★ Galla Placidia ★

GALLA PLACIDIA (Augusta, 421-450). GOLD Solidus. Ravenna.

Obv: D N GALLA PLACIDIA P F AVG.
Diademed and draped bust right, wearing earring and double pearl-necklace, crowned by Manus Dei; christogram on shoulder.
Rev: VOT XX MVLT XXX / R - V / COMOB.
Victory standing left, holding long jeweled cross; star to upper left.

RIC 2012; Ranieri 73; Depeyrot 13/2.

Galla Placidia was the daughter of emperor Theodosius I and his second wife Galla Justina. With her two Roman imperial dynasties were united, the Valentinianic dynasty (her maternal grandfather was Valentinian I) and her father's Theodosian dynasty. In 390 she received the title 'nobilissima,' which gave her dignity on a level with her brothers (Arcadius, Honorius, and Gratianus). After the sack of Rome in 410, Alaric's Visigoths left the city and took with them Galla Placidia, then 18 years old, as a hostage to force Honorius to concede to their demands for tribute and land. Upon Alaric's death, Ataulf led the Visigoths and Galla Placidia to Gaul, whom he took in marriage by Roman rite in 414 at Narbo, naming her queen of the Visigoths, hoping for Honorius' recognition. But the marriage was not recognized by the court in Ravenna, and Ataulf elected Priscus Attalus emperor, who was defeated by the Roman army, captured and sent to Honorius. Ataulf and Galla Placidia then traveled to Spain (early 415), where the king died shortly thereafter. The successor Walha, in exchange for a large amount of grain, agreed to fight for the Romans against the Vandals and Suebi in Spain, and to give back Galla Placidia, who returned to Ravenna with Constantius, who became her husband and was rewarded by Honorius with the consulship (417). Constantius III and Galla Placidia had two children, Justa Grata Honoria and the future emperor Valentinian III, on whose behalf Galla actually reigned for more than a decade. She died in 450, shortly after Justa Grata Honoria's marriage to Bassus Herculanus, and was buried in Rome in a chapel in the old St. Peter's Basilica.

Condition: Extremely fine.

Weight: 4.46 g.
Diameter: 22 mm.