The mint of Cyzicus shared with Nicomedia the responsibility of supplying commercial coinage to the western Asia Minor heartland. Despite the city's economic importance, it played second fiddle to Nicomedia in terms of political importance. It only briefly struck gold and silver coins, and its coins never carry the "SM" in their mintmark that denoted the main imperial residence, as is commonly found on coins from Nicomedia. ("SM" first appears on coins from Cyzicus is in 312, when Maximinus is in residence while preparing with war with Licinius.) Instead, its coinage consisted of copious quantities of bronze coinage for local commercial needs.

Initially, production of coinage at Cyzicus seems to have been coordinated with neighboring mints at both Nicomedia and Thessalonica. Coins were struck from 294 till about 296, and then ceased; in the meantime, production seems to have begun at Thessalonica from 297-304, and then at Nicomedia again from 304-305. Production resumed again after Diocletian's abdication, when Maximinus took control of the mint on his appointment as Caesar, and it remained an important mint till the end of the Empire.

Like the other nearby mints, Cyzicus struck standard coinage types that reflected the conservative policies of Diocletian and Galerius, as well as the relative lack of political excitement that was seen in the western part of the empire. The western unrest was reflected in the VIRTVS EXERCITVS ("Valor of the army") coins, with Mars on the reverse, that Maximinus introduced in his mints in 308. Coins for the western emperors were struck grudgingly by Maximinus; I had to hustle to find coins from Constantine, let alone Severus II, from this era.

Probably the most interesting coinage from Cyzicus is the introduction of large "campgate" folles. This design evokes the gated entrance to a Roman military camp, and was first introduced on locally struck bronze coinage in the third century, at the many mints that sprang up to serve the military encampments along the Danube. Since all the tetrarchs were veterans of the Balkan and Danubian legions, they would have been familiar with this motif, and it was a standard design of the silver argentii struck by the tetrachs. However, this is its first use in bronze. Later, in the Constantinian era, these would be ubiquitous among the small bronze coins of the time, and as such they are very popular with collectors. However, these first coins from Cyzicus are much sought after as the first of this type, in addition to their large size and relative scarcity.

For map image only:

This material originated on the Interactive Ancient Mediterranean Web site (http://iam.classics.unc.edu). It has been copied, reused or redistributed under the terms of IAM's fair use policy. Copyright 1998, Interactive Ancient Mediterranean.