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504. Constantius II Campgate NicomediaNicomedia
Titular see of Bithynia Prima, founded by King Zipoetes. About 264 B.C. his son Nicodemes I dedicated the city anew, gave it his name, made it his capital, and adorned it with magnificent monuments. At his court the vanquished Hannibal sought refuge. When Bithynia became a Roman province Nicomedia remained its capital. Pliny the Younger mentions, in his letters to Trajan, several public edifices of the city — a senate house, an aqueduct which he had built, a forum, the temple of Cybele, etc. He also proposed to join the Black Sea with the Sea of Marmora by a canal which should follow the river Sangarius and empty the waters of the Lake of Sabandja into the Gulf of Astacus. A fire then almost destroyed the town. From Nicomedia perhaps, he wrote to Trajan his famous letter concerning the Christians. Under Marcus Aurelius, Dionysius, Bishop of Corinth, addressed a letter to his community warning them against the Marcionites (Eusebius, "Hist. Eccl.", IV, xxiii). Bishop Evander, who opposed the sect of the Ophites (P.L., LIII, 592), seems to have lived at the same time. Nicomedia was the favorite residence of Diocletian, who built there a palace, a hippodrome, a mint, and an arsenal. In 303 the edict of the tenth persecution caused rivers of blood to flow through the empire, especially in Nicomedia, where the Bishop Anthimus and a great many Christians were martyred. The city was then half Christian, the palace itself being filled with them. In 303, in the vast plain east of Nicomedia, Diocletian renounced the empire in favour of Galerius. In 311 Lucian, a priest of Antioch, delivered a discourse in the presence of the judge before he was executed. Other martyrs of the city are numbered by hundreds. Nicomedia suffered greatly during the fourth century from an invasion of the Goths and from an earthquake (24 Aug., 354), which overthrew all the public and private monuments; fire completed the catastrophe. The city was rebuilt, on a smaller scale. In the reign of Justinian new public buildings were erected, which were destroyed in the following century by the Shah Chosroes. Pope Constantine I visited the city in 711. In 1073 John Comnenus was there proclaimed emperor and shortly afterwards was compelled to abdicate. In 1328 it was captured by the Sultan Orkhan, who restored its ramparts, parts of which are still preserved.
RIC VII Nicomedia 158 R2
ecoli
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AIOLIS, TEMNUSca. 2nd Century BC
AE 16 X 18 mm 4.48 g
O: Head of Dionysius right
R: Athena Nikephoros standing facing, head left, holding grape bunch, spear, and shield set on ground
BMC 10
laney
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CALABRIA, Taras. 450-440 BC. AR Nomos7.71g
Taras seated left on dolphin, both arms extended, cockle shell below, Greek ΔEM scratched in field in ancient times // Dionysius male figure, naked to waist, seated, holding distaff & scepter, large die-break noticeable at the bottom of the distaff, Fine.Leo
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GALLIENVS AVG / LIBERO P CONS AVG panther antoninianus (close to 267-268 A.D.) "Zoo" series Obv.: GALLIENVS AVG, radiate bare bust right, one ribbon behind, one forward across shoulder
Rev.: LIBERO P CON[S AVG], panther, walking left. B (or A?) in exergue.
Oval 20-22mm, 2.48g, die axis 12 (medal alignment), material: bronze/copper-based alloy supposedly with some silver.
Authority and portrait: Gallienus (joint reign 253-, sole reign 260-268). Mint: Rome or Siscia.
AVG = Augustus; LIBERO P[atri] CONS[ervatori] AVG[usti]= to Liber Pater the Protector of the Augustus. Liber Pater (the Free Father) in later Roman times is the same as Dionysus / Bacchus.
"Zoo" coins: a significant fraction of Gallienus radiates was issued very near the end of his reign to honor nine Roman deities, asking for their protection. Their reverses depict various animals and thus are known as "zoo" coins. Goat is the chosen animal of Jupiter. B designates officina 2, mostly minting Liber Pater coins of this type.
It corresponds to one of the two types: RIC V-1 Rome 230 (RSC 586; Sear 10281 etc.) or RIC V-1 Siscia 574 (Cohen 592 etc.). The distinctions of these two types / mints are not clear to me at this time. Also many varieties exists – emperor's bust bare/draped/cuirassed, panther walking left or right, striped tigress instead of panther, shape of the panther's head is different, perhaps designating a different large cat, a lot of variation in size, weight and die axis, and so on. There is also a distinct variation of reverse legend with dots: LIBERO ∙ P ∙ CONS AVG.
Note that as often with Rome mint some letters are made of separate lines and thus sometimes V = II and N = ΛI or III etc. Siscia types seems to exhibit the same peculiarity sometimes.
The most common officina in both Rome and Siscia is B. Catalogues mention also A and absence of designated officina at Sisica. But it is clear that sometimes B can be so distorted that may look like A, as seems to be the case here.Yurii P
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IONIA, Phokaia.The ancient Greek geographer Pausanias says that Phocaea was founded by Phocians under Athenian leadership, on land given to them by the Aeolian Cymaeans, and that they were admitted into the Ionian League after accepting as kings the line of Codrus. Pottery remains indicate Aeolian presence as late as the 9th century BC, and Ionian presence as early as the end of the 9th century BC. From this an approximate date of settlement for Phocaea can be inferred.
According to Herodotus the Phocaeans were the first Greeks to make long sea-voyages, having discovered the coasts of the Adriatic, Tyrrhenia and Spain. Herodotus relates that they so impressed Arganthonios, king of Tartessus in Spain, that he invited them to settle there, and, when they declined, gave them a great sum of money to build a wall around their city.
Their sea travel was extensive. To the south they probably conducted trade with the Greek colony of Naucratis in Egypt, which was the colony of their fellow Ionian city Miletus. To the north, they probably helped settle Amisos (Samsun) on the Black Sea, and Lampsacus at the north end of the Hellespont (now the Dardanelles). However Phocaea's major colonies were to the west. These included Alalia in Corsica, Emporiae and Rhoda in Spain, and especially Massalia (Marseille) in France.
Phocaea remained independent until the reign of the Lydian king Croesus (circa 560–545 BC), when they, along with the rest of mainland Ionia, first, fell under Lydian control[8] and then, along with Lydia (who had allied itself with Sparta) were conquered by Cyrus the Great of Persia in 546 BC, in one of the opening skirmishes of the great Greco-Persian conflict.
Rather than submit to Persian rule, the Phocaeans abandoned their city. Some may have fled to Chios, others to their colonies on Corsica and elsewhere in the Mediterranean, with some eventually returning to Phocaea. Many however became the founders of Elea, around 540 BC.
In 500 BC, Phocaea joined the Ionian Revolt against Persia. Indicative of its naval prowess, Dionysius, a Phocaean was chosen to command the Ionian fleet at the decisive Battle of Lade, in 494 BC. However, indicative of its declining fortunes, Phocaea was only able to contribute three ships, out of a total of "three hundred and fifty three". The Ionian fleet was defeated and the revolt ended shortly thereafter.
After the defeat of Xerxes I by the Greeks in 480 BC and the subsequent rise of Athenian power, Phocaea joined the Delian League, paying tribute to Athens of two talents. In 412 BC, during the Peloponnesian War, with the help of Sparta, Phocaea rebelled along with the rest of Ionia. The Peace of Antalcidas, which ended the Corinthian War, returned nominal control to Persia in 387 BC.
In 343 BC, the Phocaeans unsuccessfully laid siege to Kydonia on the island of Crete.
During the Hellenistic period it fell under Seleucid, then Attalid rule. In the Roman period, the town was a manufacturing center for ceramic vessels, including the late Roman Phocaean red slip.
It was later under the control of Benedetto Zaccaria, the Genoan ambassador to Byzantium, who received the town as a hereditary lordship; Zaccaria and his descendants amassed a considerable fortune from his properties there, especially the rich alum mines. It remained a Genoese colony until it was taken by the Turks in 1455. It is a titular see of the Roman Catholic Church.
IONIA, Phokaia. Circa 521-478 BC. AR Hemidrachm (9mm, 1.54 g). Head of griffin left / Quadripartite incuse square. SNG Copenhagen –; SNG von Aulock 2116; SNG Kayhan 512-6. VF, dark toning. ecoli
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Italy, Rome, Temple of Vesta in the Forum Romanum.Temple of Vesta in the Forum Romanum in Rome. See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Temple_of_Vesta. All temples to Vesta were round, and had entrances facing east to symbolize connection between Vesta’s fire and the sun as sources of life. The Temple of Vesta represents the site of ancient cult activity as far back as 7th century BCE. Numa Pompilius is believed to have built this temple along with the original Regia and House of the Vestal Virgins in its original form. Around the Temple stood The Sacred Grove, in which also there was a graveyard for the priests and virgins. It was one of the earliest structures located in the Roman Forum although its present reincarnation is the result of subsequent rebuilding. Instead of a cult statue in the cella there was a hearth which held the sacred flame. The temple was the storehouse for the legal wills and documents of Roman Senators and cult objects such as the Palladium. The Palladium was a statue of Athena (Roman Minerva) believed to have been brought by Aeneas from Troy; the statue was felt to be one of the Pignora Imperii, or pledges of imperium, of Ancient Rome. According to Dionysius of Halicarnassus, the Romans believed that the Sacred fire of Vesta was closely tied to the fortunes of the city and viewed its extinction as a portent of disaster. The sacred flame was put out in 394 by Theodosius I after he won the Battle of the Frigidus, defeating Eugenius and Arbogast. The Temple of Vesta remained reasonably intact until the Renaissance. However, in 1549 the building was completely demolished and its marble reused in churches and papal palaces. The section standing today was reconstructed in the 1930s during the dictatorship of Benito Mussolini.
By Wknight94, 26 April 2008. Source: Joe Sermarini
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Italy, Sicily, Syracuse - Ear of Dionysiuscave in stone quarries, also used as prisons in ancient timesJ. B.
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Italy, Sicily, View of Solanto from the ruins of Soluntum (aka Solus, Solous, and Kefra)View of Solanto from the ruins of Soluntum (aka Solus, Solous, and Kefra), Sicily
Solus (or Soluntum, near modern Solanto) was an ancient city on the north coast of Sicily, one of the three chief Phoenician settlements on the island, about 16 kilometers (10 miles) east of Panormus (modern Palermo). It lay 183 meters (600 ft) above sea level, on the southeast side of Monte Catalfano 373 meters (1,225 ft), in a naturally strong situation, and commanding a fine view. The date of its founding is unknown. Solus was one of the few colonies that the Phoenicians retained when they withdrew to the northwest corner of the island before the advance of the Greek colonies in Sicily. Together with Panormus and Motya, it allied with the Carthaginians. In 396 B.C. Dionysius took the city but it probably soon broke away again to Carthage and was usually part of their dominions on the island. In 307 B.C. it was given to the soldiers and mercenaries of Agathocles, who had made peace with the Carthage when abandoned by their leader in Africa. During the First Punic War it was still subject to Carthage, and it was not until after the fall of Panormus that Soluntum also opened its gates to the Romans. It continued to under Roman dominion as a municipal town, but apparently one of no great importance, as its name is only slightly and occasionally mentioned by Cicero. But it is still noticed both by Pliny and Ptolemy, as well as at a later period by the Itineraries. Its destruction probably dates from the time of the Saracens.
Excavations have brought to light considerable remains of the ancient town, belonging entirely to the Roman period, and a good deal still remains unexplored. The traces of two ancient roads, paved with large blocks of stone, which led up to the city, may still be followed, and the whole summit of Monte Catalfano is covered with fragments of ancient walls and foundations of buildings. Among these may be traced the remains of two temples, of which some capitals and portions of friezes, have been discovered. An archaic oriental Artemis sitting between a lion and a panther, found here, is in the museum at Palermo, with other antiquities from this site. An inscription, erected by the citizens in honor of Fulvia Plautilla, the wife of Caracalla, was found there in 1857. With the exception of the winding road by which the town was approached on the south, the streets, despite the unevenness of the ground, which in places is so steep that steps have to be introduced, are laid out regularly, running from east to west and from north to south, and intersecting at right angles. They are as a rule paved with slabs of stone. The houses were constructed of rough walling, which was afterwards plastered over; the natural rock is often used for the lower part of the walls. One of the largest of them, with a peristyle, was in 1911, though wrongly, called the gymnasium. Near the top of the town are some cisterns cut in the rock, and at the summit is a larger house than usual, with mosaic pavements and paintings on its walls. Several sepulchres also have been found.
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soluntum
Photo by Allie Caulfield from Germany.Joe Sermarini
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Mysia, LampsakosAE 8.5 mm 1.09 g
O: Head facing right
R: Ethnic within beaded wreath
For the handful of coins of this type, the obverse has been identified as either Dionysius or Priapus. Dates given range from 400-300 BC, to 190-85 BC. The reference that is given in one case is SNG France 5, Mysie, 1254-56. The other examples of the coin do not provide any reference.
laney
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Roman Provincial: Gordian III, AE30, Magistrate Marcus Aurelius Dionysius. Added onto the Wildwinds site in March 2015. Ivan Varbanov personally looked at the coin and rated it as very very rare, R8+ on the Varbanov scale. Added to RPC in November 2022.Thrace, Byzantium, 238-244 A.D. 15.68g - 30mm.
Obv: M ANT ΓOPΔIANOC AVГ - Laureate, draped and cuirassed bust right.
Rev: ЄΠ M AP ΔIONVIOV O B K П AΛЄNΔPAC around, B/VZ/AN-TI/Ω/N, Nike advancing left, holding wreath and palm.
Ref: Varbanov GIC II 1967 (var) unpublished variant with different obverse legend; Schönert-Geiss 1804.
Rated very rare R8+ on the Varbanov scale.
Provenance: Added onto the Wildwinds site in March 2015. Chris Scarlioli Collection. Added to RPC in November 2022.Christian Scarlioli
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Roman Provincial: Nero, AE19, Julius Dionysius, legate consularis.Phrygia, Sebaste 55 A.D. 5.26g - 19.2mm, Axis 12h.
Obv: ΣEBA-ΣTOΣ - Draped bust right.
Rev: CΕΒΑCΤΗΝΩΝ ΙΟΥΛΙΟC ΔΙΟΝΥCΙΟC - Zeus seated left, holding eagle and sceptre.
Ref: RPC I 3155; SNG München 451-2.
Provenance: Chris Scarlioli Collection.Christian Scarlioli
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Sicilia - Siracusa, Dionisio I (405-367 a.C.), Bronzo nd, Testa di Aretusa a sinistra, Rov: Ruota 4 raggi Sira e due delfini AE (13 x 20 mm - 3.50g.), SNG ANS 411, Qualità: patina verde chiara, BB. -------------------------------------------- Sicily - Syracuse, Dionysius I (405-367 BC), Bronze nd, Head of Arethusa left, Rov: 4 Wheel rays Sira and two dolphins AE (13 x 20 mm - 3.50g.) SNG ANS 411, _5009 soldAntonivs Protti
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SICILY, SYRACUSEca 409 BC
Time of Dionysius I (The Tyrant)
AE HEMILITRON 20 mm 7.07 g
O: Head of Athena, left, STRA before
R: Hippocamp, left
Syracuse
Calciata-34
(ex HJBerk)
laney
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Sicily, Dionysius I, AE Litra. Scarce.Syracuse 404-367 B.C. 7.30g - 20.9mm, Axis 12h.
Obv: ΣΥΡΑ - Head of Athena left, wearing a Corinthian helmet, with two dolphins and ΣΥΡΑ around.
Rev: Hippocamp left, with curled wing.
SNG ANS 434; Sear 1193.Christian Scarlioli
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SICILY, SYRACUSEca 409 BC
Time of Dionysius I (The Tyrant)
AE HEMILITRON 19 mm 7.71 g
O: Head of Athena, left
R: Hippocamp, left
Syracuse
Calciata-34laney
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SICILY, SYRACUSEca 409 BC
Time of Dionysius I (The Tyrant)
AE HEMILITRON 20 mm 7.07 g
O: Head of Athena, left, STRA before
R: Hippocamp, left
Syracuse
Calciata-34
(ex HJBerk)
laney
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Sicily, Syracuse. Dionysius I (Circa 400-390 BC) Æ22 (7.48g)
Obverse: Head of Athena left, wearing Corinthian helmet.
Reverse: Hippocamp to left
Calciati 34. SNG ANS 434.
Dionysius began his working life as a clerk in a public office. Because of his achievements in the war against Carthage that began in 409 BC, he was elected supreme military commander in 406 BC. In the following year he seized total power and became tyrant.
Dionysius, who styled himself a poet, was fond of having literary men about him, such as the historian Philistus, the poet Philoxenus, and the philosopher Plato. Diodorus Siculus humorously relates in his Bibliotheca historica that Dionysius once had Philoxenus arrested and sent to the quarries for voicing a bad opinion about his poetry. The next day, he released Philoxenus because of his friends' requests, and brought the poet before him for another poetry reading. Dionysius read his own work and the audience applauded. When he asked Philoxenus how he liked it, the poet turned to the guards and said "take me back to the quarries."Nathan P
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Syracuse, Reign of Dionysius I405-367 BC
AE Litra (19mm, 8.63g)
O: Head of Athena left, wearing Corinthian helmet.
R: Hippocamp left, with curled wing.
Calciati 83,35; SNG ANS 435-46; Sear 1193vEnodia
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Syracuse, Reign of Dionysius I 405-367 BC
AE Hemilitron (18mm, 4.12g)
O: Head of Arethusa left, hair in sphendone and wearing earring and necklace; dolphin behind.
R: Wheel of four spokes; ΣΥ-ΡΑ in upper quadrants, two dolphins in lower quadrants.
HGC 2, 1479; Calciati 20; SNG ANS 404-10; Sear 1186
ex Jack H. Beymer
“The Island of Ortygia... has the fountain of Arethusa, which sends forth a river that empties immediately into the sea. People tell the mythical story that the river Arethusa is the Alpheus, which latter, they say, rises in the Peloponnesus, flows underground through the sea as far as Arethusa, and then empties thence once more into the sea.”
~ StraboEnodia
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Syracuse, Reign of Dionysius I 405-367 BC
AE Hemilitron (17.2mm, 5.95g)
O: Head of Athena left, wearing Corinthian helmet; ΣΥΡΑ before.
R: Hippocamp with curled wing left, bridle trailing.
HGC 2, 1456; SNG ANS 426-33
From the H. Wallace collection; ex ECIN
Enodia
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Syracuse, Reign of Dionysius I405-367 BC
AE Hemilitron (18mm, 3.05g)
O: Head of Arethusa (Artemis?) left, wearing ampyx and sphendone; laurel branch behind
R: Dolphin jumping right over scallop shell; ΣYPA between.
HGC 2, 1480; SNG ANS 417; Sear 1187
ex Forvm Auctions
Enodia
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Syracuse, Reign of Dionysius I 405-367 BC (struck circa 380 BC)
Æ Drachm (32mm, 30.12g)
O: Head of Athena left, wearing Corinthian helmet decorated with olive wreath; ΣYPA before.
R: Sea-star between two dolphins.
CNS II, 62-9; HGC 2, 1436; SNG ANS 455-469; Sear 1189 (Timoleon)
ex Saint Paul Antiques
Enodia
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Syracuse, Sicily, Dionysos I, 405 - 367 B.C.Bronze litra, Calciati vol. II, p. 89, 45, gF, 8.415g, 20.3mm, 0o, Syracuse mint, 405 - 367 B.C.; obverse SURA, head of Athena left wearing olive wreathed Corinthian helmet; reverse hippocamp left with bridles
"Dionysius I was tyrant of Syracuse. He conquered several cities in Sicily and southern Italy, opposed Carthage's influence in Sicily and made Syracuse the most powerful of the Western Greek colonies. He was regarded by the ancients as an example of the worst kind of despot - cruel, suspicious and vindictive."Randygeki(h2)
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Taras, Calabria385-380 BC (Period III - The Age of Archytas)
AR Didrachm (20mm, 7.37g, 11h)
O: Naked youth crowning horse standing right; kerykeion before, Λ below, all within linear border.
R: Taras seated sideways on dolphin left, resting his left hand on its tail; H (signature) on body of dolphin, P below, TAPAΣ to left, all within linear border.
D'Andrea XXII, 354; Vlasto 352; Evans III, A2; Cote 121v; Fischer-Bossert 442d; Sear 341v
Rare
From the Frank James Collection. ex Forvm Ancient Coins; ex Roma Numismatics
A noted general, inventor, mathematician and philosopher, Archytas was a Pythagorean and friend of Plato, and likely responsible for saving the latter from death at the hands of Dionysius II of Syracuse.
While not one of the more exciting designs from the Taras mint, this coin, signed by ’H', or 'HP’, is still nicely rendered and actually quite rare. Fischer-Bossert sites only 7 known examples. I do not know if this specimen is one of those.Enodia
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The Olympians (not the modern athletes)These are the gods and goddesses found feasting in Mount Olympus. There were supposed to be Twelve of them (not counting Herakles). Guess who were late for dinner?
Present are (from left to right, top to bottom):
Apollo, Ares, Demeter
Athena, Zeus, Aphrodite (with Eros*)
Artemis, Herakles**, Dionysius
*Eros is obviously a gate-crasher!
**Herakles is not part of the 12 Olympians but invited at the banquet after his famous 12 Labors and by virtue that he is a son of Zeus
(Please click picture for better resolution)Jason T
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Unger Sz. 2, Rengjeo 69, Mimica 12Hungarian Slavonia. Béla IV (1235-1270), Duke Coloman (Kálmán, in Hun.) (1235-1241) and Ban Dionysius (1242-1249). AR denar, .16 mm.
Obv. + MONETA REGIS P SCLAVONI.A, Marten running left, star above and below.
Rev. Patriarchal cross, facing crowned heads below, star and crescent above, annulets (privy mark) to sides.
Struck with an average fineness of approximately .900 silver and an average weight of .972 g.
Mimica rarity rating R2
Stkp
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[1611a] Justinian I, 4 April 527 - 14 November 565 A.D.Bronze follis, S 201, choice VF, 22.147g, 43.8mm, 180o, 2nd officina, Nikomedia mint, 541 - 542 A.D.; Obverse: D N IVSTINIANVS PP AVG, helmeted and cuirassed bust facing, globus cruciger in right, shield decorated with a horseman brandishing a spear, cross right; Reverse: large M, cross above, ANNO left, Xu (= year 15) right, B below, NIKO in ex; full circle strike on a huge flan. Ex FORVM.
De Imperatoribus Romanis
An Online Encyclopedia of Roman Emperors
Justinian (527-565 A.D.).
James Allan Evans
University of British Columbia
Introduction
The reign of Justinian was a turning-point in Late Antiquity. It is the period when paganism finally lost its long struggle to survive, and when the schism in Christianity between the Monophysite east and the Chalcedonian west became insurmountable. From a military viewpoint, it marked the last time that the Roman Empire could go on the offensive with hope of success. Africa and Italy were recovered, and a foothold was established in Spain. When Justinian died, the frontiers were still intact although the Balkans had been devastated by a series of raids and the Italian economy was in ruins. His extensive building program has left us the most celebrated example of Byzantine ecclesiastical architecture that still survives: Hagia Sophia in modern Istanbul. His reign was a period when classical culture was in sharp decline and yet it had a last flowering, with historians such as Procopius and Agathias working within the tradition inherited from Herodotus and Thucydides, and poets such as Paul the Silentiary who wrote some of the most sensuous poems that the classical tradition has ever produced. The Codex Justinianus, the Institutes and the Digest of Roman jurisprudence, all commissioned by Justinian, are monuments to the past achievements of Roman legal heritage. Justinian's reign sums up the past. It also provides a matrix for the future. In particular, there was the bubonic plague, which appeared in Constantinople in 542, for the first time in Europe, and then travelled round the empire in search of victims, returning to the capital for a new crop in 558. The plague ended a period of economic growth and initiated one of overstrained resources.
The 'Nika' Revolt
The 'Nika' Revolt which broke out in January, 532, in Constantinople, was an outburst of street violence which went far beyond the norms even in a society where a great deal of street violence was accepted. Every city worth notice had its chariot-racing factions which took their names from their racing colors: Reds, Whites, Blues and Greens. These were professional organizations initially responsible for fielding chariot-racing teams in the hippodromes, though by Justinian's time they were in charge of other shows as well. The Blues and the Greens were dominant, but the Reds and Whites attracted some supporters: the emperor Anastasius was a fan of the Reds. The aficionados of the factions were assigned their own blocs of seats in the Hippodrome in Constantinople, opposite the imperial loge, and the Blue and Green "demes" provided an outlet for the energies of the city's young males. G. M. Manojlovic in an influential article originally published in Serbo-Croat in 1904, argued that the "demes" were organized divisions of a city militia, and thus played an important role in the imperial defense structure. His thesis is now generally disregarded and the dominant view is that of Alan Cameron, that demos, whether used in the singular or plural, means simply "people" and the rioting of the "demes", the "fury of the Hippodrome", as Edward Gibbon called it, was hooliganism, which was also Gibbon's view. Efforts to make the Greens into supporters of Monophysitism and the Blues of Orthodoxy founder on lack of evidence. However, in support of Manojlovic's thesis, it must be said that, although we cannot show that the Blue and Green "demes" were an organized city militia, we hear of "Young Greens" both in Constantinople and Alexandria who bore arms, and in 540, when Antioch fell to the Persians, Blue and Green street-fighters continued to defend the city after the regular troops had fled.
Justinian and Theodora were known Blue supporters, and when street violence escalated under Justin I, Procopius claims that they encouraged it. But since Justinian became emperor he had taken a firmer, more even-handed stand. On Saturday, January 10, 532, the city prefect Eudaemon who had arrested some hooligans and found seven guilty of murder, had them hanged outside the city at Sycae, across the Golden Horn, but the scaffold broke and saved two of them from death, a Blue and a Green. Some monks from St. Conon's monastery nearby took the two men to sanctuary at the church of St Lawrence where the prefect set troops to watch. The following Tuesday while the two malefactors were still trapped in the church, the Blues and Greens begged Justinian to show mercy. He ignored the plea and made no reply. The Blues and Green continued their appeals until the twenty-second race (out of twenty-four) when they suddenly united and raised the watchword 'Nika'. Riots started and the court took refuge in the palace. That evening the mob burned the city prefect's praetorium.
Justinian tried to continue the games next day but only provoked more riot and arson. The rioting and destruction continued throughout the week; even the arrival of loyal troops from Thrace failed to restore order. On Sunday before sunrise, Justinian appeared in the Hippodrome where he repented publicly and promised an amnesty. The mob turned hostile, and Justinian retreated. The evening before Justinian had dismissed two nephews of the old emperor Anastasius, Hypatius and Pompey, against their will, from the palace and sent them home, and now the mob found Hypatius and proclaimed him emperor in the Hippodrome. Justinian was now ready to flee, and perhaps would have done so except for Theodora, who did not frighten easily. Instead Justinian decided to strike ruthlessly. Belisarius and Mundo made their separate ways into the Hippodrome where they fell on Hypatius' supporters who were crowded there, and the 'Nika' riot ended with a bloodbath.
A recent study of the riot by Geoffrey Greatrex has made the point that what was unique about it was not the actions of the mob so much as Justinian's attempts to deal with it. His first reaction was to placate: when the mob demanded that three of his ministers must go, the praetorian prefect of the East, John the Cappadocian, the Quaestor of the Sacred Palace Tribonian and the urban prefect Eudaemon, Justinian replaced them immediately. He hesitated when he should have been firm and aggravated the situation. It may well have been Theodora who emboldened him for the final act of repression. Procopius imagines Theodora on the last day engaging in formal debate about what should be done, and misquoting a famous maxim that was once offered the tyrant of Syracuse, Dionysius the Elder "Tyranny is a good shroud." Theodora emends it to "Kingship is a good shroud" and readers of Procopius may have thought wryly that the emendation was unnecessary. The formal debate, and Theodora's great scene, was probably a creation of Procopius' imagination, but a splendid one.
The 'Nika' revolt left Justinian firmly in charge. The mob was cowed and the senatorial opposition that surfaced during the revolt was forced underground. The damage to Constantinople was great, but it cleared the way for Justinian's own building program. Work in his new church of Hagia Sophia to replace the old Hagia Sophia that was destroyed in the rioting, started only forty-five days after the revolt was crushed. The two leaders of the Hippodrome massacre, Mundo and Belisarius, went on to new appointments: Mundo back to Illyricum as magister militum and Belisarius to make his reputation as the conqueror of the Vandals in Africa. The 530s were a decade of confidence and the 'Nika' riot was only a momentary crisis.
(for a detailed account of the reign of Justinian I, see: http://www.roman-emperors.org/justinia.htm)
Last Years
Misfortune crowded into the final years of Justinian's reign. There was another Samaritan revolt in midsummer, 556. Next year, in December, a great earthquake shook Constantinople and in May of the following year, the dome of Justinian's new Hagia Sophia collapsed, and had to be rebuilt with a new design. About the same time, the plague returned to the capital. Then in early 559 a horde of Kutrigur 'Huns' (proto-Bulgars) crossed the frozen Danube and advanced into the Balkans. It split into three columns: one pushed into Greece but got no further than Thermopylae, another advanced into the Gallipoli peninsula but got no further than the Long Wall, which was defended by a young officer from Justinian's native city, while the third, most dangerous spearhead led by the 'Hun' khan, Zabergan himself, made for Constantinople. Faced with this attack and without any forces for defense, Justinian called Belisarius out of retirement, and Belisarius, using a scratch force, the core of which was 300 of his veterans, ambushed the Kutrigur horde and routed it. Once the immediate danger was over, however, Justinian recalled Belisarius and took charge himself. The news that Justinian was reinforcing his Danube fleet made the Kutrigurs anxious and they agreed to a treaty which gave them a subsidy and safe passage back across the river. But as soon as they were north of the Danube, they were attacked by their rivals the Utigurs who were incited by Justinian to relieve them of their booty. The Kutrigurs raided Thrace again in 562, but they and the Utigurs were soon to fall prey to the Avars who swept out of the Asian steppes in the early 560s.
There was discontent in the capital. Street violence was on the increase again. There were bread shortages and water shortages. In late 562, there was a conspiracy which almost succeeded in killing the emperor. The chief conspirator was Marcellus, an argyroprates, a goldsmith and banker, and the conspiracy probably reflected the dissatisfaction of the business community. But Justinian was too old to learn to be frugal. He resorted to forced loans and requisitions and his successor found the treasury deeply in debt.
What remained of the great emperor's achievement? His successor Justin II, out of a combination of necessity and foolhardiness, denied the 'barbarians' the subsidies which had played a major role in Justinian's defense of the frontiers, and, to be fair, which had also been provided by emperors before him. Subsidies had been part of Anastasius' policy as well, but that was before the plague, while the imperial economy was still expanding. The result of Justin II's change of policy was renewed hostility with Persia and a shift of power in the Balkans. In 567 the Avars and Lombards joined forces against the Gepids and destroyed them. But the Lombards distrusted their allies and next year they migrated into Italy where Narses had just been removed from command and recalled, though he disobeyed orders and stayed in Rome until his death. By the end of the century only a third of Italy was in Byzantine hands. On the eastern frontier, Justin alienated the Ghassanid allies and lost the fortress of Daras, a reverse which overwhelmed his frangible sanity. For this Justinian can hardly be blamed. No one can deny his greatness; a recent study by Asterios Gerostergios even lionizes him. But if we look at his reign with the unforgiving eye of hindsight, it appears to be a brilliant effort to stem the tide of history, and in the end, it was more a failure than a moderate success.
Copyright (C) 1998, James Allan Evans. Published: De Imperatoribus Romanis: An Online Encyclopedia of Roman Rulers and their Families http://www.roman-emperors.org/startup.htm. Used by permission.
The Church we know today as Hagia Sophia - or Divine Wisdom, its true name - was dedicated by the Emperor Justinian in 537AD. Through many visitudes Justinian's cathedral church of Constantinople still stands, its soring vaults and amazing dome testiments to the human spirit, the engineering talents of its builders and Divine inspiration. In the same fashion that Vespasian's Collesium (the Flavian Amphitheatre) is symbolic of Rome, Justinian's Hagia Sophia is a symbol of Byzantium.
Edited by J. P. Fitzgerald, Jr.Cleisthenes
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