Coin Necklace featuring Coins of Emperors Constantine I, Constantius II

4 bronze coins of the Roman Emperor Constantine I, reigned: 306-337 A.D.; 16 bronze coins of the Roman Emperor Constantius II reigned: 337-361 A.D.; 1 bronze coin of the Byzantine Emperor Theodosius I reigned: 379- 395 A.D.

The son of an army officer, Constantine I, was educated in the court of Diocletian, during the period of the first tetrarchy. Volatile circumstances in 306, typical during this period in Roman history, resulted in Constantine being named Augustus by his troops. By 324, Constantine battled his way into becoming the sole ruler of the empire, after having supposedly seen a Christian symbol in the sky which promised him victory. Soon thereafter, he passed the famous Edict of Milan, which granted official tolerance to Christianity, after its long period of persecution. In 330, Constantine founded a new capital, a “second Rome” on the shores of the Bosphorus, named Constantinople, which eventually became the pre-eminent city of the Christian world. Constantine was to take his final breath in his new city, dying in Constantinople after supposedly being baptized a Christian. Constantius II, the second son of Constantine, was born in 317 A.D. And was given the rank of Caesar in324, soon after the defeat of his father's rival Licinius. On the division of the Roman Empire at the death of Constantine, Constantius received all the eastern territories. By 353, through a variety of circumstances involving battle and death, Constantius had acquired nearly all of the empire. His military campaigns led him to the Danube and later to the east where he battled the Persians. Upon hearing that his cousin Julian had been proclaimed emperor by his troops at Paris, Constantius attempted to return from the Persian war only to succumb to a fever and die, in 361, thus leaving Julian master of the Roman world. Theodosius I was born in Spain, the son of a famous general. An excellent soldier himself, he was named Augustus of the Eastern empire in 379. Due to his strong leadership and skills as a soldier, he restored Roman power that had been weakened by a long series of Barbarian onslaughts. By 394 his power had extended to incorporate almost the entire empire, east and west. An untimely death by disease in Milan in 395 ended his successful reign as Augustus.