CNG - Galeria Valeria, tragic Empress. Æ, VF+
$153.50
05/19/99,
Seller    cngcoins


     Galeria Valeria, wife of Galerius. Struck 310 AD. Æ Follis (7.00
     gm). Diademed bust right / Venus standing facing, head left,
     holding apple. RIC VI 138. Antioch mint. Good VF, silky black
     patina. 712782.

     Galeria Valeria's story reads like an operatic tragedy. The
     daughter of Diocletian, she secretly became a Christian under the
     influence of her mother, Prisca. To strengthen the bonds of the
     Tetrarchy, her father married her off to his heir apparent, the
     Caesar Galerius, who was rabidly anti-Christian and goaded his
     senior Emperor into launching the Great Persecution in 303 AD.
     Galeria and her mother avoided detection as Christians by
     performing sacrifices to her father's genius, but they must have
     lived in perpetual terror as martyrs fell all around them. In
     305, Diocletian abdicated and Galerius assumed of the Purple,
     along with his co-Augustus Constantius I and two new Caesars,
     Severus II and Maximinus II Daza. But this "Second Tetrarchy"
     collapsed almost immediately, leading to political chaos
     throughout the Empire. In 311, Galerius became seriously ill and
     repealed the edict of persecution in return for the Christians'
     praying for his recovery; he died in agony shortly thereafter.
     Galeria became a pawn in a high-stakes game of power politics.
     She refused the new Emperor Licinius' offer of marriage, fleeing
     to Daza for protection. Another anti-Christian in Galerius' mold,
     Daza in turn pressed her to marry him; again she refused, and was
     exiled from court. From retirement, Diocletian begged Daza to
     allow her to settle down with him at his estate in Spoleto, but
     his plea was ignored. When Licinius defeated Daza, she again fell
     into Licinius' hands. Infuriated by her earlier refusal to marry
     him, he cruelly beheaded her.