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Ancient Coin and trade weights
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There is considerable debate on the exact weight of the Roman pound which is the ancestor of the Byzantine pound. Generally it has been proposed that the weight of the pound become slightly lighter over the years. Simon Bendall (Byzantine weights: an Introduction, 1996) mentions that in the Geneva Museum and the Munz Zentrum sales that a number of one pound weights varied between 324 gm and 280 gm. By about 1343 there is reasonable evidence that a pound was about 304 gm, after starting at around 327 gm and this number can be disputed.
Byzantine weights are for commercial which are in pounds, ounces or fractions, or are coin weights weighted as nomismata or solidi. Six nomismata were in an ounce, hence 72 to a pound. Complicating this is that there is evidence that possibly there was a provincial pound that was spit into 14 ounces rather than 12 ounces with seven nomismata instead of six.
Typically there are symbols associated with commercial weights, and those for coins. For a variety of reasons including archeological evidence, weights are considered to belong to the sixth and seventh centuries. Often weights bear a mark of value but little else, often these are thought to be household weights. Justinian I in 545 issued edicts for certain officials to be responsible for standards and that these weights were to be kept in a church in each city. Many weights espically round ones seem expertly made possibly from a centralized area of production, but the engraving seem at times crude, suggesting that they were then engraved locally. Square weights were adjusted by filing on the edges resulting at times in a rougher looking appearance.
268 files, last one added on Sep 27, 2018
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Phocas 602-610 CE
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After Maurice Tiberius and his entire family was murdered, Phocas crowned himself emperor. While launching a campaign of terror and muder to keep himself in power, he met with military disaster from both the east and west. The Exarch of Africa Heraclius, sent his son also called Heraclius to Constantinople with a fleet, seized and executed Phocas.
The coins of Phocas are unusual because they revive an interest in portraiture, which the engravers of the stylized portraits of most early Byzantine emperors had long ignored. In contrast to the busts of other sixth-century emperors, the portrait of Phocas emphasizes his barbarian heritage. His pointed beard and his straight, shaggy hair give him a distinctly foreign appearance, and he wears a simple crown and a military cloak, the paludamentum, fastened with a fibula or pin on the right shoulder. His beard set a precedent for most later emperors.
5 files, last one added on Dec 09, 2018
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Constantine IV, Pogonatus 668-685 CE
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Faced by a siege by caliph Muawija I, of Constantinople, he was the first to use the famous "greek fire:. Though it took four years, the Arabs were forced to retreat, which prevented the Muslim tide from sweeping over a infant Europe, a moment of great historical significance. Constantine deposed his two brothers, Heraclius and Tiberius, and ruled alone until his death in 685. He was succeeded by his 16 yr old son Justinian.
5 files, last one added on Nov 30, 2016
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Last additions - wileyc's Gallery |

Richard(The Lionhearted) in fresh possession0 viewswileycJan 17, 2021
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BohemondIII.m70a2 viewswileycJan 17, 2021
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French provincial, County of Blois4 viewswileycDec 20, 2020
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France:Feudal Clermont 11th cent 4 viewswileycDec 20, 2020
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Amaury 1163-1174 Billion denier6 viewswileycMay 07, 2020
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Bohemond III Majority 1163-12013 viewswileycMay 03, 2020
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Bohemond III 1149-1163.15 viewswileycMay 01, 2020
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Bohemond III 1149-1163.5 viewswileycApr 29, 2020
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AE follis Constantine X SBVC 1854 18 viewswileycDec 19, 2018
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AE half follis Justinian I SBVC 22621 viewswileycDec 16, 2018
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Class A2, sb1813 attributed to joint reign of Basil II and Constantine VIII, 976-1025 CE22 viewswileycDec 16, 2018
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SBVC 1053; Constans II; AE follis29 viewswileycDec 10, 2018
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Random files - wileyc's Gallery |

AE follis Maurice Tiberius SB 511a13 viewswileyc
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AE Pentanummium Tiberius II Constantine, SB 43839 viewswileyc
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Billion trachy lg module, clipped type P SB 203634 viewswileyc
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