Plate with portrait of Constantius II. Panticapeum (Kertch, Crimea), 343. Silver

Round plate engraved with circular bands of floral and geometric ornament and inscription, surrounding medallion with profile portrait bust; traces of niello and gilding in all zones. Generally good condition, but one plugged repair in upper left field; rivets of modern hanging device penetrate at top (for reverse side, see Delbrueck, 1933, p. 145, fig. 43). Back inscribed with modern weight, and punched letters CVC (Matzulevitch, 1929, p. 107, n. 1).

Outer band has strigil ornament; next inner zone contains inscription: D(omini) • N(ostri) const anti avgvsti (ivy leaf) votis (ivy leaf) xx (ivy leaf): “To our lord Constantius Augustus, vows for twenty [more] years of reign." The next inner band has a vine rinceau, while the inner medallion shows a young man in right profile, wearing the chlamys fastened over a tunic with a three-jeweled fibula at his right shoulder; his laurel crown is fastened behind, where long hair falls at nape of neck.

The date indicated by the inscription would be that of the vicennalia of Constantius II, which began in a.d. 343 on the nineteenth anniversary of his nomination—at the age of seven—to the rank of Caesar after the defeat of Licinius in 324 (cf. no. 8). The portrait, while generalized and roughly executed, fits well enough with the routine coin types issued in his name in the 340s (cf. Calza, 1972, pi. civ).

This plate is one of three found late in the last century in graves in the fourth- to fifth-century necropolis of Panticapeum in the Crimea, near the modern Kertch. One of the others is almost identical, surely the product of the same workshop (Calza, 1972, no. 219), while the third represents the adventus of the emperor on horseback (Calza, 1972, no. 220). All three are representative of imperial largitiones: the widespread practice in late antiquity of lavish gifts to dependents, allies, and neighbors in commemoration of special occasions, such as anniversaries. Most modern scholars agree with Matzulevitch's (1929) thesis that all three of these plates were made locally in the Crimea.

Bibliography: Matzulevitch, 1929, pp. 95-108; Delbrueck, 1933, pp. 144-151; Calza, 1972, no. 218.