVI FVL - GE - RAT - ORI // PR.