I have several
Byzantine bronze coins and became curious as to the location of the
Constantinople mint that made them, especially this one of Justinian (AD 527-565)
Justinian AE
FollisObverse: Diademed, draped, and
cuirassed bust right
D N IVSTINI-ANVS PP
AVGReverse: Large letter 'M',
star left,
cross top,
cross right, G under large 'M'
CON in
exergue (
Constantinople mint)
Struck: AD 527-538
Size: 30mm
Weight: 17.98gm
Catalog:
Sear 158
Philip Grierson's book
Catalogue of late Roman coins in the Dumbarton Oaks Collection(
Dumbarton Oaks, 1992) places the
Constantinople mint for bronze coins near the "Golden Gate".
In April 2012, I finally able to make a visit to Istanbul,
Turkey.
After a busy day wandering around Justinian's Hagia Sophia
church and the
Sultan Ahmed Blue Mosque,
I was back at my hotel whose lobby
had some books about
Turkey and Istanbul.
I happened to look at Richard Stoneman's book
Across the Hellespont: A Literary Guide to Turkey (Hutchinson, 1987)
which
had a map of
Constantinople showing the "Golden Gate" to be in a place
called the "Castle of the Seven Towers",
part of the 4th century walls around the city.
The walls were constructed during the reign of
Theodosius II.
The "Golden Gate" was a location for ceremonial entrances into the city and for holding imperial Triumphs.
The castle is now a Turkish museum named Yedikule (Turkish for "Seven Towers") Museum.
On Tuesday, April 24, 2012, I took the light rail to the Yedikule station,
and walked out Yedikule street to the Yedikule Castle museum.
The street to the museum:
I
had the castle to myself for an hour, probably because it is not mentioned in many guide books.
Later a tour bus with some teenagers showed up and they began climbing around on the walls.
A sign describing the castle complex:
The Golden Gate:
The museum entrance and the tour bus group:
Three of the towers, named the Treasure, Dungeon, and Cannon towers:
The trip sure made this coin even more interesting.
