Constantine's Tetradrachms

Constantine I struck two unusual types of silver coin at Constantinople which have traditionally been dated to the dedication of that city in May 330 and have recently been identified as imitations of Hellenistic tetradrachms struck in a brief renewal of a civic coinage there with important implications for the understanding of his religious policy. This note re-examines the evidence to suggest several possible alternative interpretations of these coins, that they may have been struck to commemorate the re-minting of large stocks of ancient coins recovered during the confiscation of temple treasures in the eastern empire, or to commemorate Hellenistic artistic achievement at a time when key works of art were being seized for display in Constantinople, or to mark the new ambitions of Constantine in the east as demonstrated by the appointment of his nephew Hannibalianus as rex regum et Ponticarum gentium.