Victory and Faith

The winged woman depicted on this side of the coin is the personification of Victory, and she is painting the Christian Chi Rho symbol on a shield. The Chi Rho is a Christian symbol, standing for an abbreviation of the first two letters of Christ’s name in Greek: Chi (Χ) and Rho (Ρ). The fact that it appears here on a shield seems to be a reference to Constantine the Great and the battle of the Milvian bridge. Right before the battle, Emperor Constantine is said to have had a vision of the Christian God, who tells him he will win the upcoming battle if he paints the Chi Rho on his soldier’s shields. Constantine follows this advice, and he does win the battle. This is considered the moment where Constantine converts to Christianity, setting the Roman Empire on a course to become fully Christian. On this coin, Victory is thus painting the Chi Rho on a shield, securing victory in battle. Does this suggest a link between Pulcheria and military victory?

Securing victory in war was obviously important to the stability of the emperor’s seat of power. Emperor Theodosius II himself was apparently characterized as bookish and with little interest in war. Holum, Theodosian Empresses, 111.Pulcheria, however, was willing to go to war to defend the faith. So, when it became obvious that Christians were being openly persecuted in neighboring Persia, The Eastern Roman Empire declared war.

Winning this war was not so much a matter of military victory, but one of religious victory, and Pulcheria played a big role in it. Pulcheria’s importance is illustrated by an inscription that belonged to a massive statue of Emperor Theodosius II. The statue was erected after he had supposedly secured victory for the Empire against the Persians. (The reality was that a stalemate was negotiated when it became clear that he was losing the war.) One line in the inscription at the base of the statue read that he had secured victory “through the vows of his sisters”.Holum, Theodosian Empresses, 110.Because, as shown before, it was believed that Pulcheria and her sisters had gained the protection of God for the Empire through their Christian virtue. In other words, by being an exemplary Christian, Pulcheria had made sure God would protect their armies in the war, and thus they had essentially won the war because of her. On the inscription she simply gets credit for it. In that small sentence on a statue base, the importance of Pulcheria - and her virginity - to the Empire becomes clear.