[1642c] Constantine VII and Romanus II, 6 Apr 945 - 9 Nov 959 A.D.
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Gold solidus, SBCV 1751; DOC III part 2, 15, gVF, Constantinople mint, weight 4.332g, maximum diameter 20.8mm, die axis 180o. Obverse: Ihs XPS REX REGNANTIUM, bust of Christ facing wearing nimbus cruciger, pallium and colobium, raising right in benediction, Gospels in left; Reverse: COnSTAnT, crowned facing busts of Constantine VII, in a loros on left, and his son Romanus II, in a chlamys, they hold a long patriarchal cross; small "finder's scrape" on reverse, obverse die slightly rusted.
Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus, 945-959 A.D.
Constantine VII (Greek: Κωνσταντίνος Ζ΄ Πορφυρογέννητος, Kōnstantinos VII Porphyrogennētos) Porphyrogenitus is a nickname that alludes to the Purple Room of the imperial palace, decorated with the stone porphyry, where legitimate children of reigning emperors were normally born.
In his book, A Short History of Byzantium, John Julius Norwich refers to Constantine VII as "The Scholar Emperor" (180). Norwich states, “He was, we are told, a passionate collector--not only of books and manuscripts but works of art of every kind; more remarkable still for a man of his class, he seems to have been an excellent painter. He was the most generous of patrons--to writers and scholars, artists and craftsmen. Finally, he was an excellent Emperor: a competent, conscientious and hard-working administrator and an inspired picker of men, whose appointments to military, naval, ecclesiastical, civil and academic posts were both imaginative and successful. He did much to develop higher education and took a special interest in the administration of justice" (181). In 947, Constantine VII, Porphyrogenitus ordered "the immediate restitution, without compensation, of all peasant lands thus, by the end of [his] reign, the condition of the landed peasantry—which formed the foundation of the whole economic and military strength of the Empire—was better off than it had been for a century . . . on 9 November 959, he died aged fifty-four, surrounded by his sorrowing family: his wife Helena, his five daughters and his twenty-year old son Romanus, now Emperor of Byzantium (182-3).
Works cited:
Norwich, John Julius, A Short History of Byzantium. London: Viking, 1997.
Edited by J.P.Fitzgerald, Jr.
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![[1642c] Constantine VII and Romanus II, 6 Apr 945 - 9 Nov 959 A.D.
Gold solidus, SBCV 1751; DOC III part 2, 15, [b]gVF[/b], Constantinople mint, weight 4.332g, maximum diameter 20.8mm, die axis 180o. Obverse: Ihs XPS REX REGNANTIUM, bust of Christ facing wearing nimbus cruciger, pallium and colobium, raising right in benediction, Gospels in left; Reverse: COnSTAnT, crowned facing busts of Constantine VII, in a loros on left, and his son Romanus II, in a chlamys, they hold a long patriarchal cross; small "finder's scrape" on reverse, obverse die slightly rusted.
[b]Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus, 945-959 A.D.[/b]
Constantine VII (Greek: Κωνσταντίνος Ζ΄ Πορφυρογέννητος, Kōnstantinos VII Porphyrogennētos) [b][i]Porphyrogenitus[/i][/b] is a nickname that alludes to the Purple Room of the imperial palace, decorated with the stone porphyry, where legitimate children of reigning emperors were normally born.
In his book, [i]A Short History of Byzantium[/i], John Julius Norwich refers to Constantine VII as "The Scholar Emperor" (180). Norwich states, “He was, we are told, a passionate collector--not only of books and manuscripts but works of art of every kind; more remarkable still for a man of his class, he seems to have been an excellent painter. He was the most generous of patrons--to writers and scholars, artists and craftsmen. [b]Finally, he was an excellent Emperor[/b]: a competent, conscientious and hard-working administrator and an inspired picker of men, whose appointments to military, naval, ecclesiastical, civil and academic posts were both imaginative and successful. He did much to develop higher education and took a special interest in the administration of justice" (181). In 947, Constantine VII, Porphyrogenitus ordered "the immediate restitution, without compensation, of all peasant lands thus, by the end of [his] reign, the condition of the landed peasantry—which formed the foundation of the whole economic and military strength of the Empire—was better off than it had been for a century . . . on 9 November 959, he died aged fifty-four, surrounded by his sorrowing family: his wife Helena, his five daughters and his twenty-year old son Romanus, now Emperor of Byzantium (182-3).
Works cited:
Norwich, John Julius, [i]A Short History of Byzantium[/i]. London: Viking, 1997.
Edited by J.P.Fitzgerald, Jr.](albums/userpics/15402/C7R2auSolidus.jpg "[1642c] Constantine VII and Romanus II, 6 Apr 945 - 9 Nov 959 A.D.
Gold solidus, SBCV 1751; DOC III part 2, 15, [b]gVF[/b], Constantinople mint, weight 4.332g, maximum diameter 20.8mm, die axis 180o. Obverse: Ihs XPS REX REGNANTIUM, bust of Christ facing wearing nimbus cruciger, pallium and colobium, raising right in benediction, Gospels in left; Reverse: COnSTAnT, crowned facing busts of Constantine VII, in a loros on left, and his son Romanus II, in a chlamys, they hold a long patriarchal cross; small \"finder's scrape\" on reverse, obverse die slightly rusted.
[b]Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus, 945-959 A.D.[/b]
Constantine VII (Greek: Κωνσταντίνος Ζ΄ Πορφυρογέννητος, Kōnstantinos VII Porphyrogennētos) [b][i]Porphyrogenitus[/i][/b] is a nickname that alludes to the Purple Room of the imperial palace, decorated with the stone porphyry, where legitimate children of reigning emperors were normally born.
In his book, [i]A Short History of Byzantium[/i], John Julius Norwich refers to Constantine VII as \"The Scholar Emperor\" (180). Norwich states, “He was, we are told, a passionate collector--not only of books and manuscripts but works of art of every kind; more remarkable still for a man of his class, he seems to have been an excellent painter. He was the most generous of patrons--to writers and scholars, artists and craftsmen. [b]Finally, he was an excellent Emperor[/b]: a competent, conscientious and hard-working administrator and an inspired picker of men, whose appointments to military, naval, ecclesiastical, civil and academic posts were both imaginative and successful. He did much to develop higher education and took a special interest in the administration of justice\" (181). In 947, Constantine VII, Porphyrogenitus ordered \"the immediate restitution, without compensation, of all peasant lands thus, by the end of [his] reign, the condition of the landed peasantry—which formed the foundation of the whole economic and military strength of the Empire—was better off than it had been for a century . . . on 9 November 959, he died aged fifty-four, surrounded by his sorrowing family: his wife Helena, his five daughters and his twenty-year old son Romanus, now Emperor of Byzantium (182-3).
Works cited:
Norwich, John Julius, [i]A Short History of Byzantium[/i]. London: Viking, 1997.
Edited by J.P.Fitzgerald, Jr.")
