4 files, last one added on Oct 06, 2011

4 files, last one added on Apr 15, 2012

Repeated use of recycled coins is a important part of establishing order of minting and establishing dates. Certainly with what is known as the Anonymous folles's from John I in 969 through Alexius I ending in 1118, overstrikes have been crucial to attempting to establish a pattern which is still subject to debate.

Following is a collection of overstrikes with identifiable under types.

4 files, last one added on Sep 11, 2015

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

A collections of odds and ends I have encountered over time. All of these have passed through my hands but many no longer remain.

23 files, last one added on May 01, 2017

After the death of the Emperor Zeno the widowed Empress Ariadne selected the court official Anastasius. Anastasius ruled for twenty-seven years, generally recognised as responsible for changes in the monetary system, and by accounts leaving the state treasury in much better condition than when he took office.

19 files, last one added on Dec 09, 2018

Justin I while in a career in the imperial army under Anastasius became commander of the excubitores in Constantinople. On the death of Anastasius he was chosen for succession. Most of his policy was developed by his nephew Justinian who suceed him on his death.

23 files, last one added on Oct 15, 2014

A few months before his death, Justin elevated his well educated, intelligent but somewhat thankless nephew Justinian to the rank of co-emperor.

2 files, last one added on Dec 09, 2018

Justinian having had influence in his uncle's Justin imperial policy started on his own reign in 527 and for the next 38 years ruled the Byzantine Empire along with his wife Theodura. Despite the contoversy of Theoduro being a actress, she became a recognized leader in her own right. Famous for the building of the church of St. Sophia which still stands, Justinian also recovered North Africa from the Vandals and regained a footing in Spain for the last time. He codified Roman law which influenced jurisprudence for generations following.

52 files, last one added on Dec 16, 2018

Came to power after his uncle Justinian I died, and proceeded to lose much of the empire that Justinian had regained during his reign. Sophia his srong minded wife is accounted by some for much of his misrule. He raised one of his generals, Tiberius to the rank of Augustus and co-emperor and shortly afterwards died.

62 files, last one added on Jan 12, 2016

Tiberius became sole emperor nine days after Justin II's death. He continued with some sucess the war against the Persians. Tiberius married his daughter to one his generals named Maurice Tiberius, the next emperor

5 files, last one added on Feb 06, 2012

Maurice Tiberius a general under Justin II and well known for his campaign against the Persions was a popular figure assuming power after Maurice Tiberius death. Soon however his neglect of state affairs and to the miltary caused his popularity to suffer. The army soon became disgruntled and he and his son Theodosis (his techincal co ruler) were overthrown and murdered. by Phocas.

45 files, last one added on Dec 10, 2016

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

After the nearly eight years of disastrous rule by Phocas, Heraclius , a former leading general under Maurice Tiberius and Exarch of Carthage took up arms against Phocas and his reign of terror. It however took two years before Heraclius son, of the same name finally was able to overtake Constantinople, depose Phocas and put him to death. Heraclius was 35, and unmarried, he shortly married an African girl name Fabia who died after they had a son and daughter. He ruled solely from 610-13 CE and then jointly with his infant son Heraclius Constantine. He remarried and had another son named Heraclonas who was named co-emperor in 638CE. Despite inheriting the disaster of his predecessor, Heraclius was able to crush the Persians and his campaigns in Persia are considered by some to be the most brilliant chapter in Byzantine history. Here ends what is considered the Justinianean period and begins the Heraclian period.

23 files, last one added on Apr 05, 2014

Constans II (son of Heraclius Constantine, first son of Heraclius) also known as Constantine III was elected emperor after a revolt overthrew his uncle Heracleonas who had been associate emperor and Augustus of Heraclius from 638. During his reign the Arabs continued their advance and Egypt was overcome the fall of 642. Constans elected his son Constantine co-emperor in 654. They conducted a campaign against the Slavs in the Balkans with some sucess, transporting large numbers of slavs to Asia Monor where they served in the army. He died in 668 after moving his imperial capital to Syracuse. He was murdered by a bath attendent (reportedly with a stone soap dish) and was suceeded by his son Constantine IV.

26 files, last one added on Dec 10, 2018

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

4 files, last one added on Jan 24, 2016

The first Roman emperor to fall in battle since Valens in 378. Prior his death he had reinstated a number of financial reforms which improved the empire. He had previously fought and pushed back the Bulgarians but when pursuing their leader Krum, he was ambushed and killed.

2 files, last one added on Jan 24, 2016