Numismatic and History Discussion Forums > Byzantine Coins Discussion Forum
An Attribution Puzzle: Solidus from Syracuse
Obryzum:
[Reviving an old thread]
The coin is a solidus, 14mm and about 3.6g. But which emperor?
The only solidus I am aware of with both the obverse and reverse emperors wearing a chamlys is the very rare solidus of Constantine V published by Ohara, but that was a much larger diameter coin (21-22mm if I remember correctly). And the style of that coin was also different -- though the big noses and squinty eyes seemed to start under Constantine V.
The diameter and fabric here are consistent with a solidus of Michael II, but the iconography and small lettering style seems incompatible with Michael II. As Wroth noted in BMC, the heads started to become contorted during Leo V, and are a lot more contorted by Michael II's time. That was his reason to assign some AV with Michael's name to Michael I.
Could this be Michael I? That seems the most probable to me. Although the entire legend is missing on one side, the the legend on the other side seems to read :Greek_Theta_2: :Greek_epsilon: :Greek_Omicron: :Greek_Phi: :V2: :Greek_Lambda: :A3: or possibly :Greek_Theta_2: :Greek_epsilon: :Greek_Digamma: :Greek_Omicron: :V2: :Greek_Lambda: :A3: Or some variation of that. However, the difficulty is that Theophylact is bearded, but the senior emperor Michael I is not. Perhaps a mistake? Regarding the diameter and fabric, I am aware of a Michael I solidus with a diameter as low as 17mm. The problem is that the coins are so rare, few specimens are available for comparision purposes. The few that are available also have small letting like this.
Style seems compatible with Nicephorus or earlier, but I cannot reconcile the legend to any earlier emperor. The legend does not seem to fit with any variation for Leo, Constantine, Nicephorus, Stauracius . . . unless I am misisng something.
The style is also completely incompatible with Theophilus. Lettering too. And there is a very apparent :A3: at the end of the legend, which weights in favor of Theophylact rather than Theophilus. But then again, a bearded emperor.
Comments welcome!
Joe Sermarini:
Could it be cast?
Obryzum:
Good question, Joe. But that leads to the question: Cast from what? What would be the proper attribution from the original source coin? Or at least the half of the coin with an inscription.
Roma_Orbis:
A jewellery item (not a 'real' coin) ? I know of at least one ex for byzantine period.
Jérôme
Joe Sermarini:
I am thinking the same as Jerome.
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