Image Details

The bold Greek letters chi (X) and rho (P), the first two letters of the Greek word for Christ, overshadow the fainter letters alpha (A) and omega (w, appearing here as lower case w) sandwiched between the arms of the cross on coin (O). Respectively the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet, alpha (A) and omega (w) refer to Jesus in the Book of Revelation, where he proclaims, “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end” (Revelation 22:13).

Brothers Magnentius and Decentius hastily minted such bronze coins in 350 to vie with Constantius II, their rival for the control of the empire.