From Aurelian to the end of the Western Empire; includes 270-475. A brilliant succession; Aurelian’s busy reign, ending in assassination; the war-like Probus, the slave-emperor; Diocletian’s despotism and vindictive persecution of Christians; the usurpation of Carausius; the happy reign of Constantine the Great, Julian, Theodosius, down to Julius Nepos. These are a few of the historic names and events presented in this division.
Division VI.
covers the period of the Byzantine or Eastern Empire, and a lapse of eight centuries; but the coinage is not comparable with that of other eras, nor were events of so stirring and heroic a character. A general decay, painful to contemplate, marked this long lapse of time, which began near the acceptance of Christianity, and extended through the dark ages.
“The Temple Sweepers.”
A small case attracts no little attention, because it contains a single coin; and the interest does not decrease when the inscription is read: “Struck in the Philadelphia Mint, at least two thousand years ago.” The late Assayer of the Philadelphia Mint, Mr. W. E. Du Bois, under title of “The Temple Sweepers,” wrote, not long since, a valuable sketch of this coin, made in the City of Attalus Philadelphus, Asia Minor, and for which William Penn called his city, because the ancient one was a monument of “brotherly love.” Diana was the patroness of Philadelphia.
“On one side, then, we have a head; not a king’s nor an emperor’s; as yet the free city had a pride and a privilege above that. It is a female head, an ideal, representing the city itself; or rather the dwellers in it, the Demos. Here in this head and title, we have the radix of Democracy.
“This is all we can gather from the obverse. On the other side we have a larger variety: a running female figure; a dog also on the trot; a legend of some length and of more significance.
“The half-clad figure is that of the goddess known to the Greeks as Artemis, to the Latins as Diana; and otherwise called Selene, Phœbe, Delia, or Cynthia.
“She was the favorite divinity of the cities of Asia Minor. Once the patroness of chastity and purity. Goddess of the chase.”
The legend on the obverse of this coin explains its name: “Friends of Philadelphia’s [her] Temple Sweepers.”