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Sale 95
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Lot 1265
Aelia Pulcheria. Gold Solidus (4.42 g), Augusta, AD 414-453. Constantinople, AD 414. AEL PVLCH-ERIA AVG, diademed and draped bust of Pulcheria right; above, manus Dei crowning her with wreath. Rev. SALVS REI-PVBLICAE, Victory seated right on cuirass and shield, inscribing Chi-Rho on supported on her knee; *//CONOB. (RIC 205 (R2); Depeyrot 60/1). Very rare. Lusterous Extremely fine. Estimate $8,000UP
Aelia Pulcheria was the daughter of Arcadius and older sister of Theodosius II. When their father died in AD 408 and the young Theodosius II became the new emperor of the embattled eastern half of the Roman Empire, Pulcheria assumed the role of her brother's protector. When the Senate voted her the title of Augusta (Empress) in AD 414, she used this newfound legitimacy to take over the regency for Theodosius II, which had been managed previously by the praetorian prefects. Pulcheria aimed at being the real power in the Empire and declared her intention to remain a virgin and never marry as a means of avoiding male control. In contrast, her brother was easily dominated, and Pulcheria taught him to be an emperor in keeping with her own image of the office. Under her guidance, Theodosius II successfully warred against the Sasanian Persians in AD 421 and intervened in the Western Roman Empire, placing their nephew, Valentinian III, on the throne in AD 425. Pulcheria even engineered the disgrace and exile of Theodosius'wife, Aelia Eudocia, to remove her competing influence over the emperor. When Theodosius II died unexpectedly in a riding accident in AD 450, Pulcheria took power in her own right. However, her sole reign was very brief as she was finally forced to take the lowborn Marcian as her husbaundated. She died three years later, still Augusta and still a virgin.
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