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Primary sourceArtifactc. 309-337

Solidus of Constantine I

Imperial mints · c. 309-337

A gold coin introduced by Constantine that stabilised the Roman currency and bears his portrait.

Constantine commissioned this gold coin, which carried his own portrait and stabilised Roman currency.

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Front of a gold solidus coin showing a laureate bust of a man facing right, with a raised rim and partly legible inscription in Latin around the edge, including the letters CONSTANTI and MAXPF AVG on the field.
Solidus of Constantine I, c. 309-337. British Museum and various coin collections.

About this source

What it is

A gold coin called the solidus, struck by imperial mints under Constantine from around 309-337. It shows a laureate bust of the emperor and is held today in collections such as the British Museum.

Why it matters

Constantine's solidus replaced older, weaker coinage after a long period of financial instability in the Roman Empire. It became the standard gold coin for centuries, showing how Constantine reshaped the empire's economy as well as its religion and government.

Look closer

  • What does the choice to put his own portrait on money tell you about how Constantine wanted to be seen?
  • Why might a stable currency matter as much as military victories?
  • What is lost or left out when we only know a ruler through an official coin image?

This artifact is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of Constantine the Great on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

More Constantine the Great sources

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Manuscript page of handwritten Greek text in brown ink on cream parchment, with a decorated red and gold initial letter at the left margin. A dark ink blot is visible in the middle of the text block. The script is a cursive Greek hand, and the page appears to be from a 16th-century codex.Document

Secondary source

Edict of Milan

Constantine the Great · 313 AD

Woodcut-style medallion portrait in profile of a man in a plumed helmet with a laurel wreath, holding a spear, with the inscription CONSTANTINVS MAX AVG around the rim. Above it a Roman-numeral heading and German text; below, German text and a monogram M 2 on a book page.Artifact

Secondary source

Woodcut Portrait of Constantine the Great

Josse van Gietleughen

Photo of the south-facing attic inscription on the Arch of Constantine in Rome: a large carved Latin inscription in two rows of capital letters on pale marble, flanked by two statues of captive or attendant figures, with a blue sky above.Artifact

Primary source

Arch of Constantine

Roman Senate · c. 312-315

Medieval illuminated manuscript page with four framed scenes in gold and blue panels. Bottom left shows a bishop with halo baptising a nude figure in a font of flames, while a crowned figure looks on. Other panels show standing saints and a scene of a figure with a torch.Painting

Secondary source

Constantine the Great Baptised by St Sylvester

c. 1200

Title page of a book reading 'Ecclesiastical History: The Life of the Blessed Emperor Constantine, in four books, from 306 to 337 A.D., by Eusebius Pamphilus', London, Samuel Bagster and Sons, 1845. Includes a library stamp and a publisher's ornament.Book

Secondary source

Life of Constantine

Eusebius of Caesarea · 345

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