| Image search results - "HOC" |
Großbritannien
25 New Pence 1981 (Kupfer-Nickel)
Hochzeit von Lady Di und Prinz Charles
Gewicht: 28,28g
Erhaltung: vorzüglich _199Antonivs Protti
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Phocas. 602-610. Æ Follis – 40 Nummi (32mm, 12.92 g, 6h). Thessalonica mint. Dated RY 5 (606/7). Crowned facing bust, wearing consular robes, holding mappa and cross / Large XXXX; ANNO above, Ч to right; TЄS. DOC 47; MIBE 91; SB 653. Good VF, dark brown-black patina, hint of earthen deposits, cleaning marks. Overstruck on a Nicomedia follis of Maurice Tiberius (SB 512). Quant.Geek
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Heraclius & Heraclius Constantine overstruck on Phocas & Leontia . 610-641 / 602-610. Æ follis (26.89 mm, 8.78 g, 6 h). Host coin, Theopolis (Antioch) mint, 602-610 / after 610. overstrike, Thessalonica mint. Overstrike: fragmentary, d N hЄRA[CLIЧS PP AVG] Host coin, also fragmentary, [O N FOCA] NЄ PЄ [AV] , Overstrike: Heraclius (on left, and Heraclius constantine, barely visible on right) standing facing, each holding globus cruciger, cross between their heads Host coin: Phocas on left and Leontia standing facing; Emperor holds globus cruciger, Empress holds cruciform scepter; cross between their heads / Overstrike, large M between A / N / N / O and date (not struck-up), cross above, B below, ΘЄC in exergue Host coin, large m between [A / N /] N / O and date (unclear) cross above, ThЄЧP' in exergue. Host coin, Cf. SBCV 671; Overstrike, Cf. SBCV 824. VF for type, dark green patina on devices, lighter encrustation on fields - overstrike at ~ 90º ccw.
multiply struck: host coin is Phocas & Leontia from Antioch, SBCV 671 or similar overstrike, at ~ 90º ccw, is Heraclius from Thessalonica Quant.Geek
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PHOCAS (602-610). Follis. Cyzicus. Dated RY 1 (602/3). Obv: Phocas, holding globus cruciger, and Leontia, holding cruciform sceptre, standing facing. Rev: Large M; cross above, A/N/N/O - I across field; KYZA. Sear 664. Condition: Good very fine. Weight: 13.74 g. Diameter: 30 mm.Quant.Geek
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Sicily, Syracuse, Agathocles (317-289 BC), Silver Tetradrachm, struck c.310-305 BC.
Obv/ Head of nymph Arethusa facing left, her hair wreathed with grain, wearing a triple-pendant earring and a pearl necklace, three dolphins swimming around, NK below neck.
Rev/ ΣYPAKOΣIΩN (in exergue); charioteer, wearing a long chiton and holding a kentron (goad) in his right hand and the reins on his left, driving a fast quadriga left, triskeles above, AI monogram in exergue off flan.paul1888
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LT abs, Gaul, MassaliaMassalia (Marseille, south of France)
Circa 385-310 BC ?
Silver obol, 0.67 g, 10 mm diameter, die axis 8h
O/ youthful head of Apollo, right, with a visible ear and sideburns
R/ wheel with four spokes, M and A in two quarters
Marseille was founded by the Phocean Greeks circa 600 BC. This obol has obviously more greek than celtic origins.
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(0350) VETRANIO350 AD
AE 21.5 mm 4.36 g
O: DN VETRANIO PF AVG
LAUR DR CUIR BUST R, "A" BEHIND BUST, STAR IN FRONT
R: HOC SIGNO VICTORERIS
EMPEROR STANDING L HOLDING CHI RHO STANDARD, CROWNED BY VICTORY STANDING BEHIND, "A" LEFT FIELD
SISCIAlaney
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(0602) PHOCAS602-610.
Struck 603-610, 5th officina
Æ Half Follis 25 mm, 5.63 g
O: Crowned facing bust, wearing consular robes, holding mappa and cross
R: Large XX; star above; CONЄ
Constantinople mint DOC 37e; SB 644.laney
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(0602) PHOCAS with Leontia 602-610 AD.
Æ Half Follis 21.5 mm, 4.52 g
Dated RY 1 (602/3 AD).
O: ON FOCA NEPE AV, Phocas holding globus cruciger, and Leontia holding cross sceptre, standing facing; cross above
R: Large X•X; cross above; mint monogram below.
Antioch mint; cf DOC II 91; MIB II 85; SB 673laney
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007. Phocas, 602-610. AE 40 Nummi.Obv. Bust of Phocas.
Rev. XXXX ANNO II, CONE below
Constantinople Mint, 607.LordBest
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0234 - AE Hexas Agathocles 317-289 BCObv/ Head of Artemis l., wearing earring and necklace, quiver behind shoulder; before, ΣΩTEIΡA
Rev/ Winged thunderbolt, AΓAΘOKΛEOΣ above, BAΣIΛEOΣ below.
AE, 22.0 mm, 9.12 g
Mint: Siracuse.
CNS II/142
ex-Solidus Numismatik, auction 38, lot 41dafnis
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0322 Constantius II - AE 2 (centionalis)struck under Vetranio
Siscia
19.1. - 25.12. 350 AD
Pearl-diademed draped ciurassed bust right
D N CONSTAN_TIVS P F AVG
A / *
Constantius standing left, holding labarum, being crowned by Victory
HOC SIG_NO VICTOR ERIS
A
·ESIS·
RIC VIII Siscia 286
3,50g 20,5mmJ. B.
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062. Constantius II, 337-361AD. AE Centenionalis.Constantius II. AE Centenionalis. Heraclea mint. 348-51CE.
Obv. Diademed, draped bust holding globe D N CONSTAN-TIVS P F AVG.
Rev. Emperor in military dress standing left, holding standard with chi-rho on banner and resting left hand on shield, in front of Emperor are two captives standing FEL TEMP REPARATIO Exe: SMHA.
RIC VIII, 69 Scarce, 5.61g.
A beautiful bust, which it is possibly to recreate with only a bed sheet and a single Terry's Chocolate Orange
LordBest
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0661 Focas, 602-610Æ half follis, 23.4mm, 5.18g, Fair
Struck 602-603 at Nicomedia
Phocas and Leontia standing facing, with Phocas holding globus cruciger and Leontia, nimbate, holding cruciform sceptre, a cross between their heads / XX, cross above and NIKO B in exg. Scarce early issue, dark brown patina. Polished.
Ex: Glenn W. Woods
Sear 661; MIB 71Lawrence W
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07-02 - Focas (23/11/602 - 05/10/610 D.C.) AE Follis 26 mm 8.1 gr.
Anv: "O.N. FOCA.NE.PE.AV." - Emperador a la izquierda y la Emperatriz Leontia a la derecha, de pié de frente, él porta "Sphaira/globus cruciger/Orbis" (Globo coronado por una cruz) y ella cetro coronado por cruz. Entre sus cabezas una cruz.
Rev: Gran " m ", "A/N/N/O" a izquierda, " + " arriba y "Signo/II=5/II" (Año reinal) a derecha. " THEUP' " en exergo.
Acuñada Año=7 - 608/9 D.C.
Ceca: Antiochia/Theoupolis (Antioquía cambia su nombre luego del gran terremoto del año 528 D.C.)
Referencias: Sear BCTV #671 Pag. 151 - Bellinger D.O. Vol.II #83/9 - B.M.C. #102/10 - Tolstoi M.B. #142/8 - Ratto M.B. #1269/75 - Morrisson C.M.b.B.N. #1-15 - Hahn M.I.B. #83a-bmdelvalle
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08. OTHO69 AD
AR Billon Tetradrachm
O: LAUREATE HEAD OF OTHO, RIGHT
R: EIRENE, VEILED
ALEXANDRIA MINT laney
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0805 Heraclius, 610-641Æ follis, 31mm, 11.56g, F
Struck 613-614 at Constantinople, officina Δ
DD NN HERACLIUS ET HERA CONST PP A, Heraclius, bearded at left, and Heraclius Constantine, at right, both standing facing wearing crown and chlamys and holding globus cruciger, cross between their heads / Large M between ANNO and numeric regnal year, cross above and officina below.
Overstrike: a follis of Phocas with a portion of the obverse legend still present at 10 o'clock on the obv.
Ex: Glenn W. Woods
Sear 805; MIB 159Lawrence W
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095a03. VetranioAE2. 24mm, 4.75 g. Siscia. Obv: D N VETRANIO P F AVG. Laureate, draped and cuirassed bust right; A to left, star to right. Rev: HOC SIGNO VICTOR ERIS / •Γ SIS•. Vetranio standing left, holding labarum and spear; to right, crowning Victory standing left. RIC 287. Naumann 101, lot 860
lawrence c
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095a04. Vetranio in Name of Constantius IIVetranio issuing in name of Constantius II
Billon heavy maiorina, RIC VIII Siscia 304, SRCV V 18204, Cohen VII 142, LRBC II 1190, Hunter V 54, , 4.981g, 22.8mm, 0o, 1st officina, Siscia (Sisak, Croatia) mint, 350 - 351 A.D.; obverse D N CONSTANTIVS P F AVG, pearl-diademed, draped, and cuirassed bust right, A behind (A's often appear as H in this period); reverse HOC SIGNO VICTOR ERIS, Constantius standing facing head left, holding labarum (Chi Rho Christogram standard) and spear, Victory right crowning him, palm in left hand, III left field, ASIS crescent in exergue. A FORUM coin.lawrence c
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10. PhocasPHOCAS
602-610 AD
AV Solidus (22mm, 4.49 g, 6h). Constantinople mint, 1st officina. Struck 604-607.
Crowned, draped, and cuirassed bust facing, holding globus cruciger / Angel standing facing, holding staff surmounted by staurogram and globus cruciger; A//CONOB. DOC 5a; MIBE 7; SB 618. EF.
Ex-CNG 10/2013Sosius
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1403i, Constantine I (the Great), early 307 - 22 May 337 A.D. (Siscia)Silvered AE 3, RIC 214, VF, Siscia mint, 3.187g, 19.3mm, 0o, 328 - 329 A.D.
Obverse: CONSTAN-TINVS AVG, laureate head right; Reverse PROVIDEN-TIAE AVGG, campgate with two turrets, star above, ASIS and double crescent in exergue.
Flavius Valerius Constantinus, Constantine the Great, was the son of Helena and the First Tetrarchic ruler Constantius I. Constantine is most famous for his conversion to Christianity and the battle of the Milvian Bridge where he defeated emperor Maxentius. It is reputed that before the battle, he saw the words "In Hoc Signo Victor Eris" (By this sign you shall conquer) emblazoned on the sun around the Chi Rho, the symbol of Christianity. Other sources claim the vision came to Constantine I in a dream. The story continues that after placing this Christogram on the shields of his army, he defeated his opponent and thus ruled the empire through divine providence. Constantine I also shifted the capital of the empire to Constantinople, establishing the foundation for an Empire that would last another 1000 years. He died in 337 and his sons divided the Roman territories.
The Emperor Constantine I was effectively the sole ruler of the Roman world between 324 and 337 A.D.; his reign was perhaps one of the most crucial of all the emperors in determining the future course of western civilization. By beginning the process of making Christianity the religious foundation of his realm, he set the religious course for the future of Europe which remains in place to this very day. Because he replaced Rome with Constantinople as the center of imperial power, he made it clear that the city of Rome was no longer the center of power, and he also set the stage for the Middle Ages. His philosophical view of monarchy, largely spelled out in some of the works of Eusebius of Caesarea, became the foundation for the concept of the divine right of kings which prevailed in Europe.
Constantine was not a "Christian convert" in any traditional sense. He was not baptized until close to death, and while that was not an uncommon practice, the mention of Christ in his speeches and decrees is conspicuous by its absence. Eusebius, Church historian and Constantine biographer, is responsible for much of the valorization of Constantine as the Christian Emperor. The somnambulant "sign" in which Constantine was to become victor at the Milvian Bridge is, not so surprisingly, revealed to posterity long after the "fact." Throughout his reign, Constantine continues to portray himself on coins as a sun god (Freeman, Charles. Egypt, Greece and Rome: Civilizations of the Ancient Mediterranean; Second Edition. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004. 582). Above all, Constantine was a pragmatist. It would be cynical to egregiously disavow his commitment to Christianity, but it would be equally wrong to think that he would allow Christianity to meddle in the governance of his empire. As he reputedly told a group of bishops, "You are bishops of those within the church, but I am perhaps a bishop appointed by God of those outside." Whatever the motives for his decision to support Christianity, Christianity benefitted from the arrangement. So, too, did Constantine. It was a match made in heaven.
J. P. Fitzgerald, Jr.
For perhaps the best Constantine The Great site on the web, see Victor Clark's Constantine The Great Coins: http://www.constantinethegreatcoins.com/ Cleisthenes
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1403j, Constantine I (the Great), early 307 - 22 May 337 A.D. (Thessalonica)Bronze AE 3, RIC 153, VF, Thessalonica mint, 2.955g, 19.7mm, 0o, 326 - 328 A.D. Obverse: CONSTAN-TINVS AVG, laureate head right; Reverse: PROVIDEN-TIAE AVGG, campgate with two turrets, star above, dot right, SMTSG in exergue.
Flavius Valerius Constantinus, Constantine the Great, was the son of Helena and the First Tetrarchic ruler Constantius I. Constantine is most famous for his conversion to Christianity and the battle of the Milvian Bridge where he defeated emperor Maxentius. It is reputed that before the battle, he saw the words "In Hoc Signo Victor Eris" (By this sign you shall conquer) emblazoned on the sun around the Chi Rho, the symbol of Christianity. Other sources claim the vision came to Constantine I in a dream. The story continues that after placing this Christogram on the shields of his army, he defeated his opponent and thus ruled the empire through divine providence. Constantine I also shifted the capital of the empire to Constantinople, establishing the foundation for an Empire that would last another 1000 years. He died in 337 and his sons divided the Roman territories.
The Emperor Constantine I was effectively the sole ruler of the Roman world between 324 and 337 A.D.; his reign was perhaps one of the most crucial of all the emperors in determining the future course of western civilization. By beginning the process of making Christianity the religious foundation of his realm, he set the religious course for the future of Europe which remains in place to this very day. Because he replaced Rome with Constantinople as the center of imperial power, he made it clear that the city of Rome was no longer the center of power, and he also set the stage for the Middle Ages. His philosophical view of monarchy, largely spelled out in some of the works of Eusebius of Caesarea, became the foundation for the concept of the divine right of kings which prevailed in Europe.
Constantine was not a "Christian convert" in any traditional sense. He was not baptized until close to death, and while that was not an uncommon practice, the mention of Christ in his speeches and decrees is conspicuous by its absence. Eusebius, Church historian and Constantine biographer, is responsible for much of the valorization of Constantine as the Christian Emperor. The somnambulant "sign" in which Constantine was to become victor at the Milvian Bridge is, not so surprisingly, revealed to posterity long after the "fact." Throughout his reign, Constantine continues to portray himself on coins as a sun god (Freeman, Charles. Egypt, Greece and Rome: Civilizations of the Ancient Mediterranean; Second Edition. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004. 582). Above all, Constantine was a pragmatist. It would be cynical to egregiously disavow his commitment to Christianity, but it would be equally wrong to think that he would allow Christianity to meddle in the governance of his empire. As he reputedly told a group of bishops, "You are bishops of those within the church, but I am perhaps a bishop appointed by God of those outside." Whatever the motives for his decision to support Christianity, Christianity benefitted from the arrangement. So, too, did Constantine. It was a match made in heaven.
J. P. Fitzgerald, Jr.
For perhaps the best Constantine The Great site on the web, see Victor Clark's Constantine The Great Coins: http://www.constantinethegreatcoins.com/
Cleisthenes
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1404a, Crispus, Caesar 317 - 326 A.D. Bronze AE 3, RIC 17, aEF, Cyzicus mint, 3.196g, 19.9mm, 315o, 321 - 324 A.D.; Obverse: D N FL IVL CRISPVS NOB CAES, laureate, draped and cuirassed bust right; Reverse: IOVI CONSERVATORI, Jupiter standing left holding Victory on globe in right and scepter in left, eagle with wreath in beak to left, X / IIG and captive right, SMKD in exergue; scarce (RIC R3). Ex FORVM.
De Imperatoribus Romanis;
An Online Encyclopedia of Roman Emperors and their Families
Crispus Caesar (317-326 A.D.)
Hans Pohlsander
SUNY Albany
Crispus was the oldest son of the emperor Constantine I and played a fairly important role in the political and military events of the early fourth century. The regular form of his full name is Flavius Iulius Crispus, although the forms Flavius Claudius Crispus and Flavius Valerius Crispus also occur. His mother was a woman named Minervina, with whom Constantine had a relationship, probably illegitimate, before he married Fausta in 307. When Minervina died or when Constantine put her aside we do not know. Nor do we know when she gave birth to Crispus; we may assume, of course, that it was before 307. Some modern authorities, on good grounds, think that it was in 305. Crispus' place of birth must have been somewhere in the East, and it is not known when he was brought to Gaul and when, where, or under what circumstances he was separated from his mother.
Constantine entrusted the education of his son to the distinguished Christian scholar Lactantius, thereby giving a clear sign of his commitment to Christianity. We are not told when Lactantius assumed his duties, but a date before 317 seems likely. Nor do we know how successful he was in instilling Christian beliefs and values in his imperial pupil. No later than January of 322 Crispus must have married a woman named Helena -- not to be confused with Constantine's mother or daughter by the same name- and this woman bore him a child in October of 322. Constantine, we learn, was pleased.
Crispus' official career began at an early age and is well documented. On March 1 of 317, at Serdica (modern Sofia), his father appointed him Caesar. The consulship was his three times, in 318, 321, and 324. While nominally in charge of Gaul, with a prefect at his side, he successfully undertook military operations against the Franks and Alamanni in 320 and 323.
In 324, during the second war between Constantine and Licinius, he excelled as commander of Constantine's fleet in the waters of the Hellespont, the Propontis, and the Bosporus, thus making a significant contribution to the outcome of that war. The high points of his career are amply reflected in the imperial coinage. In addition to coins, we have his portrait, with varying degrees of certainty, in a number of sculptures, mosaics, cameos, etc. Contemporary authors heap praises upon him. Thus the panegyrist Nazarius speaks of Crispus' "magnificent deeds," and Eusebius calls him "an emperor most dear to God and in all regards comparable to his father."
Crispus' end was as tragic as his career had been brilliant. His own father ordered him to be put to death. We know the year of this sad event, 326, from the Consularia Constantinopolitana, and the place, Pola in Istria, from Ammianus Marcellinus. The circumstances, however, are less clear. Zosimus (6th c.) and Zonaras (12th c.) both report that Crispus and his stepmother Fausta were involved in an illicit relationship. There may be as much gossip as fact in their reports, but it is certain that at some time during the same year the emperor ordered the death of his own wife as well, and the two cases must be considered together. That Crispus and Fausta plotted treason is reported by Gregory of Tours, but not very believable. We must resolutely reject the claim of Zosimus that it was Constantine's sense of guilt over these deeds which caused him to accept Christianity, as it alone promised him forgiveness for his sins. A similar claim had already been made by Julian the Apostate. We must also, I think, reject the suggestion of Guthrie that the emperor acted in the interest of "dynastic legitimacy," that is, that he removed his illegitimate first-born son in order to secure the succession for his three legitimate younger sons. But Crispus must have committed, or at least must have been suspected of having committed, some especially shocking offense to earn him a sentence of death from his own father. He also suffered damnatio memoriae, his honor was never restored, and history has not recorded the fate of his wife and his child (or children).
Copyright (C) 1997, Hans A. Pohlsander. Published on De Imperatoribus Romanis;An Online Encyclopedia of Roman Emperors and their Families:
http://www.roman-emperors.org/crispus.htm
What If?
St. Nectarios, in his book, The Ecumenical Synods, writes "Hellenism spread by Alexander paved the way for Christianity by Emperor Constantine the Great."
Constantine's upward gaze on his "Eyes to Heaven" coins recall the coin portraits of Alexander the Great (namely coins struck by the Diodochi), which served as prototypes for the divine ruler portraiture of much of the Hellenistic age. The diadem, of which this is the most elaborate type, was adopted by Constantine and the members of his house as a new symbol of sovereignty.
In the Greek Orthodox Church, Constantine the Great is revered as a Saint.
Is it just possible? Constantine, knowing what happened (or thinking that he does) to Phillip II of Macedon—assassinated on the eve of his greatness, in a plot that most likely involved his wife—and possibly his son. . . isn’t it just possible that Constantine is growing obsessively jealous of his ever more successful and adulated son? Imagine the Constantine who has proven time and again (think: Licinius) that he is a completely self-serving liar and a murderer, decides to murder again? Why "must we resolutely reject the claim of Zosimus that it was Constantine's sense of guilt over these deeds which caused him to accept Christianity, as it alone promised him forgiveness for his sins [?] (see: above). A similar claim had already been made by Julian the [Philosopher]."
Perhaps it is time to cease being apologists for the sometime megalomaniacal Constantine. As Michael Grant notes, "It is a mocking travesty of justice to call such a murderer Constantine the Great . . ." (Grant, Michael. The Emperor Constantine. London: Phoenix Press, 1998. 226).
Edited by J. P. Fitzgerald, Jr.
Cleisthenes
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1404b, Crispus, Caesar 317 - 326 A.D. (Thessalonica)Bronze AE 3, RIC 118, VF, Thessalonica mint, 2.740g, 18.0mm, 180o, 320 - 321 A.D. Obverse: FL IVL CRISPVS NOB CAES, laureate, draped and cuirassed bust left; Reverse: CAESARVM NOSTRORVM, VOT V in wreath, TSDVI in exergue.
Flavius Julius Crispus was the son of Constantine I by his first wife. A brilliant soldier, Crispus was well loved by all until 326 A.D., when Constantine had him executed. It is said that Fausta, Crispus stepmother, anxious to secure the succession for her own sons falsely accused Crispus of raping her. Constantine, learning of Fausta`s treachery, had her executed too.
De Imperatoribus Romanis;
An Online Encyclopedia of Roman Emperors and their Families
Crispus Caesar (317-326 A.D.)
Hans Pohlsander
SUNY Albany
Crispus was the oldest son of the emperor Constantine I and played a fairly important role in the political and military events of the early fourth century. The regular form of his full name is Flavius Iulius Crispus, although the forms Flavius Claudius Crispus and Flavius Valerius Crispus also occur. His mother was a woman named Minervina, with whom Constantine had a relationship, probably illegitimate, before he married Fausta in 307. When Minervina died or when Constantine put her aside we do not know. Nor do we know when she gave birth to Crispus; we may assume, of course, that it was before 307. Some modern authorities, on good grounds, think that it was in 305. Crispus' place of birth must have been somewhere in the East, and it is not known when he was brought to Gaul and when, where, or under what circumstances he was separated from his mother.
Constantine entrusted the education of his son to the distinguished Christian scholar Lactantius, thereby giving a clear sign of his commitment to Christianity. We are not told when Lactantius assumed his duties, but a date before 317 seems likely. Nor do we know how successful he was in instilling Christian beliefs and values in his imperial pupil. No later than January of 322 Crispus must have married a woman named Helena -- not to be confused with Constantine's mother or daughter by the same name- and this woman bore him a child in October of 322. Constantine, we learn, was pleased.
Crispus' official career began at an early age and is well documented. On March 1 of 317, at Serdica (modern Sofia), his father appointed him Caesar. The consulship was his three times, in 318, 321, and 324. While nominally in charge of Gaul, with a prefect at his side, he successfully undertook military operations against the Franks and Alamanni in 320 and 323.
In 324, during the second war between Constantine and Licinius, he excelled as commander of Constantine's fleet in the waters of the Hellespont, the Propontis, and the Bosporus, thus making a significant contribution to the outcome of that war. The high points of his career are amply reflected in the imperial coinage. In addition to coins, we have his portrait, with varying degrees of certainty, in a number of sculptures, mosaics, cameos, etc. Contemporary authors heap praises upon him. Thus the panegyrist Nazarius speaks of Crispus' "magnificent deeds," and Eusebius calls him "an emperor most dear to God and in all regards comparable to his father."
Crispus' end was as tragic as his career had been brilliant. His own father ordered him to be put to death. We know the year of this sad event, 326, from the Consularia Constantinopolitana, and the place, Pola in Istria, from Ammianus Marcellinus. The circumstances, however, are less clear. Zosimus (6th c.) and Zonaras (12th c.) both report that Crispus and his stepmother Fausta were involved in an illicit relationship. There may be as much gossip as fact in their reports, but it is certain that at some time during the same year the emperor ordered the death of his own wife as well, and the two cases must be considered together. That Crispus and Fausta plotted treason is reported by Gregory of Tours, but not very believable. We must resolutely reject the claim of Zosimus that it was Constantine's sense of guilt over these deeds which caused him to accept Christianity, as it alone promised him forgiveness for his sins. A similar claim had already been made by Julian the Apostate. We must also, I think, reject the suggestion of Guthrie that the emperor acted in the interest of "dynastic legitimacy," that is, that he removed his illegitimate first-born son in order to secure the succession for his three legitimate younger sons. But Crispus must have committed, or at least must have been suspected of having committed, some especially shocking offense to earn him a sentence of death from his own father. He also suffered damnatio memoriae, his honor was never restored, and history has not recorded the fate of his wife and his child (or children).
Copyright (C) 1997, Hans A. Pohlsander. Published on De Imperatoribus Romanis;An Online Encyclopedia of Roman Emperors and their Families:
http://www.roman-emperors.org/crispus.htm
What If?
St. Nectarios, in his book, The Ecumenical Synods, writes "Hellenism spread by Alexander paved the way for Christianity by Emperor Constantine the Great."
Constantine's upward gaze on his "Eyes to Heaven" coins recall the coin portraits of Alexander the Great (namely coins struck by the Diodochi), which served as prototypes for the divine ruler portraiture of much of the Hellenistic age. The diadem, of which this is the most elaborate type, was adopted by Constantine and the members of his house as a new symbol of sovereignty.
In the Greek Orthodox Church, Constantine the Great is revered as a Saint.
Is it just possible? Constantine, knowing what happened (or thinking that he does) to Phillip II of Macedon—assassinated on the eve of his greatness, in a plot that most likely involved his wife—and possibly his son. . . isn’t it just possible that Constantine is growing obsessively jealous of his ever more successful and adulated son? Imagine the Constantine who has proven time and again (think: Licinius) that he is a completely self-serving liar and a murderer, decides to murder again? Why "must we resolutely reject the claim of Zosimus that it was Constantine's sense of guilt over these deeds which caused him to accept Christianity, as it alone promised him forgiveness for his sins [?] (see: above). A similar claim had already been made by Julian the [Philosopher]."
Perhaps it is time to cease being apologists for the sometime megalomaniacal Constantine. As Michael Grant notes, "It is a mocking travesty of justice to call such a murderer Constantine the Great . . ." (Grant, Michael. The Emperor Constantine. London: Phoenix Press, 1998. 226).
Edited by J. P. Fitzgerald, Jr.Cleisthenes
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147 Constantius II. (324-337 A.D. Caesar, 337-361 A.D. Augustus), Siscia, RIC VIII 304E, AE-2 Follis, A/-//--, III/-//ЄSISᴗ, HOC SIGNO VICTOR ERIS, Constantius standing left, Scarce !147 Constantius II. (324-337 A.D. Caesar, 337-361 A.D. Augustus), Siscia, RIC VIII 304E, AE-2 Follis, A/-//--, III/-//ЄSISᴗ, HOC SIGNO VICTOR ERIS, Constantius standing left, Scarce !
avers:- D N CONSTAN TIVS P F AVG, Cs1,D3, Pearl-diademed, draped and cuirassed bust right, "A" behind the busts.
rever:- HOC SIGNO VICTOR ERIS, Constantius standing left, holding labarum with Chi-Rho and spear, being crowned by Victory. III in left field.
exergo: A/-//--, III/-//ЄSISᴗ, diameter: 21,5-22,5mm, weight: 4,87g, axis: 0h,
mint: Siscia, date: 350-351 A.D., ref: RIC-VIII-304E, p-371, 5th.-off., Scarce !
Q-001quadrans
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151 Vetranio (350 AD.), Siscia, RIC VIII 292, AE-2 Follis, A/*//--; A/-//•ASIS*, HOC SIGNO VICTOR ERIS, Vetranio in military dress, standing left, Scarce! #1151 Vetranio (350 AD.), Siscia, RIC VIII 292, AE-2 Follis, A/*//--; A/-//•ASIS*, HOC SIGNO VICTOR ERIS, Vetranio in military dress, standing left, Scarce! #1
avers: D N VETRAN IO P F AVG, Laureate, draped, cuirassed bust right, A behind head
reverse: HOC SIGNO VICTOR ERIS, Vetranio in military dress, standing left, holding labarum and transverse scepter, being crowned by Victory, standing left behind him. A in left field.
exergue: A/*//--; A/-//•ASIS*, diameter: 22,0-23,0mm, weight: 6,07g
mint: Siscia, date: 350 A.D.,
ref: RIC VIII Siscia 292, Sear 18905, Scarce!
Q-001quadrans
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1687 - Nantescuivre
8,15g
29mm
mairie de Guillaume de Lisle de la Nicollière
.HOC. SE. TEGVNT. AGGERE. CIVES
"Voilà le rempart à l'ombre duquel se protègent les citoyens"
Écu aux armes de Guillaume de Lisle de la Nicollière (De gueules à dix billettes d'or, 4. 3. 2. 1.), timbré d’un casque taré de face, au cimier de trois plumes et orné de ses lambrequins
à l'exergue : .1687.
* DE. LA. MAIRIE. DE. Mr. DE. LISLE. ADVOCAT. DV. ROY .
Ecu des armes de la ville de Nantes : vaisseau Nantais voguant à gauche, au chef chargé d' hermines, surmonté d'une couronne comtale, le tout entouré de la cordelière. PYL
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170 - Constantius II - AE2 - RIC VIII Siscia 286AE2
Obv:– D N CONSTANTIVS P F AVG, Pearl diademed, draped and cuirassed bust right (A behind bust, star before)
Rev:– HOC SIG-NO VICTOR ERIS, Constantius standing left, holding labarum, being crowned by Victory
Minted in Siscia (A | _ //Dot GSIS Dot). Struck under Vetranio, 350 AD.
Reference:- RIC VIII Siscia 286 (S)maridvnvm
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170 - Constantius II - AE2/3 - RIC VIII Siscia 286Obv:– D N CONSTANTIVS P F AVG, Pearl diademed, draped and cuirassed bust right (A behind bust, star before)
Rev:– HOC SIG-NO VICTOR ERIS, Constantius standing left, holding labarum, being crowned by Victory
Minted in Siscia (A | _ //Dot ESIS Dot). Struck under Vetranio, 350 AD.
Reference:- RIC VIII Siscia 286 (S)maridvnvm
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1701a, Saladin, 1169-1193AYYUBID: Saladin, 1169-1193, AR dirham (2.92g), Halab, AH580, A-788, lovely struck, well-centered & bold, Extremely Fine, Scarce.
His name in Arabic, in full, is SALAH AD-DIN YUSUF IBN AYYUB ("Righteousness of the Faith, Joseph, Son of Job"), also called AL-MALIK AN-NASIR SALAH AD-DIN YUSUF I (b. 1137/38, Tikrit, Mesopotamia--d. March 4, 1193, Damascus), Muslim sultan of Egypt, Syria, Yemen, and Palestine, founder of the Ayyubid dynasty, and the most famous of Muslim heroes.
In wars against the Christian crusaders, he achieved final success with the disciplined capture of Jerusalem (Oct. 2, 1187), ending its 88-year occupation by the Franks. The great Christian counterattack of the Third Crusade was then stalemated by Saladin's military genius.
Saladin was born into a prominent Kurdish family. On the night of his birth, his father, Najm ad-Din Ayyub, gathered his family and moved to Aleppo, there entering the service of 'Imad ad-Din Zangi ibn Aq Sonqur, the powerful Turkish governor in northern Syria. Growing up in Ba'lbek and Damascus, Saladin was apparently an undistinguished youth, with a greater taste for religious studies than military training.
His formal career began when he joined the staff of his uncle Asad ad-Din Shirkuh, an important military commander under the amir Nureddin, son and successor of Zangi. During three military expeditions led by Shirkuh into Egypt to prevent its falling to the Latin-Christian (Frankish) rulers of the states established by the First Crusade, a complex, three-way struggle developed between Amalric I, the Latin king of Jerusalem, Shawar, the powerful vizier of the Egyptian Fatimid caliph, and Shirkuh. After Shirkuh's death and after ordering Shawar's assassination, Saladin, in 1169 at the age of 31, was appointed both commander of the Syrian troops and vizier of Egypt.
His relatively quick rise to power must be attributed not only to the clannish nepotism of his Kurdish family but also to his own emerging talents. As vizier of Egypt, he received the title king (malik), although he was generally known as the sultan. Saladin's position was further enhanced when, in 1171, he abolished the Shi'i Fatimid caliphate, proclaimed a return to Sunnah in Egypt, and consequently became its sole ruler.
Although he remained for a time theoretically a vassal of Nureddin, that relationship ended with the Syrian emir's death in 1174. Using his rich agricultural possessions in Egypt as a financial base, Saladin soon moved into Syria with a small but strictly disciplined army to claim the regency on behalf of the young son of his former suzerain.
Soon, however, he abandoned this claim, and from 1174 until 1186 he zealously pursued a goal of uniting, under his own standard, all the Muslim territories of Syria, northern Mesopotamia, Palestine, and Egypt.
This he accomplished by skillful diplomacy backed when necessary by the swift and resolute use of military force. Gradually, his reputation grew as a generous and virtuous but firm ruler, devoid of pretense, licentiousness, and cruelty. In contrast to the bitter dissension and intense rivalry that had up to then hampered the Muslims in their resistance to the crusaders, Saladin's singleness of purpose induced them to rearm both physically and spiritually.
Saladin's every act was inspired by an intense and unwavering devotion to the idea of jihad ("holy war")-the Muslim equivalent of the Christian crusade. It was an essential part of his policy to encourage the growth and spread of Muslim religious institutions.
He courted its scholars and preachers, founded colleges and mosques for their use, and commissioned them to write edifying works especially on the jihad itself. Through moral regeneration, which was a genuine part of his own way of life, he tried to re-create in his own realm some of the same zeal and enthusiasm that had proved so valuable to the first generations of Muslims when, five centuries before, they had conquered half the known world.
Saladin also succeeded in turning the military balance of power in his favour-more by uniting and disciplining a great number of unruly forces than by employing new or improved military techniques. When at last, in 1187, he was able to throw his full strength into the struggle with the Latin crusader kingdoms, his armies were their equals. On July 4, 1187, aided by his own military good sense and by a phenomenal lack of it on the part of his enemy, Saladin trapped and destroyed in one blow an exhausted and thirst-crazed army of crusaders at Hattin, near Tiberias in northern Palestine.
So great were the losses in the ranks of the crusaders in this one battle that the Muslims were quickly able to overrun nearly the entire Kingdom of Jerusalem. Acre, Toron, Beirut, Sidon, Nazareth, Caesarea, Nabulus, Jaffa (Yafo), and Ascalon (Ashqelon) fell within three months.
But Saladin's crowning achievement and the most disastrous blow to the whole crusading movement came on Oct. 2, 1187, when Jerusalem, holy to both Muslim and Christian alike, surrendered to the Sultan's army after 88 years in the hands of the Franks. In stark contrast to the city's conquest by the Christians, when blood flowed freely during the barbaric slaughter of its inhabitants, the Muslim reconquest was marked by the civilized and courteous behaviour of Saladin and his troops. His sudden success, which in 1189 saw the crusaders reduced to the occupation of only three cities, was, however, marred by his failure to capture Tyre, an almost impregnable coastal fortress to which the scattered Christian survivors of the recent battles flocked. It was to be the rallying point of the Latin counterattack.
Most probably, Saladin did not anticipate the European reaction to his capture of Jerusalem, an event that deeply shocked the West and to which it responded with a new call for a crusade. In addition to many great nobles and famous knights, this crusade, the third, brought the kings of three countries into the struggle.
The magnitude of the Christian effort and the lasting impression it made on contemporaries gave the name of Saladin, as their gallant and chivalrous enemy, an added lustre that his military victories alone could never confer on him.
The Crusade itself was long and exhausting, and, despite the obvious, though at times impulsive, military genius of Richard I the Lion-Heart, it achieved almost nothing. Therein lies the greatest-but often unrecognized--achievement of Saladin. With tired and unwilling feudal levies, committed to fight only a limited season each year, his indomitable will enabled him to fight the greatest champions of Christendom to a draw. The crusaders retained little more than a precarious foothold on the Levantine coast, and when King Richard set sail from the Orient in October 1192, the battle was over.
Saladin withdrew to his capital at Damascus. Soon, the long campaigning seasons and the endless hours in the saddle caught up with him, and he died. While his relatives were already scrambling for pieces of the empire, his friends found that the most powerful and most generous ruler in the Muslim world had not left enough money to pay for his own grave.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
H.A.R. Gibb, "The Arabic Sources for the Life of Saladin," Speculum, 25:58-72 (1950). C.W. Wilson's English translation of one of the most important Arabic works, The Life of Saladin (1897), was reprinted in 1971. The best biography to date is Stanley Lane-Poole, Saladin and the Fall of the Kingdom of Jerusalem, new ed. (1926, reprinted 1964), although it does not take account of all the sources.Cleisthenes
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1754 - États de RennesLouis XV
6,47g
28 mm
argent
LUD. XV. REDIVIVO ET TRIUMPHANTI.
"Louis XV ressuscité et triomphant"
Statue du roi sur un piédestal, vêtu à l’antique, derrière, des drapeaux ; à droite la Bretagne assise, devant, les armes de la province, derrière, une ancre sortant de la mer ; à gauche Hygie et un autel allumé .
Sur le piédestal on peut lire l'inscription :
LUDOVICO XV
REGI CHRISTIANISSIMO
REDIVIVO ET TRIUMPHANTI.
HOC AMORIS PIGNUS
ET SALUTATIS PUBLICAE MOMUMENTUM
COMITIA ARMORICA POSUERE
ANNO M DCC LIV
au revers :
JETON DES ESTATS DE BRETAGNE 1754.
Écu couronné écartelé aux 1 et 4 de France, aux 2 et 3 de Bretagne, sur un manteau semé de fleurs de lis et d’hermines
Daniel 102PYL
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1754 - États de RennesLouis XV
6,55g
28 mm
argent
LUD. XV. REDIVIVO ET TRIUMPHANTI.
"Louis XV ressuscité et triomphant"
Statue du roi sur un piédestal,
vêtu à l’antique, derrière, des drapeaux;
à droite la Bretagne assise,
devant les armes de la province,
derrière une ancre sortant de la mer;
à gauche Hygie et un autel allumé .
Sur le piédestal on peut lire l'inscription :
LUDOVICO XV
REGI CHRISTIANISSIMO
REDIVIVO ET TRIUMPHANTI.
HOC AMORIS PIGNUS
ET SALUTATIS PUBLICAE MOMUMENTUM
COMITIA ARMORICA POSUERE
ANNO M DCC LIV
au revers :
JETON DES ESTATS DE BRETAGNE 1754.
Écu couronné écartelé aux 1 et 4 de France,
aux 2 et 3 de Bretagne,
sur un manteau semé de fleurs de lis et d’hermines
Daniel 102 PYL
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1943 IONIA, Phocaea Sabina, ProwReference.
RPC III, 1943/6; BMC 136; Paris 2014
Obv. ϹΕΒΑϹΤΗ ϹΑΒΕΙΝΑ
Draped bust of Sabina, right
Rev. ΦΩΚΑΕΩΝ
Prow, r.; above, caps of the Dioscuri surmounted by stars
3.24 gr
20 mm
6hokidoki
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202b. GetaGeta, as Caesar,
Publius Septimius Geta was the younger son of the emperor Septimius Severus. Geta's rivalry with his older brother, Caracalla, culminated in Geta's murder less than a year after Severus' death. Tradition soon idealized this victim of fratricide as a gentle prince taken by treachery far too soon. Critics of Caracalla looked back wistfully at the murdered prince, who came to be described as a lamb devoured by his ferocious, lion-like brother. The little reliable evidence about Geta's personality does not seem to support the idealized picture of a gentle prince, but the shocking nature of his death at the instigation of his brother transformed Geta's life into legend.
Denarius. P SEPT GETA CAES PONT, draped bust right / PRINC IVVENTVTIS, Geta, in military dress, standing left with baton & scepter, trophy behind. RIC 18, RSC 157ecoli
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35. Constantius II / Hoc Signo. . .Maiorina (larger AE 2), Mar. - Dec. 350, Siscia mint.
Obverse: DN CONSTANTIVS P F AVG / Diademed bust of Constantius II; A behind bust, star in front.
Reverse: HOC SIGNO VICTOR ERIS / Emperor standing, in military dress, holding standard with ChiRho, and spear. To the right stands Victory crowning him with a wreath and holding a palm branch. A in left field.
Mint mark: . ASIS*
5.55 gm., 22.5 mm.
RIC # 291; LRBC #1177; Sear #18203.
The reverse type on this coin refers to the vision Constantine the Great had before the Battle of the Milvian Bridge in 312. He saw a cross and the words HOC SIGNO VICTOR ERIS, which translate "By this sign you will be victorious."
Vetranio used this reverse type on coins minted in his name and the name of Constantius II during the 9 months he was emperor. RIC says, "This . . . evocation of the vision of Constantine before his victory over Magnentius is the clearest possible indication of Vetranio's loyalty to Constantius, and his expectation of the latter's triumph (over Magnentius)." (RIC VII, p. 344-45.)
On Roman coins, if an emperor is depicted on the reverse, it is usually the emperor whose name and portrait appears on the obverse of the coin. On this particular coin, it would not be out of place to have Constantius II represented on the reverse, especially because the coin was issued in advance of a coming battle with a pagan usurper (Magnentius). However, given the reverse legend, it is thought by many that the emperor depicted on this reverse is Constantine the Great himself.Callimachus
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40 Réis - Countermarked 80 RéisEmperor Pedro I
Obverse: Value within wreath of floral decorations PETRUS.I.D.G.CONST.IMP.ET.PERP.BRAS.DEF 40 +1828 R+, value within wreath of floral decorations.
Reverse: IN + HOC + SIGNO + VINCES, crowned coat-of-arms.
B Bahia, modern-day Salvador de Bahia, Brazil (1694-1698, 1714-1834)
R Casa da Moeda do Brasil, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (1694-date)
NOTE: Countermark on 80 Réis of Pedro I, KM# 366.Pericles J2
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501. Constantine I Sirmium HOC SIG NO VICTOR ERISConstantine I Sirmium HOC SIG NO VICTOR ERIS
obv. DN CONSTAN - TVS PF AVG
bust draped and cuirassed, pearl-diademed, r.
Letter A behind bust
rev. HOC SIG - NO VICTOR ERIS
Emperor, diad. an in military dress, stg. facing, head l., holding standard with Chi-Rho on
the banner, and spear. To the r. stands Victory crowning him with a wreath and holding a
palm-branch.
III in L. of reverse field
ex. star SIRM
RIC VIII, Sirmium 23; LRBC 1586
struck Sept. 351 - 6 Nov. 355; common
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501b. CrispusIn 326, Crispus was suddenly executed according to the orders of his own father in Pola, Istria. Though the decision of Constantine was certainly cruel and unexpected, historians remain more interested in the motivation leading to it.
Zosimus in the 5th century and Joannes Zonaras in the 12th century both reported that Fausta, step-mother of Crispus, was extremely jealous of him. She was reportedly afraid that Constantine would put aside the sons she bore him. So, in order to get rid of Crispus, Fausta set him up. She reportedly told the young Caesar that she was in love with him and suggested an illegitimate love affair. Crispus denied the immoral wishes of Fausta and left the palace in a state of a shock. Then Fausta said to Constantine that Crispus had no respect for his father, since the Caesar was in love with his father's own wife. She reported to Constantine that she dismissed him after his attempt to rape her. Constantine believed her and, true to his strong personality and short temper, executed his beloved son. A few months later, Constantine reportedly found out the whole truth and then executed his wife Fausta at the end of 326.
This version of events has become the most widely accepted, since all other reports are even less satisfactory.
A treason against Constantine jointly plotted by Fausta and Crispus is rejected by most historians. They would have nothing to gain considering their positions as favourites of Constantine.
Another version suggests that Constantine killed Crispus because as an illegitimate son, he would cause a crisis in the order of succession to the throne. However, Constantine had kept him at his side for twenty years without any such decision. Constantine also had the authority to appoint his younger, legitimate sons as his heirs. Nevertheless, Crispus' status as a legitimate or illegitimate son remains uncertain.
Some reports claimed that Constantine was envious of the success of his son and afraid of him. This seems improbable, given that Constantine had twenty years of experience at Emperor while Crispus was still a young Caesar. Similarly, there seems to be no evidence that Crispus had any ambitions to harm or displace his father.
So while the story of Zosimus and Zonaras seems the most believable one, there are also problems relating to their version of events.
Constantine's reaction suggest that he suspected Crispus of a crime so terrible that death was not enough. Crispus also suffered damnatio memoriae, meaning his name was never mentioned again and was deleted from all official documents and monuments. Crispus, his wife Helena and their son were never to be mentioned again in historical records. The eventual fate of Helena and her son is a mystery.
Constantine may have been eventually convinced of Crispus' innocence. But he did not restore his son's innocence and name, as he probably would have on learning of his son's innocence. Perhaps Constantine's pride or shame at having executed his son prevented him from publicly admitting having made a mistake.
Beyond doubt there was a connections between the executions of Crispus and Fausta. Both happened too close in time to be coincidental. Such agreement among different sources connecting the two deaths is extremely rare in itself. A number of modern historians have suggested that Crispus and Fausta really did have an illegitimate affair. When Constantine found out, his reaction was executing both of them. What delayed the death of Fausta may have been a pregnancy. Since the years of birth for the two known daughters of Constantine and Fausta remain unknown, one of their births may have delayed their mother's execution.
Crispus, 316-326, Bronze Reduced Anepigraphic Follis, RIC-VII-53-R5, struck 324-325 at Antioch, 1.87 grams, 17.9 mm. Nice VF
Obv: Laureate, draped and cuirassed bust of Crispus facing left
Rev: CRISPVS CAESAR SMANTZ - Legend and mint signature in three lines, star above, dot below
An excessively rare coin of Crispus. Nicely centered and struck with even wear to both surfaces. Important and MUCH nicer than the image projects.
Ex-Glenn Woodsecoli
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504. CONSTANTIUS II GLORIA EXERCITVS AntiochAntioch
Under the empire we chiefly hear of the earthquakes which shook Antioch. One, in AD 37, caused the emperor Caligula to send two senators to report on the condition of the city. Another followed in the next reign; and in 115, during Trajan's sojourn in the place with his army of Parthia, the whole site was convulsed, the landscape altered, and the emperor himself forced to take shelter in the circus for several days. He and his successor restored the city; but in 526, after minor shocks, the calamity returned in a terrible form; the octagonal cathedral which had been erected by the emperor Constantius II suffered and thousands of lives were lost, largely those of Christians gathered to a great church assembly. We hear also of especially terrific earthquakes on November 29, 528 and October 31, 588.
At Antioch Germanicus died in AD 19, and his body was burnt in the forum. Titus set up the Cherubim, captured from the Jewish temple, over one of the gates. Commodus had Olympic games celebrated at Antioch, and in 266 the town was suddenly raided by the Persians, who slew many in the theatre. In 387 there was a great sedition caused by a new tax levied by order of Theodosius, and the city was punished by the loss of its metropolitan status. Zeno, who renamed it Theopolis, restored many of its public buildings just before the great earthquake of 526, whose destructive work was completed by the Persian Chosroes twelve years later. Justinian I made an effort to revive it, and Procopius describes his repairing of the walls; but its glory was past.
The chief interest of Antioch under the empire lies in its relation to Christianity. Evangelized perhaps by Peter, according to the tradition upon which the Antiochene patriarchate still rests its claim for primacy (cf. Acts xi.), and certainly by Barnabas and Paul, who here preached his first Christian sermon in a synagogue, its converts were the first to be called Christians
004. CONSTANTIUS II Antioch
RIC VII Antioch 88 C3
From Uncleaned Lot
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516. HonoriusFlavius Honorius (September 9, 384–August 15, 423) was Emperor of the Western Roman Empire from 395 until his death. He was the younger son of Theodosius I and his first wife Aelia Flaccilla, and brother of the Eastern emperor Arcadius.
Honorius was declared Augustus in 393 by his father and became western emperor at the age of 10, following his father's death in January 395. For the first part of his reign he depended on the military leadership of the Vandal general Stilicho. To strengthen his bonds to the young emperor, Stilicho married his daughter Maria to him.
At first Honorius based his capital in Milan, but when the Visigoths entered Italy in 402 he moved his capital to the coastal city of Ravenna, which was protected by a ring of marshes and strong fortifications. While the new capital was easier to defend, it was poorly situated to allow Roman forces to protect central Italy from the barbarian incursions.
The most notable event of his reign was the assault and sack of Rome on August 24, 410 by the Visigoths under Alaric.
The city had been under Visigothic siege since shortly after Stilicho's deposition and execution in the summer of 408. Lacking a strong general to control the by-now mostly barbarian Roman Army, Honorius could do little to attack Alaric's forces directly, and apparently adopted the only strategy he could do in the situation: wait passively to Visigoths to grow weary and spend the time marshalling what forces he could. Unfortunately, this course of action appeared to be the product of Honorius' indecisive character and he suffered much criticism for it both from contemporaries and later historians.
Whether this plan could have worked is perhaps debatable, especially since he deprived himself of several skillful officers by only promoting Catholics to the top military positions. In any case it was overtaken by events. Stricken by starvation, somebody opened Rome's defenses to Alaric and the Goths poured in. The city had not been under the control of a foreign force since an invasion of Gallic Celts some seven centuries before. The victorious Visigoths did untold damage to the city and the shock of this event reverberated from Britain to Jerusalem, and inspired Augustine to write his magnum opus, The City of God.
The year 410 also saw Honorius reply to a British plea for assistance against local barbarian incursions. Preoccupied with the Visigoths and lacking any real capabilities to assist the distant province, Honorius told the Britons to defend themselves as best they could.
There is a story (which Gibbon disbelieved) that when he heard the news that Rome had "perished", Honorius was initially shocked; thinking the news was in reference to a favorite chicken he had named "Roma", he recalled in disbelief that the bird was just recently feeding out of his hand. It was then explained to him that the Rome in question was the city.
His reign of twenty-eight years was one of the most disastrous in the Roman annals. Honorius' supposed weakness and timidity in the face of internal dissension and the attacks of the Visigoths and Vandals is often said to have contributed to the rapid disintegration of the western half of the empire.
RIC X Antioch 153
ecoli
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703a, Tiberius, 19 August 14 - 16 March 37 A.D., Tribute Penny of Matthew 22:20-21Silver denarius, RIC I 30, RSC II 16a, SRCV 1763, gVF, Lugdunum mint, 3.837g, 18.7mm, 90o, 16 - 37 A.D.; obverse TI CAESAR DIVI AVG F AVGVSTVS, laureate head right; reverse PONTIF MAXIM, Pax/Livia seated right holding scepter and branch, legs on chair ornamented, feet on footstool; toned. Ex FORVM.
De Imperatoribus Romanis
An Online Encyclopedia of Roman Emperors
Tiberius (A.D. 14-37)
Garrett G. Fagan
Pennsylvania State University
Introduction
The reign of Tiberius (b. 42 B.C., d. A.D. 37, emperor A.D. 14-37) is a particularly important one for the Principate, since it was the first occasion when the powers designed for Augustus alone were exercised by somebody else. In contrast to the approachable and tactful Augustus, Tiberius emerges from the sources as an enigmatic and darkly complex figure, intelligent and cunning, but given to bouts of severe depression and dark moods that had a great impact on his political career as well as his personal relationships.
. . . .
Early life (42-12 B.C.)
Tiberius Claudius Nero was born on 16 November 42 B.C. to Ti. Claudius Nero and Livia Drusilla. Both parents were scions of the gens Claudia which had supplied leaders to the Roman Republic for many generations. . . [I]n 39 B.C., his mother Livia divorced Ti. Claudius Nero and married Octavian, thereby making the infant Tiberius the stepson of the future ruler of the Roman world. Forever afterward, Tiberius was to have his name coupled with this man, and always to his detriment.
. . . .
Accession and Early Reign (A.D. 14 - 23)
The accession of Tiberius proved intensely awkward. After Augustus had been buried and deified, and his will read and honored, the Senate convened on 18 September to inaugurate the new reign and officially "confirm" Tiberius as emperor. Such a transfer of power had never happened before, and nobody, including Tiberius, appears to have known what to do. Tacitus's account is the fullest. . . Rather than tactful, he came across to the senators as obdurate and obstructive. He declared that he was too old for the responsibilities of the Principate, said he did not want the job, and asked if he could just take one part of the government for himself. The Senate was confused, not knowing how to read his behavior. Finally, one senator asked pointedly, "Sire, for how long will you allow the State to be without a head?" Tiberius relented and accepted the powers voted to him, although he refused the title "Augustus."
. . . .
Tiberius allowed a trusted advisor to get too close and gain a tremendous influence over him. That advisor was the Praetorian Prefect, L. Aelius Sejanus, who would derail Tiberius's plans for the succession and drive the emperor farther into isolation, depression, and paranoia.
Sejanus (A.D. 23-31)
Sejanus hailed from Volsinii in Etruria. He and his father shared the Praetorian Prefecture until A.D. 15 when the father, L. Seius Strabo, was promoted to be Prefect of Egypt, the pinnacle of an equestrian career under the Principate. Sejanus, now sole Prefect of the Guard, enjoyed powerful connections to senatorial houses and had been a companion to Gaius Caesar on his mission to the East, 1 B.C. - A.D. 4. Through a combination of energetic efficiency, fawning sycophancy, and outward displays of loyalty, he gained the position of Tiberius's closest friend and advisor.
. . . .
[I]n a shocking and unexpected turn of events, [a] letter sent by Tiberius from Capri initially praised Sejanus extensively, and then suddenly denounced him as a traitor and demanded his arrest. Chaos ensued. Senators long allied with Sejanus headed for the exits, the others were confused -- was this a test of their loyalty? What did the emperor want them to do? -- but the Praetorian Guard, the very troops formerly under Sejanus's command but recently and secretly transferred to the command of Q. Sutorius Macro, arrested Sejanus, conveyed him to prison, and shortly afterwards executed him summarily. A witch-hunt followed. . . All around the city, grim scenes were played out, and as late as A.D. 33 a general massacre of all those still in custody took place.
Tiberius himself later claimed that he turned on Sejanus because he had been alerted to Sejanus's plot against Germanicus's family. This explanation has been rejected by most ancient and modern authorities, since Sejanus's demise did nothing to alleviate that family's troubles.
. . . .
The Last Years (A.D. 31-37)
The Sejanus affair appears to have greatly depressed Tiberius. A close friend and confidant had betrayed him; whom could he trust anymore? His withdrawal from public life seemed more complete in the last years. Letters kept him in touch with Rome, but it was the machinery of the Augustan administration that kept the empire running smoothly. Tiberius, if we believe our sources, spent much of his time indulging his perversities on Capri.
. . . .
Tiberius died quietly in a villa at Misenum on 16 March A.D. 37. He was 78 years old. There are some hints in the sources of the hand of Caligula in the deed, but such innuendo can be expected at the death of an emperor, especially when his successor proved so depraved. The level of unpopularity Tiberius had achieved by the time of his death with both the upper and lower classes is revealed by these facts: the Senate refused to vote him divine honors, and mobs filled the streets yelling "To the Tiber with Tiberius!" (in reference to a method of disposal reserved for the corpses of criminals).
Tiberius and the Empire
Three main aspects of Tiberius's impact on the empire deserve special attention: his relative military inertia; his modesty in dealing with offers of divine honors and his fair treatment of provincials; and his use of the Law of Treason (maiestas).
. . . .
Conclusion
. . . Tiberius's reign sporadically descended into tyranny of the worst sort. In the right climate of paranoia and suspicion, widespread denunciation led to the deaths of dozens of Senators and equestrians, as well as numerous members of the imperial house. In this sense, the reign of Tiberius decisively ended the Augustan illusion of "the Republic Restored" and shone some light into the future of the Principate, revealing that which was both promising and terrifying.
[For the entire article please refer to http://www.roman-emperors.org/tiberius.htm]
Copyright © 1997, Garrett G. Fagan. Used by permission.
"Some of the things he did are hard to believe. He had little boys trained as minnows to chase him when he went swimming and to get between his legs and nibble him. He also had babies not weaned from their mother breast suck at his chest and groin . . . "
(Suetonius. The Twelve Caesars. Trans. Robert Graves. London: Penguin Books, 1979. XLIV).
Jesus, referring to a "penny" asked, "Whose is this image and superscription?" When told it was Caesar, He said, ''Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's and unto God the things that are God's" (Matthew 22:20-21). Since Tiberius was Caesar at the time, this denarius type is attributed by scholars as the "penny" referred to in the Bible(Joseph Sermarini).
Edited by J. P. Fitzgerald, Jr.
Cleisthenes
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AE 12 nummi Phocas Obverse: Legand unintelligigble, diad., dr and cuir. bust r. beardless
Reverse: Large IB, cross between no steps. AAEZ (second "A" without cross piece, and "Z" with cross piece
Mint: Alexandria
Date: 602-610 CE
Sear 679 DO 106
14mm 3.17gmwileyc
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AE follis Heraclius, SB 806Obverse: Heraclius in center, Heraclius Constantine on r., and the Empress MArtina on l, all stg facing; each wearing crown and chlamys, and holding gl. cr. in r. hand two crosses in field either side of Heraclius head
Reverse: Large M between ANNO and regnal yr (x,II,I) cross above, CON in ex
Mint: Constantinople
Date:622/3 CE
Sear 806 DO 89-91
25mm 6.74gm
Sear notes that this type is normally overstruck on folles of Phocas or less frequently on those of earlier reigns
Mintwileyc
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AE follis Heraclius, SB 808Obverse: Heraclius in center, Heraclius Constantine on r., and the Empress MArtina on l, all stg facing; each wearing crown and chlamys, and holding gl. cr. in r. hand two crosses in field either side of Heraclius head
Reverse: Large M, ANNO above, Monogram 23 or 24 to l., regnal yr to rt (X,GI,II)
Mint: Constantinople
Date: 628/9 CE
Sear 808 DO 99-103
28 mm 5.29 gm
Sear notes that this type is normally overstruck on coins of Maurice Tiberius or Phocas and often on half folles rather than folles due to the much reduced module of this issue. The weight of 5.29gm is indicative of thiswileyc
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AE follis PhocasObverse: ON FOCA NE PE AV Phocas on l., Leontia on r., stg facing, Emperor holds gl. cr., Empress sometimes nimbate holds cruciform sceptre; between heads cross.
Reverse: Large M between ANNO and regnal yr. III, cross above THEUP in ex.
Mint: Theoupolis(Antioch)
Date: 604/5 CE
Sear 671 DO 83-9
25mm 8.51gmwileyc
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AE half follis PhocasObverse: DN FOCA PERP AVG crowned bust facing, wearing consular robes, holding mappa and cross
Reverse: Large XX, cross above. in ex CON with unk Officina letter following
Mint: Constantinople
Date 602-610 CE
Sear 643
24 mm 5.69 gmwileyc
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AE half follis PhocasObverse: DM FOCA PER AVG or similar, crowned, bust facing wearing consular robes and holding mappa and cross
Reverse: XX, cross above, III (regnal yr) to r. NIKO in ex
Mint: Nicomedia
Date: 604/5 CE
Sear 663 DO 63-8
25mm 3.47
Thin ragged flanwileyc
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Aeolis, Temnos. Pseudo-autonomous Ae25. Senate/NemesesObv: IERACY NKLHTOC; Bust of youthful Senate r.
Rev: THM NE ITWN; Two Nemeses standing facing each other, drawing fold of drapery from breasts.
200-250 AD.
25mm, 6.5g.
SNG COP 21 266(1)
Temnos was a little town of Aeolia, near the Hermus River, which is shown on its coins. Situated at elevation it commanded the territories of Cyme, Phocaea, and Smyrna. Under Augustus it was already on the decline; under Tiberius it was destroyed by an earthquake; and in the time of Pliny it was no longer inhabited. It was however rebuilt.ancientone
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Agathocles, Syracuse Sicily 304-289 B.C. AE15mmAgathocles, Syracuse Sicily 304-289 B.C.
Obv. Wreathed head of Persephone left, wearing wreath of grain ears.
Rev. Bull butting to left; club and O above; ? in exergueLee S
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Agathocles; AE 21; Head of Kore right/ Nike driving biga rightSICILY, Syracuse. Agathokles. Circa 317-289 B.C. Bronze AE 21, Calciati II pp. 255-7, 122; cf. BMC Sicily p. 201, 441 (monogram off flan on our coin), F, corrosion and encrustation, Syracuse mint, weight 8.126g, maximum diameter 23.5mm, die axis 90o, 287 - 278 B.C.; obverse ΣΥΡΑΚΟΣΙΩΝ, head of Kore right, wreathed in grain; reverse Nike driving biga right, whip in right, reigns in left, star above, monogram upper left. Ex FORVMPodiceps
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Alexander III Posthumous Tetradrachm -- Phocis -- ~323 BC16.95 g, 30 mm, 100°
Phocis Mint
Silver Tetradrachm
Minted during reign of Alexander III; Posthumous
Price 834; Muller 750
Obverse: Head of Herakles Wearing Nemean Skin Headdress Right.
Reverse: AΛEΞAN∆POY (Of Alexander), Zeus Aëtophoros Enthroned Left Holding Eagle and Staff.
Alexander III the Great, the King of Macedonia and conqueror of the Persian Empire is considered one of the greatest military geniuses of all times. He became king upon his father’s death in 336 BCE and went on to conquer most of the known world of his day. He is known as 'the great' both for his military genius and his diplomatic skills in handling the various populaces of the regions he conquered. He is further recognized for spreading Greek culture, language, and thought from Greece throughout Asia Minor, Egypt, and Mesopotamia to India and thus initiating the era of the Hellenistic World.
________________________
A nice coin, but a past owner was way too harsh in chemically cleaning this. On the obverse, the lower jaw of the lion and Herakle's cheek contains a thin line of what I believe to be black chemical burn.Hydro
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Allende meteoriteType Chondrite (stony, non-metallic)
Class Carbonaceous chondrite
Group CV3
Composition 23.85% total iron
Shock stage S1
Country Mexico
Region Pueblito de Allende, Allende, Chihuahua
Coordinates 26°58′N 105°19′WCoordinates: 26°58′N 105°19′W
Observed fall Yes
Fall date 01:05 local time (07:05 GMT) on 1969 February 8
TKW 2 metric tonsRandygeki(h2)
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Antioch in Pisidia - Gallienus (?) small bronzeIMP. CAE. P. Λ. GLLI[enus...] , radiate, draped and cuirassed bust right.
ANTIO / CHOCL (sic) , legionary eagle on vexillum between 2 standards.
Maybe there is S R on the vexillum.Ginolerhino
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Apollonia, Illyria, Drachm, ΑΠΟΛ ΑΙΝΕΑAR Drachm
Greek Provincial
Apollonia, Illyria
Issued: 2nd Century BC
16.5mm 3.40gr 0h
O: ΑΡΙΣΤΩΝ; Cow standing left, head looking right, suckling calf, right.
R: ΑΠΟΛ ΑΙΝΕΑ; Double stellate pattern within double linear square, with sides curved inwards.
Mionnet Supp. 9; BMC 4; Ceka 24.
Holding History/Nathan Hochrein
VCoins Inventory # C458
11/21/14 4/30/17Nicholas Z
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Apollonia, Illyria, Drachm, ΑΠΟΛ ΑΝΔΡΙΣΚΟΥAR Drachm
Greek Provincial
Apollonia, Illyria
Issued: After 229BC
17.0mm3.20gr 5h
O: ΝΙΚΑΝΔΡΟΣ; Cow standing left, head looking right, suckling calf, right.
R: ΑΠΟΛ ΑΝΔΡΙΣΚΟΥ; Double stellate pattern within linear double square with sides curved inwards.
BMC 5; Ceka 83.
Holding History/Nathan Hochrein
12/7/14 4/30/17Nicholas Z
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Apollonia, Illyria, Drachm, ΑΠΟΛ ΑΥΤΟΒΟΥΛΟΥAR Drachm
Greek Provincial
Apollonia, Illyria
17.0mm 3.20gr 3h
O: NIKHN; Cow standing left, suckling calf, right.
R: ΑΠΟΛ ΑΥΤΟΒΟΥΛΟΥ; Double stellate pattern within double linear square with sides curved inwards.
Mionnet Supp. 18; BMC 11-12; Ceka 88.
Holding History/Nathan Hochrein
VCoins Inventory # C456
11/21/14 4/30/17Nicholas Z
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Apollonia, Illyria, Drachm, ΑΠΟΛ ΑΥΤΟΒΟΥΛΟΥAR Drachm
Greek Provincial
Apollonia, Illyria
16.5mm 3.30gr 7h
O: ΞΕΝΩΝ; Cow standing right, head looking left, suckling calf, left.
R: ΑΠΟΛ ΑΥΤΟΒΟΥΛΟΥ; Double stellate pattern within double linear square with sides curved inwards.
Exergue: Obverse: Eagle standing right, head left, top center.
Ceka 92.
Holding History/Nathan Hochrein
VCoins Inventory # C459
11/21/14 4/30/17Nicholas Z
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Apollonia, Illyria, Drachm, ΑΠΟΛ ΔΑΜΟΦΩΝΤΟΣAR Drachm
Greek Provincial
Apollonia, Illyria
Issed: After 229BC
16.0mm 3.10gr 9h
O: ΤΙΜΗΝ; Cow standing left, head looking right, calf suckling, right.
R: ΑΠΟΛ ΔΑΜΟΦΩΝΤΟΣ; Double stellate pattern within double linear square, with sides curved inwards.
Exergue: ΓΛΚ monogram, obverse, left field.
Mionnet 19; SNG Cop 381; BMC 14; Ceka 115.
Holding History/Nathan Hochrein
12/7/14 4/30/17Nicholas Z
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Apollonia, Illyria, Drachm, ΑΠΟΛ ΕΠΙΚΑΔΟΥAR Drachm
Greek Provincial
Apollonia, Illyria
Issued: 230 - 229BC
19.5 x 17.0mm 3.50gr 5h
O: ΑΓΙΑΣ; Cow standing left, looking right, suckling calf, right.
R: ΑΠΟΛ ΕΠΙΚΑΔΟΥ; Double stellate pattern within double linear square with sides curved inwards.
BMC 15-16; Ceka 3.
Holding History/Nathan Hochrein
VCoins Inventory #: C452
11/21/14 4/30/17Nicholas Z
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Apollonia, Illyria, Drachm, ΑΠΟΛ ΚΑΙΡΗΝΟΣAR Drachm
Greek Provincial
Apollonia, Illyria
19.0 x 16.5mm 3.40gr 6h
O: ΞΕΝΟΚΛΗΣ; Cow standing left, head looking right, suckling calf, right.
R: ΑΠΟΛ ΚΑΙΡΗΝΟΣ; Double stellate pattern within double linear square, with sides curved inwards.
Mionnet Supp. 22; BMC 39; Ceka 91.
Holding History/Nathan Hochrein
12/7/14 4/30/17Nicholas Z
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Asia Minor, Lydia, Hierocaesarea, Faustina II, ArtemisFaustina II
Hierocaesareia
Vs.: ΦΑΥϹΤƐΙΝΑ ϹƐΒΑϹΤΗ, draped bust of Faustina II, r.
Rs.: ΙEΡOΚΑΙϹΑΡƐΩΝ, Artemis standing, r., drawing arrow from quiver at shoulder, holding bow; to r. at her feet, stag standing, r.
AE, 8.58g, 24 mm.
Ref.: RPC online 2335, Hochard 639
shanxi
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Asia Minor, Lydia, Thyateira, Pseudo-autonomous issue, Dionysos, PanLYDIA. Thyateira.
2nd century AD
Obv: head of young Dionysus, r., wearing ivy wreath
Rev: ΘΥΑΤƐΙΡΗΝΩΝ, Pan advancing, l., holding bunch of grapes and pedum
AE,17.5mm, 3.8 g
Ref.: RPC VI, 4306 (temporary), GRPCL 94, Hochard 2661 (Apollo)
shanxi
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Athena and her owl In Greek mythology, a Little Owl baby (Athene noctua) traditionally represents or accompanies Athena, the virgin goddess of wisdom, or Minerva, her syncretic incarnation in Roman mythology. Because of such association, the bird often referred to as the "owl of Athena" or the "owl of Minerva" has been used as a symbol of knowledge, wisdom, perspicacity and erudition throughout the Western world.
The reasons behind the association of Athena and the owl are lost in time. Some mythographers, such as David Kinsley and Martin P. Nilsson suggest that she may descend from a Minoan palace goddess associated with birds and Marija Gimbutas claim to trace Athena's origins as an Old European bird and snake goddess.
On the other hand, Cynthia Berger theorizes about the appeal of some characteristics of owls such as their ability to see in the dark to be used as symbol of wisdom while others, such as William Geoffrey Arnott, propose a simple association between founding myths of Athens and the significant number of Little Owls in the region (a fact noted since antiquity by Aristophanes in The Birds and Lysistrata).
In any case, the city of Athens seems to have adopted the owl as proof of allegiance to its patron virgin goddess, which according to a popular etiological myth reproduced on the West pediment of the Parthenon, secured the favor of its citizens by providing them with a more enticing gift than Poséidon.
Owls were commonly reproduced by Athenians in vases, weights and prize amphoras for the Panathenaic Games. The owl of Athena even became the common obverse of the Athenian tetradrachms after 510 BC and according to Philochorus, the Athenian tetradrachm was known as glaux throughout the ancient world and "owl" in present day numismatics. They were not, however, used exclusively by them to represent Athena and were even used for motivation during battles by other Greek cities, such as in the victory of Agathocles of Syracuse over the Carthaginians in 310 B.C. in which owls flying through the ranks were interpreted as Athena’s blessing or in the Battle of Salamis, chronicled in Plutarch's biography of Themistocles.
(Source: Wikipédia)
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AUGUSTUS and AGRIPPA Nemausus. Æ Dupondius (13.02 g, 9h). Struck circa AD 10-14. Head of Agrippa left, wearing rostral crown, and head of Augustus right, wearing oak wreath, back to back.IMP above, DIVI F below, P-P across field. / Chained crocodile standing right; palm and filleted wreath behind; palms on either side of stem base.COL NEM across field. RPC I 525; RIC I 160. Dark chocolate brown patina.benito
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B 010 Phocas (602-610 A.D.), Constantinopolis, SB 0640, -/CONΔ, AE-Follis (40 Nummia), Year 6(Ч), B 010 Phocas (602-610 A.D.), Constantinopolis, SB 0640, -/CONΔ, AE-Follis (40 Nummia), Year 6(Ч),
avers: (Dm POCAS) PERP AVG (or similar), Crowned bust facing, wearing consular robes, and holding mappa and cross (or mappa and eagle-tipped sceptre).
reverse: Large XXXX, ANNO above, regnal year to right (Ч), mintmark CON and officina letter (Δ).
exergue: ANNO/XXXXЧ//CONΔ, diameter: 28,0-31,0mm, weight:12,43g, axis:7h,
mint: Constantinopolis, date: 608? A.D., ref: Sear 0640, p-145, MIB 61-62.
Q-001quadrans
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B 010 Phocas (602-610 A.D.), SB 0657, -/NIKOB, AE-Follis (40 Nummia), Nicomedia, Year I, B 010 Phocas (602-610 A.D.), SB 0657, -/NIKOB, AE-Follis (40 Nummia), Nicomedia, Year I,
avers:- Om FO(CA INPER AV or similar) but instead of this have confused overstrucked text, Phocas on left, holding cross on globe and Leontia, nimbate, on right, holding sceptre topped by cross, standing, cross between their heads .
revers:- "m" ANNO/I, Large m, ANNO to left, cross above, regnal year (I) to right; (no letter below), mintmark NIKOB,
exergo: ANNO/I//NIKOB, diameter: 29,5mm, weight:12,84g, axis:6h,
mint:Nicomedia, date: 602? A.D., ref: Sear 0657, p-147; DOC 53b; MIBE 68
Q-001quadrans
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B 010 Phocas and Leontia (602-610 A.D.), Antioch as Theopolis, SB 0675, -/Ћ, AE-Decanummium, Year 4, B 010 Phocas and Leontia (602-610 A.D.), Antioch as Theopolis, SB 0675, -/Ћ, AE-Decanummium, Year 4,
avers: (Dm POCA) NЄ PЄ AV (or similar), Phocas on left, holding cross on globe and Leontia on right, holding sceptre topped by cross, standing facing; cross between their heads.
reverse: Large X, between ANNO and the numerals representing the regnal year (4=II-I/I). Over Cross, mintmark below (Ћ).
exergue: ANNO/II-I/I//Ћ, diameter: 15,0-16,5mm, weight:1,96g, axis:6h,
mint: Antioch as Theopolis, date: 606? A.D., ref: Sear 0675, p-152, MIB 87.
Q-001quadrans
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Baktria, Agothocleia and Straton IAgothocleia and Straton I. 110-100 BC. AE square (7.40 gm, 22mm, 12h). Indian standard. Draped bust of Pallas Athena r. in crested helmet. ΒΑΣΙΛΙΣΣΑ ΘΕΟΤΡΟΠΟΥ ΑΓΑΘΟΚΛΕΙΑΣ. / Hercules seated l. on rock, club against thigh. Monogram I⟠Iᴾ. Karoshthi legend Maharajasa tratarasa dhramikasa Stratasa (of Great King Straton, the Just Savior). EF. Agora Auctions Sale 65 #060. Boperachchi Série 3A; BMC 1-2; HGC 12 #317; MIG 2 Type 307; SNG ANS 9 #983-985. Anaximander
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BCC B11 Heraclius and PhocasByzantine Period - Caesarea Maritima
Heraclius 610-641 CE
AE Follis with overstrike.
Obv:Facing bust of Heraclius ...AV[G]
At 7h: XX[XX], above: ANNO To right: I (part of NIKO?)
Rev:Large M, to right II, above, cross,
below Γ, in ex CON. To left: traces
of legend from base coin ...P AVG
Base coin: Phocas 602-610 CE,
Uncertain mint/year
35x30mm. 11.94gm. Axis:240
SB 804? over SB 659 Nicomedia?v-drome
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BCC B12 Heraclius and H. Constantine Byzantine Period - Caesarea
Heraclius and H. Constantine
610-641CE AE Follis
Obv:Two figures standing facing.
Rev:Large M, Christogram above,
to left, ANNO, to right II/II, Below, ?
in exergue: [CON]
31x28.5mm. 11.63gm. Axis:210
SB 805
Undertype:Phocas and Leonitia?
602-610 CE SB 639?v-drome
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BCC B13 PhocasByzantine Period - Caesarea
Phocas 602-610 CE
AE Half Follis, Nicomedia Mint
Obv:DN FOCAS P P AVG
Facing bust, holding cross in left
hand, mappa in right.
Rev: XX, no cross above,
to right III, in ex. NIKOB
29x25mm. 6.30gm. Axis:180
SB 663v. (no cross)
Below the mintmark is a cross shaped
object which may be an artifact of an
earlier strike. v-drome
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BCC B17 PhocasByzantine Period
Phocas 602-610 CE
AE Follis, Antioch
Obv:DN [FOCA NE PE A V]
Facing bust, crowned, wearing consular
robes, holding mappa and eagle-tipped scepter.
Rev:Large M (lower case), cross above;
to left, ANNO; to right, G/III (year 8)
In exergue: THEUP’
27mm. 9.33gm. Axis:180
SB 672v-drome
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BCC B3x HeracliusByzantine Caesarea
Uncertain mint
Heraclius 610-641CE
AE cut follis with CM
Obv:Traces of facing bust and inscription
Rev:Large M, cross above, to
left A[N...]. Overstruck on
40 nummia (XXXX) of Phocas?.
Finally struck with Heraclian monogram
CM type 1c (Schulze et. al. 2006)
31.5x23mm. 5.18gm.v-drome
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BCC IS9 Arab-Byzantine Imitation? DodecanummiumArab-Byzantine Period
Caesarea Maritima
Crude dodecanummium of early
Byzantine Emperor, or local Arab-
Byzantine imitation of Phocas?
Uncertain date and mint.
Obv: VIIO... Unintelligible inscription.
Bearded bust right, wearing crown? and
consular robes?
Rev: I B Between, cross.
In exergue: ΑΛΕΞ in crude script.
AE12 nummi 14.5mm. 2.35gm. Axis:300
see DOC II.1 pp. 42, 61-64, 150
Surface find Caesarea Maritima, 1974v-drome
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Birytis, AE11, BI PYAE11
Greek Provincial
Birytis, Troas
Issued: 300BC
11.5mm 1.30gr 6h
O: NO LEGEND; Head of Kabeiros, left, wearing pileus.
R: BI PY; Club dividing legend, all within laurel wreath.
Exergue: Obverse: Two stars above head.
SNG Cop 249; SNG Von Aulock 1502-1503; Laffaille 447; BMC 40.
Holding History/Nathan Hochrein 221721905426
3/28/15 4/30/17Nicholas Z
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BOEOTIA, ThebesIn the late 6th century BC the Thebans were brought for the first time into hostile contact with the Athenians, who helped the small village of Plataea to maintain its independence against them, and in 506 repelled an inroad into Attica. The aversion to Athens best serves to explain the unpatriotic attitude which Thebes displayed during the Persian invasion of Greece (480–479 BC). Though a contingent of 700 was sent to Thermopylae and remained there with Leonidas until just before the last stand when they surrendered to the Persians[1], the governing aristocracy soon after joined King Xerxes I of Persia with great readiness and fought zealously on his behalf at the battle of Plataea in 479 BC. The victorious Greeks subsequently punished Thebes by depriving it of the presidency of the Boeotian League, and an attempt by the Spartans to expel it from the Delphic amphictyony was only frustrated by the intercession of Athens.
In 457 Sparta, needing a counterpoise against Athens in central Greece, reversed her policy and reinstated Thebes as the dominant power in Boeotia. The great citadel of Cadmea served this purpose well by holding out as a base of resistance when the Athenians overran and occupied the rest of the country (457–447). In the Peloponnesian War the Thebans, embittered by the support which Athens gave to the smaller Boeotian towns, and especially to Plataea, which they vainly attempted to reduce in 431, were firm allies of Sparta, which in turn helped them to besiege Plataea and allowed them to destroy the town after its capture in 427 BC. In 424 at the head of the Boeotian levy they inflicted a severe defeat upon an invading force of Athenians at the Battle of Delium, and for the first time displayed the effects of that firm military organization which eventually raised them to predominant power in Greece.
After the downfall of Athens at the end of the Peloponnesian War the Thebans, finding that Sparta intended to protect the states which they desired to annex, broke off the alliance. In 404 they had urged the complete destruction of Athens, yet in 403 they secretly supported the restoration of its democracy in order to find in it a counterpoise against Sparta. A few years later, influenced perhaps in part by Persian gold, they formed the nucleus of the league against Sparta. At the battles of Haliartus (395) and Coronea (394) they again proved their rising military capacity by standing their ground against the Spartans. The result of the war was especially disastrous to Thebes, as the general settlement of 387 stipulated the complete autonomy of all Greek towns and so withdrew the other Boeotians from its political control. Its power was further curtailed in 382, when a Spartan force occupied the citadel by a treacherous coup-de-main. Three years later the Spartan garrison was expelled, and a democratic constitution definitely set up in place of the traditional oligarchy. In the consequent wars with Sparta the Theban army, trained and led by Epaminondas and Pelopidas, proved itself the best in Greece. Some years of desultory fighting, in which Thebes established its control over all Boeotia, culminated in 371 in a remarkable victory over the pick of the Spartans at Leuctra. The winners were hailed throughout Greece as champions of the oppressed. They carried their arms into Peloponnesus and at the head of a large coalition permanently crippled the power of Sparta. Similar expeditions were sent to Thessaly and Macedon to regulate the affairs of those regions.
However the predominance of Thebes was short-lived; the states which she protected refused to subject themselves permanently to her control, and the renewed rivalry of Athens, which had joined with Thebes in 395 in a common fear of Sparta, but since 387 had endeavoured to maintain the balance of power against her ally, prevented the formation of a Theban empire. With the death of Epaminondas at Mantinea in 362 the city sank again to the position of a secondary power. In a war with the neighbouring state of Phocis (356–346) it could not even maintain its predominance in central Greece, and by inviting Philip II of Macedon to crush the Phocians it extended that monarch's power within dangerous proximity to its frontiers. A revulsion of feeling was completed in 338 by the orator Demosthenes, who persuaded Thebes to join Athens in a final attempt to bar Philip's advance upon Attica. The Theban contingent lost the decisive battle of Chaeronea and along with it every hope of reassuming control over Greece. Philip was content to deprive Thebes of her dominion over Boeotia; but an unsuccessful revolt in 335 against his son Alexander was punished by Macedon and other Greek states by the severe sacking of the city, except, according to tradition, the house of the poet Pindar.
BOEOTIA, Thebes. Circa 395-338 BC. AR Stater (21mm, 11.98 gm). Boeotian shield / Amphora; magistrate AM-FI. Hepworth, "The 4th Century BC Magistrate Coinage of the Boiotian Confederacy," in Nomismatika Xronika (1998), 2; BMC Central Greece -. Fine.
Ex-Cng eAuction 105, Lot: 34 225/200
ecoli
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Brasil - 20 Reis - 1829Obv:- PETRUS. I. D. G. CONST. IMPET. PERP. BRAS. DEF, Wreath with flowers and 20 in centre; // 1829 R
Rev:- IN HOC SIGNO VINCES, Crowned arms within wreath
Reference:- KM#360
Mintage:- 6,806,739
Part of a large, mixed world lot I bought on a whim.maridvnvm
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Byzantine Anonymous Follis: Class A1 [012]4.22 grams
23.21 mm
Attributed to JOHN I, TZIMISCES (969-976); SEAR 1793
Overstruck on an earlier follis of Nicephorus II Phocas; S-1782cmcdon0923
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Byzantine Anonymous Follis: Class A1 [012]5.66 grams
22.03 mm
Attributed to JOHN I, TZIMISCES (969-976) SEAR 1793
Overstruck on an earlier follis of Nicephorus II Phocas, prob. Sear 1782 or 1783
cmcdon0923
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Byzantine Anonymous Follis: Class A1 [013]4.10 grams
20.65 mm
Attributed to JOHN I, TZIMISCES (969-976) SEAR 1793
Overstruck on an earlier follis of Nicephorus II Phocas, prob. Sear 1782 or 1783
cmcdon0923
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BYZANTINE EMPIRE - MAURICE TIBERIAS BYZANTINE EMPIRE - MAURICE TIBERIAS (582-602 CE) Bronze Pentanummia (Half-Follis). Cherson mint. Obv.: ΧΕΡCONOC Maurice on left; Empress Constantina on right, both standing facing & nimbate, Emperor holds globus cruciger; Empress holds long cruciform sceptre. Rev.: Large Δ to left, cross above it; to right - Theodosius, son of Maurice, stands facing, nimbate, holding long staff surmounted by XI-RHO symbol. Reference: Sear #610.
*NOTE: There is a controversy in the attribution: Anokhin (and other Russian experts) assign the varieties with XEPCWNOC to Justin II, instead of the older attribution to Maurice used by Sear. Anokhin assigns only those with DNMAVRIC PP AVG to Maurice. Grierson does not outright deny it, but has his doubts. Very similar coins were issued in the name of Maurice, so older attributions of the "XEPCONOC" types were also to Maurice, but now some scholars have argued that they were originally issued by Justin II. Under the old attribution the obverse figures are Maurice and his wife and the reverse figure is his son Theodosius. Grierson (p. 73) says, "If the coins all belong together it would seem reasonable to regard them as an insurrectionary coinage struck at Cherson in 602, the intention of the rebels having been initially to depose Maurice in favor of his son Theodosius and not the upstart adventurer Phocas." According to this theory, the revolt prompted a new coin with a neutral legend, which was replaced by the emperor's name when the outcome favored Maurice. This attribution is accepted by Sear.
Anokhin (1980) and Hahn (1978) concur in attributing them to Justin II (and the following period). Anokhin argues the two-figure type resembles the regular type introduced by Justin II and Sophia. However, a type can resemble one of Justin II and be issued a few years later. Anokhin says (p. 92) "if the striking commenced from the moment Theodosius was named Augustus, i.e. in 590, all three series with differing types would have had to be issued within limits between 590-602, which is unlikely." Hahn also argues that there are several minor varieties which would probably take a number of years to mint. However, the varieties are clearly very similar and not numerous. I think there is no need to postulate more than ten years to mint three very similar types, all of which are scarce.
Anokhin (p. 92) argues "if we assign the coins described to Maurice we expose their failure to correspond with empire-wide coins, which have on the obverse a portrait of Maurice alone." But that argument is feeble -- we know Maurice minted such coins that fail to correspond with empire-wide coins -- some of the coins we are attributing have his name on them!
Anokhin (p. 93) thinks the reverse figure, if a real person, could "be Tiberius, the future emperor, who was proclaimed Caesar in December 574 and who reigned as co-regent jointly with Sophia during the last four years of the life of Justin II who was mentally ill." However, he does not accept that it is a real person and says "it most likely represents some symbolic figure or a saint."
Hahn notes that the reverse figure seems to be a Caesar (because the pendillia are lacking) and says in the later 6th century the only appropriate Caesar is Tiberius II under Justin II. However, the older attribution already had an acceptable Caesar, just in the early 7th instead of the late 6th century. Hahn notes the first issue, with the "M" and "K" has a capital omega in "XERCWNOC", rather than the later "O", as do some of the "H" and delta pieces. Clearly, the "M" and "K" are the first of the series. However, that does not make them issued by Justin II.
Hahn admits, as noted by Grierson, that the two-figure type is very similar to some coins of Focas, showing a continuum of types could equally well be at either end of the potential attribution period. Hahn gives the attribution to Justin II and calls it "secure." It may well be that the "M" and "K" types began under Justin II, but the Hahn paper presents no convincing evidence.
If we postulate this type began under Justin II, it is hard to explain why it pops up again under Maurice with a 12-year gap from the end of Justin II (578) until Maurice (582-602) promotes Theodosius to Caesar (May 26, 590). Unless, of course, it was minted throughout the period as a type immobilise. (Thanks for ancients.info for the argument text). My own research of my Russian resources vs. Sear and others confirm all of the above!
dpaul7
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BYZANTINE EMPIRE - NICEPHORUS II PHOCASSear #1782 Nicephorus II Phocas (963-969) AE 28mm Follis. Double/Overstrike. Bust, NichfB/asilRom / +Nichf/EnQewBa/sileusRw/maiwn. dpaul7
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Byzantine Empire: Phocas (602-610) Æ Half Follis, Cyzicus (Sear 669; DOC 82; MIBE 80b)Obv: Crowned facing bust, wearing consular robes, holding mappa and cross
Rev: Large XX; star above; KYZA in exergue
Quant.Geek
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Byzantine Empire: Heraclius (610-641) Æ Follis, Constantinople, RY 4 (Sear 805)Obv: ddNNhЄRACLI ЧSЄT hЄRACONSTPAV; Heraclius, on left, and Heraclius Constantine, on right, standing facing, each holding globus cruciger
Rev: Large M; ⳩ above, A/N/N/O II/II across field; CON in exergue
Overstruck on a Follis of Phocas, specifically Sear 665
Quant.Geek
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Byzantine Empire: Heraclius (610-641) Æ Follis, Constantinople, RY 4 (Sear 805)Obv: ddNNhЄRACLI ЧSЄT hЄRACONSTPAV; Heraclius, on left, and Heraclius Constantine, on right, standing facing, each holding globus cruciger
Rev: Large M; ⳩ above, A/N/N/O II/II across field; CON in exergue
Overstruck on a Follis of Phocas, specifically Sear 665
Quant.Geek
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Byzantine Empire: Heraclius and Heraclius Constantine Follis overstruck on a Phocas Nicomedia Follis.Constantinople Year 3 = 612-613 A.D. 11.11g - 33mm, Axis 7h.
Obv: Heraclius, bearded, on left, and Heraclius Constantine, on right, standing facing, both crowned and cuirassed, both holding cross on globe, cross between their heads.
Rev: Large M, ANNO to left, cross above, (OCA above from Phocas), year 3 (I/II) to right, officina letter Γ below. Mintmark CON.
Ref: Sear 805.
Provenance: Chris Scarlioli CollectionChristian Scarlioli
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Byzantine Empire: Nicephorus II Phocas (963-969) Æ Follis, Constantinople (Sear 1782; DOC 8)Obv: 🞢ҺICIFRb ASILЄVRШ; Crowned bust of Nicephorus II facing, bearded, wearing robe with V-shaped opening and crown with cross and pendilia; in right hand, cross scepter; in left, globus surmounted by trefoil
Rev: 🞢ҺICHF / ЄҺΘЄШbA / SILЄVRШ / MAIШҺ in four lines
Dim: 23.5mm, 6.03g, 6h
Quant.Geek
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