MAXIMINUS DAIA GAIUS VALERIUS GALERIUS MAXIMINUS (305-313)

Summary: Maximinus Daia was born around 270 A.D. near the village of Šarkamen. Thanks to his uncle Augustus Galerius, on 1 May 305 A.D., to everyone’s surprise, he was appointed Caesar together with Severus, whereas Galerius and Constantius Chlorus were appointed Augusti. He got the eastern realms of Egypt and Syria to rule, and, later on, Asia Minor as well. On 30 April 313 A.D. on the Ergenus Field, Daia was heavily defeated by the army of Licinius. He ran from the battlefield, and passed away several months later in Tarsus. In the coins Daia is depicted either as a beardless young man with a kind and gentle face, or as a military-looking man with a firm gaze, crooked nose and meticulously trimmed beard. After his appointment as Augustus, the coins depicted his robust appearance, with some of the images representing him with a laurel wreath. Follis coins from Antiochia depicted his bust with a spear and a shield in his hands.