AE Follis AE2, AD 313-317, Nicomedia, 23mm, 2.95g, 180°, RIC VII 13.
Obv: IMP C VAL LICIN LICINIVS PF AVG. Laureate head right.
Rev: IOVI CONSERVATORI. Jupiter standing left holding Victory on globe and scepter; eagle to left; Δ right and SMN in ex.
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Gaius Valerius Licinianus Licinius, commonly known as Licinius, was Roman Emperor from 308 to 324. Born to a Dacian peasant family in Moesia Superior, Licinius accompanied his close childhood friend, the future emperor Galerius, on the Persian expedition in 298. Galerius trusted the eastern provinces to him when he went to deal with Maxentius personally after the death of Flavius Valerius Severus. Upon his return to the east, Galerius elevated Licinius to the rank of Augustus in the West on November 11, 308.

In 314, a civil war erupted between Licinius and Constantine I, in which Constantine used the pretext that Licinius was harbouring Constantine’s brother-in-law, Bassianus, whom Constantine accused of plotting to overthrow him. Constantine prevailed at the Battle of Cibalae in Pannonia. The situation was temporarily settled, with both men sharing the consulship in 315.The next year Licinius named Valerius Valens his co-emperor, a new war erupted and Licinius suffered a humiliating defeat on the plain of Mardia in Thrace. The emperors were reconciled again and Licinius had his co-emperor Valens killed. Licinius kept himself busy with a campaign against the Sarmatians in 318, but tension rose again in 321 when Constantine pursued some Sarmatians across the Danube into what was technically Licinius’s territory.

Licinius complained that Constantine had broken the treaty between them and Constantine wasted no time going on the offensive. Licinius's fleet of 350 ships was defeated in 323. Then in 324, Constantine again declared war against him, and, having defeated his army of 170,000 men at the Battle of Adrianople, Licinius withdrew to Bithynia, where a last stand was made; the Battle of Chrysopolis, near Chalcedon on September 18, resulted in Licinius' final submission. Licinius was spared due to the pleas of his wife, Constantine's sister., and interned at Thessalonica. The next year however, Constantine had him hanged, accusing him of conspiring to raise troops among the barbarians.