Roman Empire – Time of Maximinus II Daia (310-313 AD) – Æ Quarter Nummus ‘Persecution’ issue (Apollo). Antioch mint 310-313 AD Obv: GENIO AN-TIOCHENI, Tyche seated facing on rock pile; river god Orontes below. Rev: APOLLONI SANCTO / Є/Δ / SMA, Apollo standing facing, head left, liquors flowing from patera in right hand, lyre in left; Є/Δ in right field, SMA in exergue . Reference: McAlee 170c; Vagi 2954 Weight: 1.21 g Diameter: 15 mm Metal: Bronze Extremely Fine, Rare An active campaign of persecution against local Christians by Maximinus II reached its height during 310-313 the eastern cities in Nicomedia, Antioch, and Alexandria. Christians were subject to confiscation of land and property, and expelled from the cities; Churches were closed and ransacked. These three major mint cities struck a series of small bronzes honouring the old Greco-Roman gods - Jupiter, Apollo, Tyche, and Serapis among them. The persecutions subsided in AD 313 as a result of the Edict of Milan, jointly issued by Constantine and Licinius - the senior emperors - which proclaimed a policy of religious freedom, and returned confiscated property to the Christians. This series was produced during the period of Christian persecution by Maximinus II, Diocletian and Galerius and the Antioch issues portray important local statues: the Tyche erected by Eutychides (a pupil of Lysippus), the Apollo by Bryaxis of Athens, and possibly the Zeus Nikephoros of the Temple of Apollo at Daphne which Antiochos IV commissioned for his great festival of 167 BC. Provenance: ex private collection See images for correct impression