Diocletian AE Follis – PROVIDENTIA DEORVM QVIES AVGG (London Mint) – Abdication Issue

Roman Imperial Coin – Bronze Follis of Diocletian

Obv: D N DIOCLETIANO FELICISSIMO SEN AVG, Bust of Diocletian, laureate, wearing imperial mantle, right, holding olive branch in right hand and mappa in left hand.

Rev: PROVIDENTIA DEORVM QVIES AVGG, Providentia, draped, standing right, extending right hand to Quies; Quies, draped, standing left, holding branch in right hand and leaning on sceptre with left hand.

305 – 307 AD. · London Mint · RIC London 77a

10.6g · 30mm

The abdication folles of Diocletian, bearing the legend PROVIDENTIA DEORVM QVIES AVGG, were struck after his voluntary retirement in AD 305 and commemorate the divine foresight (providentia deorum) that guided the orderly transfer of power and the “rest” (quies) of the senior emperors. These issues, typically depicting Providentia standing with symbols of foresight, served as a rare piece of imperial propaganda celebrating abdication as a stabilizing act within the Tetrarchic system.