Roman Ae3 Of Valentinian II (AD 375-392) NGC

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Coins in images are examples only.

Roman Ae3 Of Valentinian II (AD 375-392) NGC. The son of the Valentinian I, Valentinian II was elevated to Emperor at the age of four and never enjoyed true power. Most of the West was controlled by the usurper Magnus Maximus, and in Italy, where he lived, his mother Justina was the de facto ruler. Frankish insurgents led by Arbogast strangled to death the 21-year-old Emperor in 392. While his mother was alive, Valentinian II had sympathies for Arianism, but upon her death, he adopted Nicene Christianity as the true faith. He died before St. Ambrose could baptize him, leading Ambrose to endorse the ”baptism of desire“ in his funeral oration.

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Valentinian II (Latin: Valentinianus; 371 – 15 May 392) was a Roman emperor in the western part of the Roman empire between AD 375 and 392. He was at first junior co-ruler of his half-brother, then was sidelined by a usurper, and finally became sole ruler after 388, albeit with limited de facto powers.

A son of emperor Valentinian I and empress Justina, he was raised to the imperial office at the age of 4 by military commanders upon his father's death. Until 383, Valentinian II remained a junior partner to his older half-brother Gratian in ruling the Western empire, while the East was governed by his uncle Valens until 378 and Theodosius I from 379. When Gratian was killed by the usurper emperor Magnus Maximus in 383, the court of Valentinian in Milan became the center of Italy where several religious debates took place. In 387, Maximus invaded Italy, spurring Valentinian and his family to escape to Thessalonica where they successfully sought Theodosius' aid. Theodosius defeated Maximus in battle and re-installed Valentinian in the West, under the supervision of the general Arbogast. In 392, after repeated conflicts with Arbogast, Valentinian was discovered hanged in his room under unknown circumstances.