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Frontispiece.
GOLD MEDALLION OF JUSTINIAN I.
FORMERLY IN THE FRENCH COLLECTION.
CATALOGUE
OF THE
IMPERIAL BYZANTINE
COINS
IN THE BRITISH MUSEUM
BY
WARWICK WROTH
ASSI8TANT-KBEPER OF THE COINS AND KEDALS
IN TWO VOLUMES WITH AN INTRODUCTION AND 79 PLATES
VOLUME I
LONDON
PRINTED BY ORDER OF THE TRUSTEES
SOLD AT THE BRITISH MUSEUM, AND BY
LONGMANS & CO., 89 Paternoster Row ; BERNARD QUARITCH, 11 Grafton
Street, Bond Street, W. ; ASHER & CO., 13 Bedford Street, Covent
Garden; HENRY FROWDE, Oxford University Press Warehouse,
Amen Corner, E.C. ; and ROLLIN & FEUARDENT, 6 Bloohsbury
Street, W.C, and 4 Rue de Louvois, Paris
1908 [All righti retervwi}
THE NEW YORK
PUBLIC LIBRARY
475494
TILDES FUUNUATlOhl. 19U9
OXFORD: HORACE HART PRINTER TO THE UNIVERSITY
PREFACE BY THE KEEPER OF COINS
The present Catalogue describes in two volumes (paged continuously) the coinage of the later Boman or Byzantine Empire from the accession of Anastasius I in a.d. 491 to the Fall of Constantinople in 1463. With the exception of some of the specimens arranged under the headings of ^ Italian ' and 'Proviocial' coinages, the coins here catalogued are those that are believed to have been issued by Imperial authority at Constantinople and the other mint-places of the Empire. The eoinages of the so-called 'Empires' of Nicaea, Thessalonica and Trebizond, as well as those of the Vandals, Goths, and Lombards, which have often been confused with the true Imperial coinages, are reserved for treatment in a subsequent volume.
The size of the coins is given in inches and tenths, and the weight in English Troy grains. Tables for converting grains into grammes and inches into millimetres, as well as into the measures of Mionnet's scale, are placed at the end of the second volume. Two lists of Emperors, one a brief alphabetical list, the other chronological and more detailed, will be found at the end of the Indexes.
The whole work has been written by Mr. Warwick Wroth, Assistant-Keeper of Coins and Medals, and the proof-sheets have been read by myself and by Mr. G. F. Hill, Senior Assistant in the Department.
H. A. GRUEBER.
BmnsH Museum, February, 1908.
CONTENTS
VOL. I
PACK
PiBFAGE ill
LuT OF Plates viii
Additions Ain> Gobbections x
IimoDucnoN : —
§ 1. Extent and arrangement of Byzantine Coinage . . . xi
§ 2, Historical and numismatic summary xiii
§ 8. Denominations and weights Ixziv
§ L Tyt>e8y art and portraiture Ixxxiv
§ 5. Imperial mints xcix
§ 6. Inscriptions and dates civ
Caxalooue op Coins: —
Anastasius I 1
Justin I 11
Justin I and Justinian I 28
Justinian I 26
Justin n 75
Tiberius IE, Constantino 105
Maurice Tiberius 127
Phocas 162
Heradius and family 184
Gonstans II (Constantinus III) 255
VOL. n
Constantine IV, Pogonatus 818
Justinian n (first reign) 880
Leontius 846
Tiberius III, Apeimarus 846
Justinian 11 (second reign) 854
Philippicus (Bardanes) 858
Anastasius II (Artemius) 860
Theodosius III 868
Leo in, the ' Isaurian ' (Syrian) 865
Constantino V, Copronymus 878
Artavasdes and Nicephorus 891
vi CONTENTS
Catalogue op Coins {continued) : — page
Leo lY, the Kbazar gdS
Constantine VI 397
Irene 400
Nicephorus I and Stauracius 401
Michael I, Bhangabe 405
Leo y, the Armenian 409
Michael II, the Amorian 414
Theophilus 418
Michael III, the Drunkard 429
Basil I, the Macedonian 435
Leo VI, the Wise 444
Alexander 450
Constantine VII, Porphyrogenitus 451
Bomanus I 451
Bomanus II 465, 468
Theophano, widow of Bomanus II 470
Nicephorus II, Phocas 471
John I, Zimisces 474
Basil II, Bulgaroktonos 484
Constantine VIII 484 and 491
Bomanus III, Argyrus 494
Michael IV, the Paphlagonian 496
Michael V, Kalaphates 498
Zoe and Theodora 499
Constantine IX, Monomachus 499
Theodora (daughter of Constantine VIII) 505
Michael VI, Stratioticus 509
Isaac I, Comnenus 511
Constantine X, Duoas (and Eudocia) 514
Eudocia, Michael VII, and Constantine 521
Bomanus IV, Diogenes 523
Michael VII, Ducas 529
Nicephorus III, Botaniates 535
Nicephorus Melissenus (pretender) 539
Alexius I, Comnenus 540
cJohn II, Comnenus 555
Manuel I, Comnenus 566
Alexius II, Comnenus 582
Andronicus I, Comnenus 582
Isaac II, Angelus (first reign) 588
Isaac Ducas Comnenus, of Cyprus 597
Alexius III, Angelus, called Comnenus 599
Isaac II (second reign) and Alexius IV 607
Alexius V, Ducas Murzuphlus 607
Latin Emperors of Constantinople • • 607
CONTENTS vii
Catalogus of Ck)iNs {canUnued^ : — page
Michael VUI, Palaeologus 608
Miehael Vm and Audionicus n 618
Andronicus 11, Palaeologus (alone) 614 and 625
Andronicns II and Michael IX 618
Andronicus II and Andronicus III 626
Andronicus III, Palaeologus 629
John y, Palaeologus 631
John VI, Caniacuzenus 688
Andronicus IV 684
Manuel II, Palaeologus 685
Manuel II, Helena (Irene) and John VII 689
John VIII, Pahieologus 640
Constantino XI 648
Ikdxxes: —
L Emperors, dynasts, &c 647
IL Mints 650
m. General Index (including Types) 651
IV. Bemarkable Inscriptions 664
Afpbsdices : —
I. Alphabetical list of Emperors, &c., with dates .... 678
IL Chronological list of Emperors 681
Table for converting English Inches into Millimetres and the measures
of Mionnet's scale 685
Table of the Eelative Weights of English Grains and French Grammes 686
LIST OF PLATES
VOL. I
IVonHspiece. Qold medallion of Justinian I. I. Anastasius I. 11. Anastasius I — Justin I. III. Justin I.
lY. Justin I — Justin I and Justinian I — Justinian I. V-X. Justinian I. XI-XII. Justin 11.
XIII. Justin II— Tiberius II. XIV-XVI. Tiberius 11. XVII-XIX. Maurice Tiberius.
XX. Maurice Tiberius — ^Theodosius — ^Phocas. XXI-XXII. Phocas. XXin-XXIX. Heraclius.
XXX. Heraclius — Gonstans II. XXXI-XXXV. Constans IL
VOL. II
Frontispiece. Medal of John VIII by Vittore Pisano. XXXVI-XXXVn. CJonstantine IV.
XXXVni. Constantine IV — Justinian II (first reign). XXXIX. Justinian II (first reign).
XL. Justinian II (first reign) — ^Tiberius III. XLI. Justinian II (second reign) — Philippicus — Anastasius II. XLIL Theodosius III— Leo III. XLIIL Leo III— Constantine V. XLIV. Constantine V. XLV. Constantine V — ^Artayasdes — Leo IV. XLVI. Leo IV — ^Constantino VI and Irene — Irene — Nicephorus I
and Stauracius. XLVIL Nicephorus I and Stauracius — Michael I and Theophy-
lactus — Leo V and Constantine. XLVIIL Michael II and Theophilus— Theophilus. XLIX. Theophilus— Michael IIL L. Michael III— Basil I. LL Basil I— Leo VI.
LIST OF PLATES ix
LII. Alexander — Constantine VII and Zoe — Gonstantine YII and Somanus I. Lin. Constantine YII, Romanus I and GhriBtopher — Period of Constantine YII, Romanus I, Stephen and Constantine — Constantine YII alone — Constantine YII and Bomanus II. LIY. Constantine Vll and Bomanus II — ^Nicephorus 11, Phocas — John I, Zimisoe& liY. John I, Zimisces. LYL BaeU II and Constantine YUI. LVIL BasQ II and Constantine YIII— Constantine YIII (alone)—
Bomanus IIL LYin. Michael lY— Michael Y— Constantine IX. LIX. Constantino IX.
TjX. Theodora — ^Michael YI — Isaac L LXL Constantine X — Eudocia, Michael YII and Constantine — Bomanus lY. LXn. Bomanus lY— Michael YIL
LXIIL Michael Vll — Nicephorus III — Nicephorus Melissenus. LXIY-LX v. Alexius L
LXYT. Alexius I— John II. LXVIL John H. LXYIII. John II— Manuel I. LXIX-LXX. Manuel L
LXXL Manuel I — Andronicus I — Isaac II. LXXn. Isaac II— Alexius IJL LXXIIL Alexius IIL LXXIV. Michael VIII— Andronicus IL LXXY. Andronicus II. LXXYI. Andix>nicus II — Andronicus III — John V — ^Andronicus IV
— Manuel IL LXXYIL Manuel II— John VUL
ADDITIONS AND CORRECTIONS
Page 10 As to the tremissis of Vitalian see further, p. xiii n.
15 Add No. 84^ M 96. Wt. 1462 grains. On r., T ; above, star ; below, star. [Purchased, 1904].
25 To the mints of Justinian add Cherson, and see p. xviii.
50 Add No. 243\ M 5. Wt. 820*2 grains. Same as No. 244, but on rev. A instead of B. [Presented by Mr. B. A. Inglis, 1907].
74, last line but one, for is closely modelled on read much resembles.
440, 1. 11, and on p. 494, 1. 6, for B read b.
Pages 507, 528, 536, for IC read IC.
Plate LXIV. No. 8 obv, (Bust of Emperor) is the ohv. of No. 10 rev. (Christ seated). — No. 10 ohv, (Bust of Emperor) is the obv. of No, 8 rev. (Bust of Christ).
INTRODUCTION
§ 1. Extent and Arbanqement of Byzantine Coinage.
Sabatieb, in his well-known work entitled Deacription ginirdU des numnaies byzantines, published in 1862, has dealt with the coinage of the later Roman Empire from the reign of Arcadius onwards. But in choosing this reign as his starting-point he was influenced— as he admits (ch. i, p. 151) — by motives of convenience and the desire to make his book a supplement to Henri Cohen's Corpus of Imperial coins. Cohen's descriptions extend to the reign of Romulus Augustulus, but do not embrace the coinages of Arcadius and his successors in the Eastern division of the
Although collectors and compilers of catalogues have usually followed Sabatier in regarding the reign of Arcadius as the point de dipart of the later Roman or 'Byzantine' coinage, there is really no historical justification for such a view. It may^ no doubt, be convenient for a historian of the later Roman Empire to adopt the year 395 (Arcadius and Honorius) as a starting-point,^ but (as Prof. Bury remarks') just as there is no question of two Roman Empires in the days of Constantius and Constans, BO ' the relation of Arcadius and Honorius, the relation of Theodosius II and Yalentinian III, the relation of Leo I and Anthemius, were exactly the same as the political relation which existed between the sons of Constantino. However independent one of another, or even hostile, the rulers from time to time may have been, theoretically the unity of the Empire which they niled was unaffected '.
If this is true of the general political relations of East and West, it is no less true of their financial relations — at any rate so far as coinage is concerned. The coins of both great divisions of the Empire from the reigns of Arcadius and Honorius till the reign of Romulus Augustulus are homogeneous in style, type and fabric, and cannot be profitably studied except as a whole.
The position is simplified when the Emperors of the West (and their mints) disappear from the scene with the resignation of Romulus Augustulus, A. B. 476. This event is coincident with the early part of
^ Cp. Bury, Hist, later Swn. Emp., i, p. ix. ' Op. cii, i, p. vii.
xii INTRODUCTION
the reign of Zeno (a. d. 474-491), but it seems better to begin a description of the later Roman coinage, not with Zeno but — a few years later — with Anastasius I (a.d. 491-518), who, though he adhered, in the case of his gold money, to the models of his predecessors, instituted an important reform in the bronze coinage and inaugurated the large fclles (PL I. 8, 9) which long remained characteristic of Byzantine coinage.
It may be added that several distinguished numismatists — such as de Saulcy (in his valuable pioneer Esmi de Classification des auitea monStaires byzantiv^s^ 1886) ; T. B. Burgon (CcUal. of Pembroke Collection, 1848, p. 810); Barth^emy {Bev. num., 1863, p. 456); Babelon {Traiti, i, p. 14), and, apparently, de Salis — have already expressed the opinion that a descriptive catalogue may best begin with the coinage of Anastasius I.^
In the arrangement of the coins the important factors are the mint- place, the denomination and the date of bsue. An arrangement according to 'metals' such as Sabatier adopted can have no scientific justification, and it can hardly be questioned that, both on historical and numismatic grounds, the primary classification, in each Emperor's reign, must be according to mints. Under each mint the coins would probably be arranged most scientifically if they were placed in strict chronological order. Thus, all the coins of year 1 of each Emperor's reign— of whatever denomination — would be placed together ; all those of year 2, of year 3, and so on. But an arrangement of this kind presents some practical difficulties in the case of the catalogue of a large collection; one objection being that the description of each denomination would have to be again and again repeated under each year. It seems best, then,^ under each mint, to group the coins according to denominations, the specimens of each denomination being, of course, arranged chronologically, wherever possible. In this way an important feature — the denomination — is brought into relief, while the chronological sequence is not greatly, if somewhat, obscured.^ In each reign, therefore^ the gi*eat bulk of the coinage will be placed first, under * Constantinople ' ; then will follow the coins of Thessalonica ; those of the Asiatic mints (Nicomedia and Cyzicus), and then the coinages minted at Antioch, Alexandria and Carthage, in Sicily, and at Rome and Bavenna. Under the mint-heading * Constantinople * (e.g.) we shaU have (i) the gold solidi (or nomismata), semisses and tremisses^ described in their approximate chronological order ; (ii) the silver coins ; (iii) the bronze coins, which, till the seventh * century usually bear their own dates, and can be arranged mechanically year by year.
^ Gp. also Madden in Num, Chtvn,, 1878, p. 169:— 'the trae Byzantine type of coinage commences under Anaataaius/ Cp. Finlay, Hist. Gr., ii, p. 8.
* As proposed in a paper on the ' Study of Byzantine Numismatics * contributed by the present writer to Corolla Numiamatica (Oxford, 1906), pp. 325-335.
' In a Corpus of Byzantine coinage, the arrangement might also be affected by the necessity of noting the different series of (Thermae-marks and even the differences of dies.
* Or even the eighth century.
§ 2. ANASTASIUS I— VITALIAN xiii
§ 2. HiSTOBICAL AND NuMlSMATIC SuMMARY.
The first ruler whose coins are described in these volumes is Flavius Anutasius, who was proclaimed Emperor in April, 491, in sucoession to
Zeno. Anastasius was an Imperial iniardsman (sileiir'
*' ' \ J J u- J.- X A • J i.u ANASTASIUS I,
tianus) and owed his promotion to Ariadne, the '
widow of his predecessor, whom he married shortly _ '
after his accession. There are coins of Ariadne with '
her portrait, but these were all issued during the lifetime of her first
husband.
The reign of Anastasius was, on the whole, a prosperous one^ though troubled by an Isaurian war, by Bulgarian invasions of Thrace and, ^pedally, by a war with Persia lasting from the summer of 502 till 506, when the Persians restored their conquests in return for a large indemnity. In the religious disputes of his time the Emperor ranged himself on the side of the Monophy sites. A rising in 514 in defence jr^yoit of Vitalian of the Orthodox party was headed by the general ^ ^ 514-616 Vitalian. In the following year Vitalian advanced to Constantinople, defeated the Imperial troops, and compelled the Emperor to come to terms. The coins that have been usually attributed to Vitalian are undoubtedly barbarous pieces of the time of Justin I or later.^
Anastasius is described by Procopius (HibL arcy xix. 2) as 7rpoyor}TiK<»' totSs T€ ifia xal oiKovo/iiKciTaTO^ irdvT<ov avTOKpaT6p<ov. He built for the protection of the Capital the Long Wall stretching from the Sea of Marmora (at Selymbria) to the Black Sea, and rendered service of a rarer kind by giving his personal attention to the details of finance^ by abolishing the Chrysargyron, the oppressive tax on receipts that weighed on the humblest of his subjects, and by practising economy in the Court and public expenditure. He was thus able, in spite of the large disbursements of his reign, to leave his successor a treasure of 820,000 pounds of gold.
The great currency-reform of his time was the introduction, in a.d. 498, of the large bronze ^ foUis of 40 Tiummiaj with its smaller denominations of 20, 10 and 5 nummia (PI. I. 7, 10, 11 ; PL 11. 1). The new coinage was welcome to the people as taking the place of bronze coins that were usually of very small module, and which had evidently become scarce. It also commended itself by the conspicuous way in which each denomina- tion proclaimed its value on the reverse — M = 40 ; K = 20, &c.^ These
^ See infra, p. 10. The tremissis belonging to Mr. J. W. Barron there referred to, IB thought (as its owner kindly informs me), by some numismatists who have seen it, to have been altered in the obverse legend, and cannot therefore be claimed as a coin of Vitalian.
* In some cases brass rather than bronze : cp. § 3, infra.
' The passage in the Ckranicon of Count Marcellinus, under a.d. 498, has been discQssed by Mommsen in Pinder and Friodlaender, BeihUge zur aUeren MUnzkxtnde
xiv INTRODUCTION
coins were siruck at the three mints which were in operation under Anastasius — Constantinople, Nicomedia and Antioch. The Imperial gold and silver money, from this reign onwards, is struck chiefly at Constan- tinople, or at Carthage and in Italy.
Anastasius was succeeded by Justin I, an illiterate man of peasant- birth, but a good soldier and at that time commander of the Imperial Quards. His reign has been described as a mere prelude * to the reign of his fiBuoQOus nephew Justinian. In 521 ' Justinian assumed the Consulship, and by his display of
magnificent Games won the favour of the populace. On 1 April, 527, Justinian was created Augustus, and reigned jointly with his uncle till 1 Aug., when Justin died. The coins of the joint rule are now rare, especially the bronze pieces, but the gold
, ^. . , coins wei'e probably struck in considerable numbers,
Justinian I, , i 1. 1 i • i_
. . . as there are two varieties of the solidus, each with
1 Ai>ril-1 Aue 627 ^^ ^^'^^ ®®* ^^ officinae-numerals. The Constantinople mint must have been active during the short period- four months — when these solidi were issued.
The gold coins of Justin I are of rude work, and it is difficult to separate them from the numerous * barbai'ian ' pieces that bear the name and head of IVSTINVS (see infra, p. 21). A silver coin with the name of ' Justin * (rev., FELIX CARTA), assigned by Sabatier to Justin I, is probably a Yandalio piece (infra, p. 13, n. 2, and p. 21).^
(Berlin, 1851), p. 123 f. ; cp. p. 135 f. and in his Hist. monn. ivm. fed. Blacas), iii, p. 100 ; cp. p. 108; see also 0. Seeck in Zeitf. Num., xvii, p. 164; Finlay, Hist. Gf\, i, p. 445; Babelon, TmitS, i, p. 770. The text in Roncallius, Vet Lot. Script, Chtvn. (1787), p. 305= Mon. Germ. H, xi, p. 95 is : — * Nummis quos Roniani Terentianos vocant, Graeci follares, Anastanius prinecps sue nomine figuratis placihilem plebi commutationem distraxit.* The text apparently contains several corruptions. Scaliger and later critics read placabilem for placibilem: for follares is read phollaf^es (Babelon) or phoUerales (Scaliger); for Terentianos or terentianos some read teruncios or teruncianos; for commutationem Nipperdey proposed computatiotiem direxit. Mommsen, who was inclined to read com- mutationem instruxit, supposed the passage to mean that Anastasius marked each coin
with its respective name {suo nomine flgumtis), i.e. with its mark of value, M. K> &c., and thereby introduced a change that was welcome to the common people. Pinder and Friedlaender (Beitrage, p. 135 f.) declare that suo nomine figuratis must mean that Anastasius issued coins stamped with his own name. The words may certainly (and perhaps more easily) bear this latter meaning (subsequently adopted by Mommsen, Hist. monn. rom., iii, p. 101), but the passage thus translated seems to lose its force, because the novelty or reform introduced by Anastasius was surely not the stamping of coins with the Imperial name or monogmm — a thing done by his i)redece&sor8— but the stamping them with their marks of value in a conspicuous manner. Another reading that has been proposed by Mommsen {ap. Pinder and Friedlaender, p. 135) is implacabilem plebi commutationem distixujcit, i.e. ' die bisherige dem Volke unbequenie Art des Mdnzveikehrs beseitigte der Kaiser.'
* The alleged repi-esentation of EUPHEMIA, the wife of Justin I, on the reverse of a small bronze coin of her husband (Sab., i, p. 167, No. 59 ; cp. Mem. Soc. arch. St. Pet.,
§ 2. JUSTINIAN I XV
The dose of the year 527 ushers us into the spacious times of Justinian, of Belisarius and Tribonian. The character of Justinian was one strangely eompounded of elements of strength and weakness, and even his ability has been depreciated as of '
a mediocre type. Yet he was certainly the cause of greatness in others, and was himself inspired with an exalted, or at least grandiose, sense of the dignity of Empire. His great ideals were those of Imperial and Christian unity ^ — ideals to be attained by the re-conquest of the ancient Empire of Bome and by the organization and surveillance of State and Church in every detail
Tet Jastinian, the law-giver and diplomatist, the theologian, the master-builder of church and fortress, the patron of the Arts, hardly here concerns us, and it is remarkable that his coinage so imperfectly reflects the general artistic achievements of his reign. He did nothing to improve its mechanical execution or to vivify its reverse designs, though he certainly made an effort in the direction of portraiture so far as his own head is conoemed.' But the head of Theodora is absent from his coins, though the repi-esentation of an Empress had for centuries been familiar on Roman coins, and though his immediate successor (Justin II) associated his wife with himself on most of his obverses. It is the more remarkable because Theodora bad immense political influence and shared to the full her husband s Imperial honours. Her name in inscriptions accompanies that of Justinian ; mosaic portraits and statues of her were everywhere displayed.*
But Justinian the organizer of victory has left ineffaceable traces on the coinage, and in place of the five mint-centres of Justin I we have the eleven or twelve mints of Justinian. The conquest of northern Africa, of Sicily and Italy, made Carthage, Catina,^ Rome and Ravenna Imperial mints which will interest us till they are lopped off one by one, through the loss, in the seventh century, of Africa ; of Sicily in the ninth century ; of Italy in the eighth and the eleventh centuries.^ We are conceited, moreover, with Justinian on account of the great attention that he paid to
IF, p. 293) is in the highest degree doubtful. I suspect the coin to be a badly preserved example of the piece with rev.y Tyche of Antioch, like PI. lY. 4, infm ; cp. de Saulcy, Enai^ p. 11.
> Cp. Diehl, Justinien, pp. 21, 22.
' Jostinian^s portrait is discussed, infm, § 4, Period I.
' Diebl, Jutlinien, pp. 52, 53, and his Figures hyzantines (1906), ' Theodora,' p. 67.
* This was probably the mint of Sicily as was certainly the case under later Emperora.
^ Cp. Bryce, Holy Roman Empire , chap, zvii, p. 318 f., ed. 1904. Justinian has been Bometimes reproached for making these re-conquests instead of confining himself to the viaer policy of strengthening his Eastern provinces. But, as Prof Diehl has remarked (Jutiinienj p. 662), he could not foresee the future. Justinian was not a mere Byzantine rder bat, in his own belief, the heir of the Caesars, bound to recover, if he could, his glorious heritage.
XVI
INTRODUCTION
economics, at least as understood by him.^ His reign^ in spite of grinding
taxation, of devastating plague (a. d. 542), of extravagant expenditure and
maladministration of the public finances, witnessed a great development
of commerce. His coinage is remarkably abundant and was evidently
regularized with care. This was especially the case with the bronze money
which, from his twelfth year (i.e. A.D. 538/9) onwards, is made to indicate
by regnal years the date of issue, so that at the mints of Constantinople,
Nicomedia and elsewhere we can foUow the currency year by year.
Constantinople. The principal mint, as at all periods, was at the
capital. Under Justinian, though not in most later
™^ ® reigns, the issue of gold was confined to this centre,
nor was silver elsewhere coined, except at Carthaire.
^ The important city of Thessaloniga, and the Asiatic
cities, Nicomedia and Cyzicus, contmued to issue
bronze on the model of Constantinople.^
Antioch. The usual legend on the coins is ' Theoupolis ',^ a name
assumed by the city after the disastrous eaithquake of 29 Nov. 528.
AlTTlOCH ^® name * Antioch ' is not found on the coins after this
period though of course it was never really superseded
by the new name. After the destruction of the city by Chosroes in
June 540, it was rebuilt and beautified by Justinian.^ We shall note in
later reigns that in this gi*eat city of Greeks, Syrians and Jews, Latin seems
to have been imperfecUy understood by the Antiochene die-engravers^
and even under Justinian the Latin legends are sometimes most barbarously
reproduced.
Alexandria. This mint, after having been long dormant, once more
^v^^^-n-^^^^ comes into operation.^ It was never important, its
ALEXANDRIA. .,. „ ., v jxjj
coins being usually small bronze pieces, undated, and,
as time advances, of barbarous style. The highest denomination is
IB (12 nummia).
Carthage. The conquest of Africa necessitated a new coinage, and the
establishment of a mint at Carthage, the capital. Carthage had fallen
CARTWAas ^^^ ^^ hands of Belisarius shortly after his victory at
Decimum, 13 Sept. 533. The native chieftains hastened
to make their submission, and Belisarius disbursed large sums as presents.
It is possible that the issue of a silver coinage may have taken place at
once (the coins with CONOS = CONOB, p. 63, m/m), but the minting
of the bronze (marked KAKT), and, it may be, of the silver, was
probably not canied out till about Sept. 534, when the organization of the
^ Diehl, Justinien^ p. 534.
' Theasalonica, however, has denominations peculiar to itself, infra, p. 43. ' See the Catalogue, infra, p. 53. * Procop., De aedif, ii, 10 ; v, 5.
^ The coins assigned by Sabatier to Justin I, seem to be better attributed to Justin II ; see infra, p. 62, note 2.
§ 2. JUSTINIAN I— MINTS xvu
new province was proceeding. Africa was placed under a Praetorian Prefect who had his official residence at Carthage. This city was also the residence of the Afiican commander-in-chief {magister TaUitum)}
It was perhaps in this year (a.d. 534), the date when Belisarias celebrated at Constantinople his triumph for the overthrow of the Vandals and king Gelimir, that the enormous gold medallion, formerly in the French Collection (see frontispiece, vol. I and p. 25, infra)^ was produced, no doubt, at the mint of Constantinople.
Sicily. The conquest of this island by Belisarius followed hard upon hb African success. By the end of 585, Sicily became arrTj v an Imperial province under the governorship of a praetor {rrpaTijyS^y Its scanty bronze coinage does not seem to be earlier than A.D. 538.2
There are numerous gold, silver and bronze coins beaiing the name of Justinian which can be identified by style, &c., as the products of an Italian mint. (In some cases KOMA is named on the TTAIalAir coins). The difficulty is to determine whether these miKTS
coins, or any of them, were struck by the Imperial ^ Bomb. mint-masters.
Speaking broadly, and without dwelling on details partly discussed infra, pp. 73, 74, it may be said that several considerations lead one to suppose that the whole of these coinages, with the exception of a few bronze and possibly a few gold pieces, are not Imperial but Ostrogothic. A oomparison of the heads of Justinian on these coins (silver and bronze) with the heads of the same Emperor on undoubted Ostrogothic coins (Le. those with the King's name or monogram), suggests that the entire series was issued under the same (Ostrogothic) authority.
From the accession of Justinian in 527 till the taking of Home by Selisarius in 536 the Imperialists had no foothold in Italy, and it was not till 552, on the defeat of Baduila (Totila) and the Ostrogoths by Karses, that Italy really became Imperial.^ There was thus ample time and opportunity for the Ostrogothic mints to continue their operations.
If, moreover, we consider the output of the mint of Rome in the reign of Justin II and other immediate successors of Justinian, we find that its issues are exceediugly scanty and chiefly confined to bronze piecoM of the ^denominations XX and X.** No doubt a great mass of Ostrogothic coins bearing the name of Justinian long remained in circulation, and even continued to be imitated over a long series of years, but it is certain
^ See Diehl, UAfrique hyzaniine, especially pp. 40 f., 97, 116, &c. ^ The coins are undated, but have the full-face obverse which was first introduced on Jugtinian*8 coinage in a.d. 5B8/9.
* The struggle did not even quite end till 555. Qregorovius, Hist. Rome^ i, p. 483, Eng. trans.
* There are some solidi and a tremissis that may possibly be Imperial issues of Justinian, but this is very doubtful ; see infray pp. 73, 74.
I c
xviii INTRODUCTION
that the Imperial Boman mint ^as not important under the immediate successors of Justinian, and it is probable that in his reign it had not assumed a position of any significance.
The only coin assigned in this work to the Roman mint is the bronze
piece (p. 70), marked XX, which is dated year 26, i.e. a.d. 552/3, the year of the practical conquest of Italy.^
Ravenna. This city passed from the Ostrogoths to Belisarius in
.. 539/40, but money does not seem to have been coined
there till about fifteen years after this event. The
establishment of the Exarchate of Ravenna apparently dates only from the
reign of Maurice Tiberius (a.d. 584).
Chei*son and uncertain mints. Justinian had various friendly relations with the interesting city of Cherson,^ which was an outpost of commerce, an oasis of Hellenic civilization, in a desert overrun by barbai'ian Huns. Some small bronze coins, no doubt of 5 nummia, have been attributed to it. They bear the head of Justinian, and on the reverse a mono- gram which may be read as the name of Cherson.^ This coinage was scanty and unimportant, though it is possible that it may have been supplemented by the somewhat similar bronze pieces described, infra, pp. 72-78, under * Uncertain Mints *.
Corsica and Sardinia, which fell to the Empire along with Africa, seem to have had no independent mints. So long as Carthage remained Imperial these islands doubtless used the coins that emanated from that centre.
Nor do the successes of Justinian in south-eastern Spain (from a.d. 554)- seem to have led to the establishment of Imperial mints, for the gold coins with the name of Justinian which are discovered in Spain appear to be chiefly the currency of the Visigoths.*
Justinian died on 14 Nov. 565, and his successor was his nephew,
Justin IL He was manied to Sophia, niece of Justinian's wife, Theodora.
TT ^® conspicuous events of the rfeign of Justin II * and
' of his successors Tiberius II and Maurice Tiberius are
fi o t 1578 concerned with the exhausting struggle with the Persians ;
with the devastation of the Balkan Peninsula by Slavs
and Avars; and the conquests (from a.d. 568) of the Lombards in Italy.
^ Even to this coin Ravenna may have a claim ; see infra, p. 70, note 1. In 554 the Emperor confided to the revived Senate of Rome the supervision of weights and measures. The governor of Rome at this time was the pfnefectus urbis nominated by the Praetorian Prefect. Cp. Diehl, iitudes sur Vadminiatfation hyz, dafis Vexarchat de Bavenne, p. 125 f. " Cp. Procop., De aedif., iii, 7. See Byz. Zeitschnfty iv, 397.
'^ A. V. Oreshnikov, ' Ghersono-Byzantine coins' in vol. iii of the Transact I'otis of the Moscow Numismatic Society, 1905, p. 362 ; PL VIII. 1-3. See also Sab., PI. XVII. 17 and infixi, p. 43, note.
* Cp. F. GOrres, 'Die byzantinischen Besitzungen an den Etlsten des Spanisch- Westgotischen Reiches (554-624) ' in B. Z., 1907, p. 515 f. ■ Bury, Hist., ii, p. 67 f.
§ 2. JUSTIN II- SOPHIA xix
The general difiintegration of the Empire reaches a climax in the reign of Phocas'^ (a.d. 602-610), but in the course of the seventh century the Empire is rescued from destruction and revived by the energy of Heraclius*
Durii^ the last four years of his life Justin II was insane, but in a keid interval in Dec. 574 he created Tiberius II Caesar, and, till the dealh of Justin 11 in 578, Tiberius ruled (as a subordinate co-regent) with tiie Empress Sophia.
Sophia, unlike her aunt Theodora, assumes a prominent place on the Imperial coinage from the very first year of Justin's reign ; the usual type of the bronze coins being a group of the Emperor and Empress enthroned (PL XL 8-11). She does not ^ . .
appear on the gold and silver. On the coins of Carthage, not only the effigy but the name of the Empress is added to that of her husband, in the inscription DN IVSTINO ET SOFIE VITA (p. 99, infra). Perhaps these figures reproduce actual statues such as those which are known to have stood in public places at Constantinople — statues of Justin II and Sophia, of his daughter Arabia and of Helena his niece.^
During this reign all the mints of Justinian continue in operation, and gold coins seem also to have been stinick at Ravenna. At the Capital, a new reverse type is introduced on the solidxca, a seated figure of Constantinople (Nia 'Pcofirj : PI. XL 1). John of Ephesus * says that on his ' darics ' (i. e. solidi) Justin * introduced a female figure which was generaUy compared to Venus ', but that his successor Tiberius II discon- tinued this design and, in accordance with the dictation of a vision, caused the Cross to be represented on the reverse of his coins. It seems strange that the armed and draped figure of Constantinople should have been mistaken, even by the most ignorant, for the Goddess of Love, yet John's statement is at any rate correct as to the reverse-type substituted by Tiberius.*
The coins of Antioch are remarkable for the entirely barbarous legends of the obverses, which must have been prepared by engravers who were unacquainted with Latin.
At Carthage, the variety of types is noteworthy. We know that in Jnstin's reign some special care was bestowed on the administration of Africa and the regulation of its finances. Carthage erected statues in honour of this Emperor.^ The silver coins (PI. XIII. 8) bear
* Bury, op. cit, ii, p. 68. ' Unger's Quellen der Byz. Kunsigesch., pp.251, 263. ^ iii, 14, trans. R. Payne Smith.
* On the cbv. of his solidi Justin II holds the globus surmounted by a Victory offering a wreath : on the solidi of Justinian I the Emperor holds the globus cruoiger. "Hie Victory introduced by Justin may be compared with the wreath-bearing Victory that surmounted the Imperial throne of Justin JI ; cp. Corippus, In laud. hi$t,, iii, 201 f. ; Bayet, UArt hyz., p. 94.
* Diehl, UAfrique hyzantine, p. 458 f.
XX INTRODUCTION
the legend FELIX KESPVKL(ica) and Justin's panegyrist Corippus declares : —
Felix est totus lustino principe mundus ; ^
Ijut probably this particular inscription was suggested by the FELIX CARTHAGO of the Vandalic coinages.*^
Tiberius II, Constantino,^ Count of the Excubiti, who had been
appointed Caesar by Justin II in Dec. 574, became Augustus and sole
Emperor in Sept. 578, in the knonth preceding the
II, death of Justin IL In the dates on his coins he
usually reckons his 'reign' as beginning with his
' ' Caesai'ship, but there is no evidence that decisively
HI P^^^v^ ^^^ ^® struck money till he became sole ruler
mifi 90 Sant S78 *^^ Augustus.* His wife Anastasia now received
-13 Anff 582 Imperial honours and took the place of his former
co-regent, the widowed Empress Sophia (cp. obv. of
coins of Thessalonica, PI. XV. 2, Tiberius II and Anastasia).
Tiberius merited praise as a ruler for the attention which he paid to the army and for his remission of taxation throughout the Empire. But his popularity was largely achieved — to the great detriment of the Imperial treasury — by the most extravagant donations to ail sorts and conditions of men. One of the most politic of his gifts was the presentation to Chilperic, King of the Franks, of gold coins or medallions each of a pound's weight (cp. infra, p. 105).
The election of Tiberius to the (sole) consulship gave occasion at Constantinople and several provincial mints for a new obverse type representing the Emperor in Consular dress. The earliest of these coins belong to 578/9 (regnal year *5'). The bronze coins of this type are large and well struck, and the solidus is of relatively good work (PI. XIV. 5 ; XVI. 3 ; XIII. 20). We have already noticed (p. xix, supra) that he inti'oduced a sacred reverse-type— the Cross— on all denominations of his gold money. Another innovation was the introduction of a bronze piece of XXX nummia.
Tiberius died on Aug. 13, 582. A few days earlier (Aug. 5), realizing that he was dying, he had elected as his successor Mauiicius, the Count
* CorippuB, Pantg. in laud, Ancutasii, 1. 33 ; ed. Partsch. At the ]}fvcessm of Justin IPs Gonsulship, the Senate (according to Corippus, In lavd, lust,, iv, 1. 130 f.) saluted the Emperor-Consul with cries of * Vincas ' and * Consule te felix, te principe, floreat orbis *.
* Corippus, lohann,, vi (v), 58, 59, * felix Carthago lustiniana.' Cp. Felix Roma the favourite motto of the Ostrogoth Theodoric: *Regnante Theodorico Domino nostro felix Roma' (Gregorovius, Borne, Book II, chap, ii, pp. 315, 316, £ng. ti-ans.).
^ The name of Constantine had been bestowed on Tiberius by Justin II when he appointed him Caesar ; John of Ephesus, iii, 5, 10, 23 ; Chfvn. Poach., p. 376 A, cited by Clinton, Fast. Rom,, p. 834. As to the name on the coins, see infra, p. 130 n.
* On the difficulties of the dating on the coins see the discussion, iuftv, p. 125.
§ 2. MAURICE TIBERIUS xxi
of the Foederati (barbarian auxiliaries), a good general who had recently retorned from the campaign in Persia.
Maurice — who had assumed the additional name of Tiberius — had a reputation for piety and moderation. He was stigmatized as avaricious, but be seems only to have practised a wise economy mattrtck wbich contrasted strongly with the lavish expenditure TTBERina of bis predecessor. Until the peace of A.n. 591, the .^ . ^* Persian War was a perpetual drain upon his resources, o^ ^^^ ^^2
wbile he was further harassed, during his twenty /^ ge or 27 Nov.) years' reign, by the stniggle with the Avars and Slavs. His iins}rmpathetic treatment of the army, or perhaps his disciplinary zeal, led to a revolt in which the centuiion Phocas took a leading part. Fhocas mardied on Constantinople and Maurice fled to Chalcedon, but was captured and put to death by Phocas on 26 (or 27) Nov. 602.
The mints of this reign continue as before, and the coinage is abundant At Thessalonica, the flourishing city where the Prefect of Uljricum resided, the dated coinage extends from the second to the last year of the Emperor's reign, but there are apparently no coins of years 16, 17, 18, i.e. from a.d. 597/8 to a.d. 599/600. It seems to have been in the year 597 that the city experienced a siege at the hands of the
The coinage of Cabthage — partly dated by Indictions — is fairly important. In this reign the Exarch of Africa (in place of the Magister milUura Africae) is mentioned (a.d. 591) for the first time. The Exarchs were selected judiciously by Maurice, and they governed and defended the country with success against native risings. The insuirection of 595 was the last revolt of the Africans against the Byzantine authority.^
The coinage of Rome continues to be very scanty, but that of Ravenna is more important : the Exarch of Ravenna was appai-ently first created in tbis reign, circ. A.D. 584.^
The bronze of Sicily, now marked with the mint-name Catina, becomes more abundant, and was issued during many years of the reign.
The Lombard and Gaulish imitations of the coinages of Maurice * lie beyond the limits of this work, though they illustrate the history of his reign. The Duchies of Spoletium and Beneventum had already been formed by Lombard chiefs, and from 584 onwards the Lombardic conquests in northern Italy b^an to be consolidated and completed. Against the Lombards Maurice sought the help of the Franks, and sent a subsidy of 50,000 solidi to Childebert, whom he saluted as his * son '.
The somewhat interesting family coinage of Maurice Tiberius must be
^ Bury, Hist.y ii, p, 134 f. Thessalonica was thrice besieged in the seventh century.
* Diehl, VA/r. byz., pp. 478, 482.
* Bury's Gibbon, iv, p. 545 ; Diehl, L'Exafrhat de Bavenne,
* Cp. p. 161, infi-a.
xxii INTRODUCTION
noticed. It consists (i) of bronze coins (PL XX. 1) bearing the figures of
^ ., ^ . the Emperor and his wife Constantina (the daughter
Pamily Coinaffe. « m*i .▼▼/>• • v i i
of Tibenus II, Constantine), and — on the reverse —
their son Theodosius, represented in youth or manhood. These coins
wei'e struck at Cherson, which, though commercially important and
tenacious of its old Hellenic independence, was never one of the great
mints of the Empire and had apparently issued coins hitherto only under
Justinian I.^ It is pi-obable that Maurice had some special connexion
with this city, and that the issue of coins from its mint was intended as
a compliment, on one side or the other.^ (ii) There are silver coins of
Carthage bearing the name of Theodosius (Augustus) only. On one type
of these (PL XX. 3) are three busts which may be best identified as those
of Theodosius and of his father and mother.
As to the date of these family coins : Theodosius was bom 4 Aug. 584. A few yeai-s later (about 5891) he was created Augustus. This is the earliest date at which these coins can have been struck, but unless we are to assume that the representation of Theodosius is purely conventional (a child represented as youth or man), it is better to place the issue a few years later when the precocious Augustus was at any rate about twelve or thirteen. Perhaps the issue of the coins took place about 596/7 when Maurice made a remarkable will by which he bequeathed the Empire to his sons. The share assigned to Theodosius as the eldest was Constantinople and the East. The coins are not likely to have been struck so late as 601/2, because in that year Theodosius was very much in disgrace with his father (who, indeed, chastised him with rods) on account of his connexion with Germanus, who was charged with rebellion against the Emperor. Theodosius was put to death by Phocas in 602, shortly after his father. His mother Constantina was imprisoned, and put to death in 605.
Phocas, who had been crowned Emperor on 23 Nov. 602, shortly
before his execution of Maurice Tiberius, was an ignorant and brutal
soldier, res^arded by his contemporaries as a sort of
PSOCAS » o J r
' monster — the * New Gorgon *. His very appearance was
* repulsive, and Cedrenus^ describes him as shoi*t and
deformed, with red hair and shaggy eyebrows that met
together (but with a shaven chin),^ and a face disfigured by an ugly scar
which darkened in moments of auger. On his coins (PI. XX. 4, &c.) Phocas
* Cp. p. xviii, 8up}xi,
' The inscription in Boeckh, C. I. G., vol. iv, No. 8740, mentions the restoration of the palace (icaiadpiov) in Bosporus which Eupaterios, arparri^dTqf tcai doit^ Xcpo-^Mf, undertook at the expense of a Byzantine Emperor. According to Latyschev (cited B, Z., iv, 1895, p. 397) the Emperor in question is probably Maurice Tiberius and the dat^; A, D. 590.~To the references to the Cheraon coins on pp. 158, 159, infra, add A. V. Oreshnikov, * Ghersono-Byzantine Coins,' printed in vol. iii of the Transactions of the Moscow Numismatic Society^ Moscow, 1905, PI. VIII, 5-12.
' P. 404 = i, 708, ed. Bonn. * 2vuo(f>pvs n koi tj yiptwv Knpofityo^.
§ 2. PHOCAS— HERACLIUS xxiii
has an unkempt, almost ruffianly appearance : he is always represented bearded,^ so that the description of Cedrenus must^ in this particulai*, be inaccarate.^ We may rely all the more on the testimony of the coins because, in this case, a bearded Emperor is a deliberate innovation on the beardless type of the previous reigns. Moreover, the leaden seals of this Emperor have the same legend and bearded bust as the coins.^
During the earlier years of his rule Phocas places on the bronze coins the two standing %ui-es of his wife Leontia and himself, Leontia being Qsoaliy nimbate.^ The coinage as a whole was fairly abundant, and was sbrock at nine mints. Many of the bronze pieces are i-estruck, chiefly on the coins of Mamice Tiberius.
'The reign of Phocas ' (says Gibbon) ' afflicted Europe with ignominious pace and Asia with devastating war.' The peace was that which was concluded with the Avars in 604, when at the same time the Imperial tribute to them was increased. The Persian war was especially disastrous. In 606-607 the Persians oven*an western Mesopotamia and Syria, and in 606 their army advanced across Asia Minor to Chalcedon so that blazing Tillages could be seen from Constantinople itself.
The tyranny and stupidity of Phocas increased the disorders of a troubled period. His endeavour to constrain his Jewish subjects to accept the Christian sacrament of Baptism led to serious revolts (a.d. 609) in Antioch and Alexandria.^ The many conspiracies of the reign were sDCcessfully repressed by him, but, finally, on 4 Oct. 610, a new rival, Henudius, the son of Heraclius the elder, the venerated Exarch of Africa, defeated the Emperor's fleet. The tyrant was put to death, and Heraclius was proclaimed Augustus and crowned by the Patriarch in Constantinople on Oct 5.
A coinage of solidi {vofitcfiaTa), now very scarce, was evidently prepared in haste for circulation with the name of ^r-,^ p Heraclius. • This ySfiia-fia was closely modelled upon '
the corresponding coin of Phocas, and the portrait is '
not distinguishable from that of Phocas (see infra, p. 184, note 3 ; PL XXIU. 1). But Heraclius soon instituted a new t/6fiiafia
^ On the CoDBtantinopolitan semisses and tremisses he is beardless, but the obverses of tiiese denominations are purely conventional and are repeated from reign to reign. On the corresponding Ravenna pieces Phocas is usually given a beard.
' Unless possibly it means that the beard on his chin was trimmed [cp. the pointed Wrd of the coins] but not dean shaven.
' Schlumberger, Sfgillogr., p. 420 ; Konstantopoulos in Journal intemat. cTatxh, mtm,, 1908, p. 70. A steelyard weight in the British Museum having the form of a bearded Emperor has been identified with probability, on comparison with the coins, as Phocas : see Dalton, B. M. Cat, Eatiy Christian AniiquHies, No. 485.
* Cp. Gibbon, v, p. 64, ed. Bury : — * The images of the Emperor and his wife Leontia weiv exposed in the Lateran to the veneration of the clergy and Senate of Rome.'
' Of Alexandria there arc a number of extremely barbarous coins which appear to ^loug to this reign.
xxiv INTRODUCTION
on which the cross potent (already found on the tremissis of Phocas, but without steps) takes the place of the figure of Victory. From his third year onwards variations in the obverse type in all metals become frequent. Most commonly Heraolius appears with his young son Heraolius Constantine, who was bom in May, 612 and crowned Augustus in 613. His son (by- Martina, his second wife) Heraclonas, who was born in 615 and crowned Augustus in 638, appears on the coins with his father and elder brother, but not (at Constantinople) before the year 639/40.^ When the Empress Martina is seen it is in conjunction with her husband and her stepson Heraclius Constantine.
These family groupings are represented quaintly but not without a touch of artistic feeling (see PI. XXIII, 7, 10 ; XXIV. 10), and it may be said that the engraving of the gold and silver coins of Heraclius (at any rate at Constantinople) is throughout fairly neat and skilful. Heraclius himself, according to the description in Cedrenus,' was a man of middle height, strongly built and broad-chested, with fine eyes and yellow hair: he had a long bushy beaixl, but when he became Emperor he shaved. The coins represent him in a.d. 610 with a pointed beard like Phocas,'^ but shortly afterwards with a close beard (PI. XXIII. 1 and 2). From about 629/30, the twentieth year of his reign, he presents a grotesque appearance with a long flowing beard and a moustache of enormous extension (PL XXIII. 9).
The earlier years of the reign of Heraclius wei*e times of grievous disaster for the Empire. Persia was, indeed, a vetua hodis, but its hostility was now productive of unexampled misfortune. Phocas had lost Mesopotamia ; but Asia Minor was now overrun by the Persians right up to Chalcedon. Syria was attacked, and in 611, Antioch, and in 614, Jerusalem were captured.* A precious relic, the Holy Rood, was carried off to Persia. The new coin-legend, Deus adiuta Roi^ianis, first adopted on the silver of 615,^ must have had an almost pathetic significance. In 617 the Persians captured Alexandria and robbed the Empire of ' Egypt ', the granary of Constantinople. But in 622 there came a change. Heraclius had proclaimed a crusade which was welcomed with something like national enthusiasm. The churches of Constantinople lent their plate and treasure, and the free doles of corn to the populace were discontinued. The Emperor himself commanded in person, and by a long series of campaigns lasting from 622 to' 628^ completely shattered the power of Persia.
^ On coins of Rome (p. 243, infixi) Heraclonas appears a.d. 622/8.
« Bury, Hist, ii, p. 208.
^ No doubt a fancy portrait : see p. xxiii, aupm, and infra, p. 184, note 8.
* Pemice, VImp, Eradio, p. 64, note.
'^ Tovr&> r^ crei (615) ytyovtv qw6 v6fiov vofiitrfjui i^ypafifiop apyvpoivf Koi fitujiXucai fiAyai bi aifTOv y€y6va(n Ktii Kara to rjixia-v rrjf apxaifivTiTos, Chwn, Alex,^ vol. i, p. 706, ed. Bonn.
' So Pemice, op. cit., p. 57. In 626 a formidable but unsuccessfiil attack was made upon Constantinople by the Persians allied with Avars and Slavs.
§ 2. HERACLIUS— MINTS xxv
In 628 the Persian King Chosroes died. His son made submission to Henidins and peace was established. In the following year (629) the Empire was again in possession of Egypt and of the other provinces of which Persia had deprived it. The Holy Rood was given back to Heraclius and was solemnly reinstated by him at Jerusalem (a.d. 629).^ The long cross seen on the coins of a.d. 629/30 in the hands of the Emperor may perhaps be not a mere cruciform sceptre but the Rood itself (PI. XXIV. 5 ; XXVn. 20; infra, p. 234).
But a power more formidable than the Persian was already rising, and at a time when the Empire was exhausted by long warring and drained by new taxation, the great Islamic movement under Mohammad had to be reckoned with. In 634 the Arab conquest of Syria began. Damascus, Antioch and Jerusalem fell into the hands of the Saracens, and by 638 the conquest was complete. The Arab invasion of Egypt was reserved for the last melancholy years of the reign of Heraclius, and its capital Alexandria did not fall till some time after his death, which took place on 11 Feb. 641.
During this long and momentous reign no less than twelve mints were in operation, but no important changes were made in the coinage beyond the issue of the 'silver Hexagram' (= double miliaresion), a piece of six scripula, extant specimens of which weigh a little over 100 grains Troy, A curious feature of the bronze coinage, probably significant of an ill-supplied treasury and of careless administiution, is the constant evidence of restriking. Instances in which new JUtTbs were prepared for the coinage of Heraclius are probably exceptional ; the general rule being to utilize as iiana any older coins that came to hand, especially those of Tiberius II Constantine, Maurice Tiberius and Phocas. Restriking has been noticed in previous reigns, but under Heraclius it was pai-ticularly extensive and slovenly. Little or no attempt is made to obliterate the first types, and the original dates and mint-names are often more conspicuous than those impressed by Heraclius. Sometimes the old coin restruck by Heraclius
has itself been originally restruck. In Sicily, the large M coins of the fifth and sixth centuries (Anastasius I — Justinian I) and certain coins of Heraclius himself, struck at various mints, were reissued with no alteration beyond two countermarks which showed the reigning Emperor's head and the name of * Sicily ' (PI. XXVni. 3, 4, &c.). A curious parallel may be found in the history of the English coinage under 'George III, when the government of the day — as a makeshift for a much-needed new issue of five-shilling pieces — put into circulation a great mass of Spanish dollars, countermarked either with O. R. (Georgius rex) or with a small head of George III.
Of the twelve mints, the most important was Constantinople, where
' On the date of the restoration of the Rood, see Pemice, op. cit., pp. 317 f., 174 f. I d
xxvi INTRODUCTION
a long and nearly unbroken series of dated coins was issued from the
first to the thirtieth year of Heraclins. In bronze, the
Mints of "KA
Heraoliiu ^^^ important denomination was the foUis (marked 1*1).
The succession of the types can be studied conveniently
on the dated bronze pieces of this mint. In years 1 to 3 we find
Heraclius alone; from year 8 to 5, Heraclius and his son Heraclius
Constantine ; from year 6 to 19, the group of Heraclius, Heraclius Con-
stantine and Martina. In year 20 (= a. d. 629/30) there is a new variety — '-
Heraclius in military dress and Heraclius Constantine. In year 30
(a. d. 639/40) we find the three figures of Heraclius, Heraclius Constantine
and Heraclonas.
Carthage in this reign is also a mint of considerable importance. Heraclius as the son of an exarch of Africa had a peculiar regard for the province, and at one time contemplated the substitution of Carthage for Constantinople as his capital. Under Heraclius, Africa was prosperous and peaceful, though towards the end of his reign the disorganization of the province had already begun, and the Berbers and other native peoples were asserting theii' independence.^ The African coins present several peculiarities, especially the representation of Heraclius and his eldest son in the guise of Consul. The first appearance here, cii-c. a. d. 629, of a Greek legend — €N T06T0 NIKA — is also noteworthy.
Alexandbia has a varied and somewhat curious coinage. The capture of the city by the Persians took place at the end of a. d. 617,* but in 627/8 the Persians evacuated Egypt, and the Imperial supremacy was restored and confirmed by the peace of 629. It is strange that there
should be coins (see infra, p. 224, M) that beai- dates from 622/3-623/4, and thus fall within the period of Persian rule. The undated coins (infra, p. 224; PI. XXVI, 7, 8) with the star and crescent on the obverse are also remarkable,^ and these symbols may perhaps commemorate the victory over the Persian king Chosroes, whose emblems they were ;* and if this is the right interpretation the coins were probably struck in 628, the year of the death of Chosroes, or in 629.
The Persian invasion of Egypt was to be followed, aftei* some yeara interval, by the still more important attack of the Arabs. This latter invasion began in Dec. 639,^ and in June 641 (i. e. a few months after the death of Heraclius) Alexandria was attacked. It capitulated in Nov. 641, and was finally evacuated by the Romans in Sept. 642. At the end of 645 the city was retaken by the Romans, but was finally regained by the
^ Diehl, L'A/r, hyz.y p. 517 f. In Spain, most of the Imperial possessions were lost in A.D. 616 and again 621-631 ; Diehl, p. 531.
• A. J. Butler, Arab Cmquest of Egypt, pp. xxvii, xxviii.
' Notice also the crown with cross in crescent on No. 276, p. 224, infra.
* Cp. Froehner, Annuaire de la $oc.frang, de Num., 1890, p. 472 f. ^ Butler, op. cit., for this and the following dates.
§ 2. HERACUUS CONSTANTINE, ETC. xxvii
Anbfi in the summer of 646. It will thus be seen that there was opportunity for the intermittent activity of the mint of Alexandria during the earlier years of Constans II, the successor of Heraclius. I have not, however, ventured definitely to assign coins to his reign, though, as indicated, infra^ p. 227, some of the more barbarous pieces described under 'Hetadios I, Alexandria' may have been issued a.d. 641-646, and thus duiiug the reign of Constans. It seems likely that with the Arabian conquest in the summer of 641 the mint came to an end. Yet it is just possible that some of the coins with apparently barbarous legends, HAN , nON, &C. {iiifray p. 227), may have emanated from Alexandria even under the domination of the Ai*abs; for under the new rulers the old civil administration of Egypt was, on the whole, maintained unaltei'ed, and many official posts were even filled by Coptic Christians.^
The coinage of Home is insignificant ; that of Ravenna in gold, silver and bronze of much greater importance. In Sicily we have already ol)fierved (p. xxv, supra) the issue of old follea stamped with the Empei-or's oountermark. The smaller denominations in bronze were struck at Catina.
Antioch (Theoupolis), captured first by the Persians in A.D. 611,^ and then by the Arabs in 636,^ issued no coins under Heraclius, though once so prolific a mint The only exception is formed by the coins of year 7 ( = A. D. 616/7) with the inscription S€HSH , apparently a blundered rendering of * Theoupolis '.
The old mints of Thessalonica, Nicomedia and Cyzicus continued in operation, and two other places now strike for the fii'st and last time under Byzantine rule — Isaura Palaia, which issued coins of year 8 (= a. d. 617/8), and a Cypriote mint, doubtless Constantia, which struck in year 17 (= a. D. 626/7) or perhaps as early as year 15 (= a. D. 624/5).
Heraclius by his will left the administration of the Empire to his tiRTo sons Heraclius Constantino and Heraclonas, and to the Empress Martina. Heraclius Constantino died, ibbacliits
aaer a few months' reign, on 24 May, 641. In Constawtinb September, Constantinus (III), called also Constans (11),^ the young son of Heraclius Constantino and grandson of the great Heraclius, was chosen Emperor. He was crowned in October, and Heraclonas and his mother, Martina, were deposed.
' Butler, op. cit., p. 450. Fustat Miur, not Alexandria, was now the capital of Egypt
- Buiy'B Gibbon, v, 69 f.
' Bury, HUt., ii, 267 n. ; Bury's Gibbon, v, 437 n.
* His baptismal name was Heraclius, changed at his coronation to Constantinus. This last was evidently his official name, Constans being a popular appellation (Bury^s Gibbon, v, 176 n. ; Kaestner, De Imperio Constantini III (1907), p. 24). On the coins he is always ' Constantinus *, but to avoid possible difficulties in the numbering of the many Emperors named Constantine, and in accordance with the usage of most modem 'hiitoiians (following Theophanes), the Emperor has here been spoken of as Constans II.
xxviii INTRODUCTION
There are no coins that can, with any certainty, be assigned to this period between the death of Heradius in Feb. 641 and the coronation, of Constantinus III (Constans II) in October of the same year.
The coinage of Constans II is closely modelled on that of his grand- father, Heraclins, and in various series he associates himself with tli3 figures of his son Constantino IV, PoTOnatus (Aucfustus from A. D. 654), and his younger sons Heradius and TTT^ n AAi Tiberius. His coins were struck at five mints only — -s i n\ flflft Constantinople, Sicily (Catina or Syracuse), Carthage, Borne and Ravenna — as compared with the twelve mints of Heradius; in other words, Thessalonica, Nicomedia, Cyzicus, Antioch and Alexandria^ have ceased to coin, as well as the short-lived mints of Isaura and Cyprus.
The gold coinage issued at the Capital is abundant and well struck: and the number of dies employed is very remarkable. The bronze coinage^ on the contrary, is very badly struck, and the types are usually impressed on earlier coins, which are sometimes the large coins of the sixth century cut up into two or three pieces. The chief denomination
is the follis (marked M) which is now of small module : on most of these coins the inscription dvavkoxris occurs (see infra, p. 266 n.).
The Carthage mint continues to be of considei*able importance, though after the Arab invasion of 647 the Imperial domination of Northern Africa began to be seriously threatened. Sicily, in place of the old sixth-century coins which Heradius had made current by his countermarks, has now types of its own, but even these are generally restruck on eaiiier money.
Under the rule of Constans, a man of energetic and independent character, the territory of the Empire was not materially curtailed, though in the earlier pai't of his reign Cyprus was attacked, Rhodes plundered and Armenia lost. Alexandria was razed to the gi'ound in a.B. 646.^ In 658/9 Muaviah the Caliph made peace with the Emperor. In 663 hostilities were renewed and the Arabs made yearly invasions of Asia Minor.
* Some of the barbarous Alexandrian coins catalogfued under Heradius I may possibly have been struck in the early years of Constans II ; see mpra^ p. xx?ii.
* In A.D. 647 Gbegoby the Patrician, Governor of Africa, revolted and assumed the purple. According to Ibn Abd-el-Hakam he struck coins with his own effigy (Eaestner, De Imp. Cofistanf,y p. 34 ; Diehl, UAfr. hyz,, p. 557). Some small silver coins have been sometimes attributed to him (Mev, helge, 1856, p. 191, cp. p. 492 ; 1857, p. 22 ; Helbing Sale Cat., 13 May, 1907, lot 170 and i^late. The ohv, has a crowned Imperial bust
o Jiev,^ ^-f K. The attribution does not seem to me certain, and the style of the obverse
€ appears to be later than the time of the African Gregory. Two specimens in the British Museum are assigned to the series of Beneventum : one of these formed part of the large collection of Italian coins purchased by the Museum in 1847 from Baron Eolb.
§ 2. CONSTANS II— CONSTANTINE IV xxix
Constans was unpopular in the Capital, and bis famous Tuttos, which forbade all discussion as to the nature of the will and the nature of the eneigjr of Christ, though intended to make for peace, seemed to his subjects to treat with contemptuous indifference the burning theological issues of the day.^ In 662 he left Constantinople never to return. On his way to Italy he visited Athens, and it is likely enough that he and his courtiers brought with them the numerous gold coins that in our own time have been discovered buried at the site of the Asklepieion.^ After ravaging the territory of the Dukes of Beneventum, which he was unable to recover for the Empire, Const-ans took up his residence at Syracuse, where he lived till 668, when he was assassinated by his bathing-attendant. He had reigned twenty-seven years.
His son Constantine IV had, since 654, been associated with his father as Augustus, and it is from this year that Constantine reckons his regnal years when— as is only exceptionally the case— qonsTANTINB IV, a date is inscribed on his coins. He is said to p o attts
have acquired the nickname Pogonatus from the gept. MS^Sept. 685. drcumstance that when he left the Capital for
Sicily to avenge his father's death his face was smooth, but when he returned he had grown a beard. On the coins we find both beardless and bearded types, but ' Pogonatus ' is an epithet more suitable to the enormous beards of Heraclius and Constans II than to the short dose beard of Constantine as shown on his coins (PL XXXVI).
During this reign the Bulgarians settled to the south of the Danube (their kingdom was established a«d. 679), and the Slavs more than once besi^ed Thessalonica, now no longer an Imperial mint. But the life-and- death struggle was with the Caliph Muaviah and the Saracens. A great aege of Constantinople, extending over the years 672-677, was successfully misted, and the ai'my and fleet of the infidel suffered disastrous defeat. ^ 678 peace was made with the Caliphate on honourable terms, and Constantine, who played something of the heroic part of Heraclius and Leo the 'Isaurian', received the congratulations of the western world. It IS probably not without significance that on the obverses of his coins this Emperor is represented — almost throughout— as an armed warrior. The design is borrowed from the earliest type of the solidi of the great Justinian (itself modelled on a type found in preceding reigns), and the cbatacteristic feature is that the Emperor holds a spear and a shield (adorned with the device of a horseman attacking a prostrate enemy). Od the second type of the solidi of Justinian I (and afterwards on the ^lidi of his successors) the Emperor holds the globus cruciger instead of tbe spear, but Constantine IV only exceptionally lays aside his spear for tbe globiLs.
> Bury, Hist., ii, 304.
* Svoronos, in Joum. inteittat, d'atxh. num,, 1904, p. 143 f.
XXX INTRODUCTION
Constantine's bronze coins struck at the Capital are of about the same large module as those of Justinian I, though it may be suspected, perhaps, that old coins of Justinian have been restruck with the types of the later Emperor. His Sicilian coins are like those of his father Constans. His Carthage coinage, though showing (on the thick solid!) traces of barbarism, continues to be impoi*tant : in spite of the Arab invasion of Africa in 669, and of the foundation of Kairouan, south of Carthage, the Imperialists still held their ground^ and at the end of the seventh century, Carthage and Hadrumetum and many citadels of the interior were still in their hands.^
In the acts of his reign and on many of his coins, Constantine IV is associated with his younger brothers Heraclius and Tiberius, but he deposed them from their Imperial position, circ. 680. The extraordinary demand made by the army of the Anatolic district that Constantine should associate his two brothers in his rule because — being believers in the doctrine of the Trinity — they wished to be governed by a trinity of Emperors, may perhaps throw light on the feeling that inspired the frequent representation on Imperial coinage of groups of three (e.g. Heraclius and family and later Emperors).
Constantine died in 685, leaving his throne to his' eldest son Justinian II, who was then sixteen, and who had been associated with his father (though not apparently on the coins) since 680.
Justinian II was successful in a wai- with the Bulgarians, but in 692 he quaiTelled with the Caliph Abdalmalik, and the Imperial arms suffered defeat in Cilicia and Cappadocia at the hands of the Saracens.
Justinian employed as his ministers two men, Stephanus and
Theodotus, whose rapacity and extortionate dealing —
not alien to a certain strain of cruelty in his own
H ^' character — made him immensely unpopular. In 695
"he was oveiiihrown by the general Leontius and
banished with his nose slit,^ or at any rate branded, to Cherson.
Leontius reigned three yeai*s, and like most of the LEONTIUS, ephemeral monarchs who ascended the Imperial throne,
696-698. probably issued coins, though none are known to be extant^
With regard to the coinage of Justinian II during the period 685-695 it may be noticed that he introduced some interesting types, notably the head of the Saviour (in two foi-ms), which now appeal's for the first time on the Imperial coinage (PI. XXXVIII. 15-17).* In one of his coin-legends
' Diehl, VA/r, hyz., p. 580. ' Hence his nickname Rhinotmetos.
' A leaden seal reading Deus aiuta Leontii Aug, Romion is attributed to Leontius by Mordtmann in B. Z., 1906, p. 614.
* There is, previously, an isolated case of the representation of the figure of Christ
§ 2. COINS OF CENTRAL AND SOUTHERN ITALY xxxi
the Emperor describes himself as Semnis Christi; on other coins the vord PAX is conspicnous. His mints are Constantinople, Carthage and SyracQse.
There are no coins (at any rate in the British Museum) belonging to the Ravenna mint, though bronze money may well have been struck there, as was certainly the case in one or two later reigns. Bat the issue of the great bulk of the gold coinage of Coinages of Cen- Bavenna (distinguishable by its bracteate-like fabric) "^ Soutnem
s^ms to have ceased with the reiim of Heraclius or y in e
Ccmstansn. '^^^t^""
Under Justinian II the coinage of Italian mints differs greatly in style and fabric from that previously issued by the Lombards (in the north of Italy) and by the Imperialist authority at Ravenna.^ This Italian coinage continues throughout the eighth century and during the ninth till the time of Theophilus and Michael III, i.e. circ, A.D. 842. It consists of solidi and tremisses which, as a rule, reproduce the types of die Imperial coinage of Constantinople, reign by reign. But it may be distinguished from the Constantinopolitan money by the following criteria: — 1. The coins are rudely engraved in high relief, and type and legend are very rough to the touch, almost, one might say, as if designed to be fingered by a blind man. They nearly always show some trace of barbarism, especially in the frequent blunders of the inscriptions. 2. The gold is often much alloyed either with silver or with basei* metals : some of the coins have the appearance of electrum, others of silver, more or less debased. 3. Various letters and a star are often found in the field of the reverses.
These coins have been much neglected by numismatists, though de Salis, in arranging the British Museum collection, has rendered a useful service in bringing a number of them together under the heading of * the Italian class*. I have arranged many others in the same way, but the great difficulty is to determine at what mints, and by whom, these pieces were struck. Their general provenance seems to be Italy, Central and Southern, and many bear a remarkable resemblance to the gold coins of the Lombard Duchy of Beneventum.^ This ducal coinage of Beneventum
on a rare solidas of Marcian, struck circ, A.D. 450. On the I'ev., the Saviour, wearing the nimbus cruciger, stands blessing the bride and bridegroom, Pulcheria and Marcian ; see 6. Macdonald, Coin Types, p. 234 ; PL IX. 8, solidus in Hunter Museum ; cp. Dressel in Zeit,f. Num,, xxi, p. 247 f.
^ Even before the time of Justinian II there are gold coins, inscribed with the names of Constans II and of Constantine IV, which are not of the 'bracteate* fabric but resemble the Italian coins with the name of Justinian II here referred to.
' On the Beneventum coinage see Keary, Coinages of Western Europe, p. 99 ^ Blanchet, Nouv. manuel de num., II, p. 212 ; Engel and Serrure, Tmiti de num., i, pp. 35, 288. The coins of the Principality of Salerno may also be compared, but these do not
xxxii INTRODUCTION
took its rise under Bomoald II, circ. A. D. 698, and consists of imitations of the solidi of Justinian II, whose bust and legends (much blundered) are copied by Romoald and his successors. Grimoald III, the contemporary of Charlemagne, first places his own name on the Beneventine coins instead of the blundered name of Justinian 11.^
The provenance of the Italian coins now under discussion, and their resemblance to the Beneventum coinage, seem to authorize us in describing them as a coinage of Central and Southern Italy. They can hardly Lave formed part of the Beneventine currency, though another Lombard Duchy, that of Spoleto,^ in Central Italy, might be a possible claimant. On the whole, it seems best to i*egai'd these coins — or at least certain groups of them — as Imperial issues minted at Rome and in the South Italian possessions of the Empire in the toe and heel of the peninsula. The barbarous style and blundered lettering are difficulties in attributing many of the coins to Home ; on the other hand (as Prof. Oman has pointed out to me) the style of the eai'liest Papal coins (those of Adrian I, A. D. 772-795 ; rev. K fD) ^ recalls the style of these Italian gold coins. Probably only a careful study of the provenance of these coins — such as could best be made by an Italian numismatist — will enable us to determine their classification. Meanwhile, I have catalogued all these pieces under the heading Central and Southern Italy, even though they ai*e not demonstrably of Imperial mints; at the same time assigning specifically to Home those specimens which by their style and from the presence of letters in the field seem to suggest this attribution.^
begin till the time of Siconolfus, A. D. 839-849 : see Engel and Serrure, i, p. 291 and F. Gaetano, Le Monete dells Zecche di Salerno, Salerno, 1891.
' The coins before Grimoald III are assigned to different Dukes according to the letters and symbols found in the field of the coins.
^ The earliest pieces hitherto assigned by numismatists to the Duchy of Spoleto are coins of Guido (d. 894): Gnecchi, Bibliogr,y p. 368. It may be also remarked that the earliest coins of the Duchy of Naples— another conceivable claimant—are assigned by A. Sambon to the time of Leo III the Isaurian, a.d. 717. They are followed, but probably not till circ, 821, by the money of the later Dukes : Engel and Serrure, Traiti, i, p. 293 f. The coins now in question are certainly not of the Lombard Kingdom of North Italy, where coinage inscribed with the kings* names probably begins with Grimoald, a.d. 662, and is continued by his successors of the seventh and eighth centuries. This regal Lombardic coinage is of thin^ bracteate-like fabric. On the coinage of Central and Southern Italy, especially in the tenth and eleventh centuries, see J. Gay, Vltalie niiridionale^ Paris, 1904, p. 587 f. During those centuries there are abundant references in extant documents to the Byzantine solidi (solidi Rotnanati; soteriki, i.e. with the type of the Saviour; shyphati) as forming a medium of exchange in Italy, side by side with the local silver coins such as the tari of Amalfi. These solidi must have been the ordinary solidi minted at Constantinople, for our Central and Southern Italian class of gold coins does not seem to have been minted subsequently to cifx, A. D. 842.
» Engel and Serrure, TraiU, i, p. 284.
* Some portions of this section are expanded from my article in Cotvlla numiamatica (1906), p. 330 f.
§ 2. PROVINCIAL COINAGE— JUSTINIAN II (2) xxxiii
In 698 LeontiuSy the supplanter of Justinian 11, was dethroned and hmished to a monastery by the admiral Apsimarus, who, as Emperor, assumed the name of Tiberius (III). '
Daring his reign the Imperialists took the offensive '
against the Saracens, invaded Northern Syria, and were victorious in Cilicia. We have coins of Tiberius III struck at Constantinople, Syracuse, and (in bronze only) at Bavenna.
A few gold coins may be also, possibly, assigned to Carthage in
698, the year in which that city was finally taken by the Arabs.^ After
this capture, which was followed in a few years
(A.D. 709) by the surrender of Septem (Ceuta), the C^^e of Africa.
B^nnan rule, and, with it, the Roman official coinage, vino ^
eeased to exist in Africa. In spite of this, we find
in the reign of Tiberius III, and in many subsequent reigns, till as
late as the time of BasU I (died 886), a series of gold and bronze coins
which bear Imperial types, and which by their provenance, style and
bfamdered inscriptions seem to proclaim themselves as of African origin,
or at least as modelled on coins of the old Cai*thaginian mint The
coins of this series are generally in high relief and often of alloyed
gold (in these respects resembling the Italian coins discussed on p. xxxi),
but they have other peculiarities ; the heads, for instance, are very stiffly
drawn, and the face presents the appearance of a mask. Count de Salis,
who partially arranged the series of these coins in the British Museum,
has labelled it 'African'. But it seems, on historical grounds, highly
improbable that all these coins can have been minted in Africa and
exclusively used there. I have therefore catalogued them (whether Imperial
or non-Imperial) under the purposely vague title of the ' Provincial Coinage'.
It is possible that this coinage may have been in use in Sardinia, while
SicDy has, a priori, a still better claim, and there is some little evidence
as to the Sicilian provenance of the coins.^ Another alternative is that
some of the coins may have supplemented the Arab issues in Africa, or
have been struck by native tribes who had been previously accustomed
to use the Imperial money issued at Carthage.^
Tiberius UI was reigning only in fancied security. In 704 the dethroned Justinian managed to escape from Cherson,
J • nr/^C xU XI. J r XU ^ 1 • JUSTINIAN II
and m 705, with the aid of the Bulgarian army, a - \
made himself master of the Capital where, in the ^ 711
Hippodrome, he put to death the two usurpers,
1 On the chronology, Diehl, BAfr, hyz„ p. 582 f.
* e;g. Tarious coins of this class, chiefly of the eighth and ninth centuries, which came to me at the British Museum for examination (in 1905) were found mixed with Byzantine and other coins that were undoubtedly of Sicily.
• The Arab coins in use were those of the Omayyad Caliphs (a.d. 661-750) and the Abbasid Caliphs (a.d. 750, &c.). Then, the coinage of the Aghlabids in Tunis, &c A.D. 800-909. (Also the Idrisids of Morocco, a.d. 788-985.)
I e
xxxiv INTEODUCTION
Leontins and Tiberius III, Apsimarus — 'treading', as it was said in scriptural language, *upon the Lion and the Asp.'
Justinian caused his young son Tiberius to be crowned Augustus, and associated him with himself on all the coins struck after his restora- tion. These coins were struck only at the Constantinople mint. There are no coins of Syracuse or Ravenna. In 705 Syracuse had been attacked by the Arabs and great spoils taken from it: from this time the issue of Sicilian coinage appears to have ceased, unless the * Provincial ' coinage just referred to (p. xxxiii) is to be regarded as Sicilian. The Ravenna mint ceased to coin in the reign of Leo III (a. d. 717-741).
Justinian 11 was put to death in 711 by the Armenian Bardanes, called Philippicus, who had induced the army to revolt and seize Con- stantinople. The little Tiberius, a child of about six years, was torn from the altar to which he clung for safety and brutally killed. Such was the pathetic end of the last representative of the great House of Heraclius, once the bulwark of the Empire against its Persian and Arab foes.
Philippicus, as Emperor, proved himself a mere man of pleasure, who
paid no attention to public affairs. He was dethroned in June, 713, as
the result of a conspiracy, and his eyes were put out-
' On the obverse of his coins Philippicus is repre-
^ -,, , J,« sented as holding in addition to the usual elobus Deo. 711-June 713. , , , ,^ . /t>i vtt n\ Ti. • x x-
an eagle-headed sceptre (Fl. XLI. 11). It is tempting
to connect the appearance of this sceptre with the story ^ that Philippicus had been banished by Tiberius HI .because of a dream in which Philippicus was seen with his head overshadowed by an eagle — an omen betokening future sovereignty. But on these coins Philippicus seems to be repre- sented as Conavl, this eagle-headed sceptre being a characteristic of the representations of Heraclius, Phocas, and their predecessors in their consular capacity: it is found also on the well-known consular diptychs.
The coins of this reign are chiefly of Constantinople, but the solidus (PI. XU. 14) described, in/raf ii, p. 359, No. 9, is undoubtedly Italian, and was apparently struck at the Roman mint. It must have been issued in the usual course immediately after the accession of the Emperor, for we know that as soon as it was ascertained at Rome that Philippicus was a heretic and a monothelite, there was a violent popular outbreak. The people refused to recognize his acts of sovereignty, and declined to use the solidi bearing his eflig}': — hisdem temporihvs cum statuisset popvXua Bcynianus nequaquaini haeretici Imperatoria nomen, aut chartas, vd Jiguram solidi svscipere.^ A new Duke of Rome sent by the Exarch
» Burj, Hist, ii, p. 357.
• Lib. Pontif., 174 ; Diehl, VExarchat de JRavenne, p. 362 ; Gregorovius, Rome, ii, pp. 208-212, Eng. trans. ; Wroth in Corolla Numismatica (1906), p. 331.
\
§ 2. ANASTASIUS II— LEO III xxxv
on behalf of PMlippicos was resisted by the former Duke, Christopher,
and expelled from the city.
Anastasiiis U, the successor of Fhilippicus, was overthrown in 716,
after a short reign, by the soldiers of the Theme . ^, . ^„ . ^,^-. ^
r^ n - * ., J 17 u ANASTASIUS II,
Qpsikion. As an orthodox Emperor he was - «,« • ^^J
1 J V iu 1 r T> u u J • X Jnne 713-Jan. 716.
weloomed by the people of Home who had just
rejected his predecessor, and his coins were struck at Rome as well as
at Constantinople. On the coins, his private name 'Artemius' appears
in coDJonction with his assumed Imperial name ' Anastasius '.
The place of Anastasius was taken by Theodosius III, an obscure commissioner of taxes, of Adramytium in Mysia, who under the stress of a great Saracen onslaught w wo wo ,
upon the Empire soon abdicated in favour of the '
distinguished general Leo, who was proclaimed on 25 March, 717.
Leo III, generally known in history as the Isaurian, though, as a native of Germanicia in Commagene, he was really a Syrian, was, Uke Heradius and Constantine IV, one of the heroic defendera of the Empire and Christendom against ^-EO III ^
the Moslem. From the great siege of Constantinople, ® isaunan ,
which took place in the first year of Leo's reign, ^
A.D. 717—718, the Saracens retired discomfited — with '
the great army of the Caliph decimated and his armada shattered. ^ The date 718 (says Bury) is really oecumenical ', and Leo is more important in history than Charles Martel.^ Under Leo and his House the Empire now begins to acquire that new vigour which, in the ninth and tenth centuries, was to animate its still more expansive life under the dynasty of Basil the Macedonian.
Leo was a great reformer. He reorganized the army, developed the system of the Themes,^ and devoted attention to finance. By the issue of his Edoga (a legal handbook written in Greek) and of military, agricultui-al, and maritime codes ^ ho rendered notable service to his subjects, to whom Roman law and the Latin language had ceased to be intelligible.*
The great iconoclastic movement — the centre of interest in this reign and in many succeeding reigns — was inaugurated by Leo III in 726 by
* Leo*8 decisive battle over the Saracens at Akroenos in 789 is also noteworthy : see W. M. Ramsay in Studies in hist, and art of the Eastern Provinces (1906), p. 288.
' On this subject, see, besides the well-known essay of Gelzer, Lombard, Constantin F, p. 82 f.; Diehl, in his Etudes hyz.^ pp. 276-292 ('Un trait caract^rise essentiellement le r^me des themes ; c^est la reunion entre les mains d*un m§me gouvemeur des poavoiis dvils et militaires,* p. 277).
' Leo's connexion with the two last-named codes is not, however, ascertained with certainty ; cp. Lombard, op. cit., p. 84 f.
* The coins, however, continue to bear Latin legends.
XXXVl
INTRODUCTION
his decree commanding the total abolition of images, but it concerns us here only in one of its minor manifestations — its influence on the Imperial coin-types. Ever since the time of Tiberius 11 Constantine, the reverse
type of the coins, whenever it was not a mere mark of value (M, i>, &c.), had consisted of a representation of the Cross. Towards the close of the seventh century Justinian II made an innovation by introducing two interesting heads of the Saviour, with a cross shown behind the head. Justinian's successor (Tiberius III) once more displayed the cross on his coins, but there can be little doubt that but for the reforming zeal now directed against both iconolatry and mariolatry, the experiment of Justinian 11 would have been repeated and improved on, and that those figures of the Saviour, of the Virgin, and the Saints, which are common on the later Byzantine coinage would have appeared much earlier and probably in greater variety.
On his coins Leo retained the cross, with the symbolism of which he had no quarrel, for we know that when the great image of Christ was removed from the Palace gateway — to the outrage of a popular feeling which (according to the point of view adopted) we may account either devout or superstitious — he caused a simple cross to be set up in its stead. Under his successor (Constantine V) the coinage becomes more secularized,^ and the ingenious device is adopted of placing the head of an Imperial personage on each side of the coin, instead of merely placing both the heads on the obverse and a religious device on the reverse. Constantine V is known to have set up in Constantinople many statues, in gold and silver, of himself, some of which, if Nicephorus* is to be trusted, occupied the site of images of the Saviour.
In 720 Leo III had crowned his infant son Constantine V (born 718). De Salis and others have denied the existence of any coins belonging to this joint rule, but certain pieces representing Constantine beardless and Leo bearded seem to have a good claim to fill the lacuna.^ The gold coinage of the Emperor Leo is fairly abundant, but his bronze, and still more the silver * money is now extremely rare and can never have been very plentiful. At Ravenna, only bronze pieces were struck, probably at the beginning of the reign ; but the coins that can be assigned to Rome and to the Central and South Italian class are fairly numerous. In what I am obliged to call vaguely the 'Provincial' class, there are solidi obviously modelled on the eai*lier products of the Carthage mint.
^ The Emperor, however, holds a cross, and the cross is the reverse type of the silver coins.
^ Cp. Lombard, op. cit., p. 101.
» Cp. vol. ii, p. 366, No. 8, infra.
* Finlaj (Hist.^ i, p. 450 ; cp. ii, p. 32) woald attribute silver coins usually given to Leo V, to Leo III in conjunction with Constantine V, but he has not examined the numismatic difficulties in his proposed arrangement.
§ 2. CONSTANTINE V xxxvii
Leo died in 741 and was succeeded by his son Constantino V, a good soldier and a vigorous and intelligent statesman, who has too long suffered in the eyes of posterity from being known coj^g^^^TINB V, inainly through the distorting medium of biosn:a- _ phers who were his tneological opponents/ Like _ ^- «
his father, he joined eagerly in the iconoclastic _. - - ' „„-
movement, with which (in the later part of his
leign) he coupled a crusade of his own against monasticism — undertaken probably quite as much on political and social as on religious grounds. He was successful in defending his frontiers, and beat back the Slavi tiie Saracen, and the Bulgai'ian. In Italy he fared less well, and the je&r751 is memorable for the taking of Bavenna by the Lombards under Aistulf and the overthrow of the Exarchate, which then passed by the donation of the Frank King Pepin to the Pope. In 773 Charlemagne destroyed the kingdom of the Lombards and sided with the Pope, Hadrian I, who was the jBrst successor of St. Peter to strike a coinage independently of the Emperor.
Constantine maintained the finances of the Empire in a flourishing condition,^ though we hear much of his brilliant court and costly larg^esses, and of public works, such as the restoration of the aqueduct of Valens. On both sides of his coins he continues the practice that long subsisted of representing the heads and figures of various members of the Imperial family. His coins retain the head of his father, Leo m, and in A. D. 751 he introduces the head and name of the newly-crowned * Leo the younger *, ie. Leo IV, his son by Irene, daughter of the Chagan of the Khazars.
At Constantinople, in addition to the gold and silver money, there is a fairly plentiful issue of bronze, most of which is dated in the thirtieih year of his reign = 749/50 a. d. The custom of dating the bronze coinage had fallen into desuetude, and it is doubtful if it was revived in later reigns.^ The coinage of the 'Provincial' class is also abundant, and the bronze coins with the title A€CTT[OTHC] are well struck.^ The coinage of Ravenna had long since dwindled down to the issue of a few bronze pieces, and had apparently come to an end even before the Lombard conquest of a.d. 751. The Imperial coinage struck at BoiCE, on the other hand, is somewhat important, in spite of the inauguration (already referred to) of a purely Papal currency and of the break between Pope and Emperor, which practically dates from eirc. 756. What we have called the Central and South Italian class eeases to be of importance after the death of Constantine Y, though Kaples and Calabria and Sicily still adhered to the Empire.
' See A. Lombard, Constantin F, Paris, 1902 ; especially chap, ii, ' La l^gende de Coiutantin V/
* Lombard, op. eit., p. 101. • See t«/m, § 6, under ' Dates.*
* On the use of d€a'ir6Tijs, see p. xl n., infra.
^ I
xxxviii INTRODUCTION
The earlier part of the reign of Constantine V was disturbed by the rising of Artavasdes, the son-in-law of Leo III, who seized the capital and assumed the Imperial crown, which he also shared with his son Nioephorus. Both father •wTOTP-PTTo-RTTfl ^^^ ®^^ "WQTQ capturcd crc long and blinded by -*- * -.^o' Constantine, but the coins figured in PL XLV exist 27 June, 742? • i r xu • • tp- i^ • ^i
_ A as rare memorials of their reign. Fig. 16 is a neatly-
engraved solidus of Constantinople^ but Figs. 18 and 19 are of the Boman mint, and are closely modelled on the Roman solidi of the previous reign (Leo III jointly with Constantine V). The strange conjunction, in the case of Fig. 18, of Artavasdes with his rival Constantine V is perhaps due to nothing more than the error of an engraver, who more or less mechanically copied the reverse of a solidus of Leo ni and Constantine V,^
Leo IV (niclmamed the Khazar), who had ruled jointly with his father Constantine V since A.D. 751, became sole ruler on Constantine's
,„^ , death in 775. His health was weak, and special
LEO IV, X 1 X u • 8 i.
^_ _ measures were taken to secure the succession^ to
the Ehazab, ^ . ^^-. - , , T 1 1 M'o ^
14 8 t 77S Constantino VI, his son by Irene, the beautiful
-8 Sg t ' 780 Athenian. On 24 April, 776, this son, a child of
with his son *^l>out six, was crowned at Constantinople, the gover-
CONSTANTINB VI ^^^ ^^ *'^^ thcmes and all classes of the citis&ens
from 24 April 776. ^*^^^g already sworn allegiance to him. Constantine
VI is associated with his father on all the coins
issued by Leo IV, and appears on the solidi, e.g. PI. XLV. 21, as his
throne-fellow. The figures are of nearly equal size and height, but the
chubby face of the child-Emperor is quaintly contrasted with the father's
conventional oval visage and ' beard of formal cut '.
The gold and bronze money of this reign further displays the heads of Leo in and Constantine V, identified by the coin- legends as the ' grandfather ' and ' father ' of Leo IV.
On the death of Leo IV, 8 Sept. 780, the boy Constantine VI and his mother Irene began their joint reign. The whole soul of Irene vrsa
possessed by ambition, but it was the ambition
CONSTANTINE VI J^^ yj^j^y j^jy remarks) of reigning alone, not
and IBBNB, ^j. reigning well. It was not, indeed, till 790,
^ ' when Constantine was about twenty, that he tried
—15 Auff 707
* ' to break loose from his mother's control. Irene
15 A 797 ^^^ ^^^^ deposed by the soldiers, and her favouiiteB
-31 Oct! 802 ^^^ dismissed, though in Jan. 792 she was again
i*estored by Constantine to her old position.
^ It may be noted that there are some Papal documents dated by the yeais of Artavasdes.
* Bury, Hist, ii, p. 478.
§ 2. CONSTANTINE VI— IRENE xsxix
The rule of Constantine and his mother lasted till 797 when, on Aug. 15, Irene caused her son to be deposed and blinded. She then niled— the sole occupant of the throne and. the last representative of die *Isaurian' dynasty — ^for about five years, until in 802 (31 Oct.) she was herself deposed by Nicephorus, her treasurer, and finally died in banishment in Lesbos.
On the coins of the joint reign, the heads of the two rulers are always AEsociated. In the case of the gold coins of her sole reign the Empress tdopts the unusual practice of placing her own bust on the reverse as well as on the obverse (PL XLVI. 10). She appears in a robe embroidered, like the consular dress of the Emperors, with a lozenge pattern and holds a erueifoi-m sceptre and the globus ; but the portrait is highly conventional, and does not materially differ from the portrait of her son. The bronze coins of Irene and, no doubt, some of her gold pieces were probably employed for the {mar^ta or consular donative which Irene liberally distributed to the people on the Easter Monday (1 April) of 799, the day on which she went in procession from the Church of the Apostles to the palace.^ This procession, we are told, was carried out with unnaual pomp. * The Roman world (says Gibbon) bowed to the govern- ment of a female ; and, as she moved through the streets of Constantinople, the reins of four milk-white steeds were held by as many patricians, who marched on foot before the golden chariot of their queen.'
In style and types the coinage of Constantine and Irene follows the stereotyped model of the earlier ' Isaurian ' rulers, i. e. it displays only Imperial busts and figures.^ Yet a new departure in coin-decoration might well have been expected from Irene, for she reversed the policy of her iconoclastic predecessors, and at the Seventh Oecumenical Council, held (at Nicaea) in 787, the figure of the holy cross and holy images (especially figures of Christ, the Virgin, angels and holy men) were de- elared to be lawful in stone or any other material, inasmuch as they stimulated those who beheld them to think of the originals.
The annals of the two reigns include disastrous campaigns against the Bulgarians, and the payment to the Arabs of a great tribute of gold pieees to purchase peace for Asia Minor.^ But the most remarkable event of Irene's reign took place on the Christmas Day of 800, when the Pope (Leo in) crowned Charles the Great, King of the Franks, as Roman Emperor. The allegiance of successive Popes to the Imperial throne had
* *P»+o(ro vvarfiav iv rjj /uarf ^oXX^v, Cedr., vol. ii, p. 28, ed. Bonn. Coins were liberally distributed on the occasion of a coronation— three gold solid!, three silver coins aad three ' obols * in purses (firuc6fi0ia), or there were distributions of vofuafmra (aolidt) : cp. Codin., De ojf., cap. 17, p. 88, Bonn ; ib., p. 98 ; cp. Comm. in Codin., pp. 355, 856, vwanla of semisses, tremisses and newly-struck solidi.
' Except the silver coinage, of which the cross potent long remained the usual type.
' Haroun-er-Rashid was Caliph in a.d. 786.
xl INTRODUCTION
long been weakening. Now came the absolute and final breach, and we have henceforth to deal mainly with an eastern, as distinct from a western, Boman Empire.
It is probably significant that there are, apparently, no Imperial coins struck at the mint of Bome under Constantine V,^ the scourge of monks and image- worshippers, nor are any found under Constantine VI and Irene, though (in 785) these rulers were gratefully hailed by the Pope as a new Constantine the Great and a new Helena.
Nicephorus, Irene's successor, reigned alone till Dec. 803, when he
crowned his son Stauracius. On the solid! of his sole reign he ha,d
restored the cross potent as the reverse type, but the
' solid! of the joint reign display an Imperial head
on each side, after the model of his iconocl^ic
* predecessors. On these latter coins Nicephorus has
/, . X the title of Baa-iXevSi his son being described as
(his son), j> . 2
Dec, 803 S^^^^OTTi,,^ -2 Oct 811 ^^® ex-treasurer turned his attention chiefly to
finance. He imposed new taxes and tributes but practised a well-judged economy as a set-off to the extravagance of his predecessor. In this reign Haroun-er-Bashid again overran Asia Minor, and was again bought off by an indemnity. But the most interesting political event is the treaty of Nicephorus (a. d. 803) with Charlemagne, defining the limits of the eastern and western Empires. The authority of Charlemagne over Bome, the Exarchate of Bavenna, and the Pentapolis was acknowledged by Nicephorus^ while at the same time the western Emperor admitted the supremacy of his eastern * brother * over the maritime parts of Dalmatia and the south of Italy.
The cessation of the (eastern) Imperial coinage at Bome has already been noticed, but we still find under Nicephorus and in a few subsequent reigns solidi of Italian origin bearing Imperial types. These pieces have a quasi-barbarous appearance, and are of base gold, or electrum, but they presumably represent a currency issued for the use of Byzantine subjects in the south of Italy.^ Nicephorus was killed during a campaign in Bulgaria on 26 July, 811; Stauracius then reigned till October 2, when he was deposed by Michael I, Bhangabe, the husband of his sister Procopia.
^ At least of his sole reign.
* AcflnroTiys had already first appeared on the * Provincial * bronze of Leo III, where it is applied to Leo himself and to his son Constantine V. Again, on the corresponding coins of Constantine Y, it is applied to the deceased Emperor Leo III and to the reigning Emperor Constantine Y. On the coins of Nicephorus I, dc orr^f has more the sense of * Piince ', * heir-apparent ', and is applied to the Emperor's son, while ^<u^^>«w 18 reserved for the father.
' Cp. p. xxxii, suptn.
5 2. MICHAEL I— LEO V— MICHAEL H
xli
MICHAEL I,
2 Oct. 811
-11 July, 813
and
THBOFHTIiAOTXTB,
26 Dec. 8U
-11 July, 818.
LBO V,
the Armenian,
11 July, 813
-25 Dec. 820.
CONSTANTOnB
(his son),
25 Dec. 813
-25 Dec. 820.
A few months after his accession Michael crowned his son Theophylactus, who appears with him on the coins. But Michael's ineompetent conduct of the Bulgarian war led to the deposition of both father and son, after about two years' rule (813). Michael, although, like Irene, a supporter of the image-worshippers, made no change in the types of the coinage : the head of Christ which Sabaiier ajid others have described as appearing (m his solidi clearly belongs to the coinage of SGchael ni.^
Leo Y, the Armenian, the competent officer who had been chosen by &e army to replace the weak Michael I, drove back the Bulgarians when they appeared before Constanti- Dople, and after the death of Krum (815), their formidable ruler, concluded a thirty years' peace with King Omortag.
Leo r^tored the discipline of the army, purified the civil administration, and enforced a stricter dis- pensation of justice. But the trimming policy of the 'Chameleon' (as he was called) on the image- eontroversy pleased nobody, and at last the Council of 815 re-established the Acts of the Council (754) of Constantino V ordering the removal of images and pictures.
Leo's coins are of the usual character, and on nearly all he is associated with his son Constantino. He met his death in his own chapel on Christmas Day, 820, at the hands of conspirators who proclaimed the distinguished general Michael of Amorium his successor, and banished ^onstantine to a monastery.
£arly in his reign Michael 11 crowned his son Theophilus, and all the known coins appear to have been issued in their joint names.^ Michael died a natural death in Oct. 829, but his reign had been marked by many disasters.^ Crete was lost to the Arabs in 826, and held by them till an Eastern Emperor (Kicephorus Phocas) long after (961) recovered it; Sicily, often attacked in the eighth century, was now agun invaded by the Arabs (827), who began gradually to settle there, with Palermo as their chief military centre, though the conquest was not completed till 878, in the reign of Basil L
MICHAEL II,
25 Deo. 820
-Oct. 829, and
ThxsofhuiXTB
(his son), 821?- Oct. 829.
' See note, in/>ti, ii, p. 405.
* See notes, infra, ii, pp. 414, 416, on Michael II, and Brooks in B. Z., 1901, p. 540 f. 48 to the coronation of Theophilus.
' Thomas the Slavonian, in the course of his remarkable rebellion, 822-Oct. 824, was 4:T0wiied at Antiocb, but there is no evidence that he struck coins.
I f
xUi INTRODUCTION
Theophilus was an iconoclast of a rather violent type, but some sympathy
may be felt with his passion for building, and his taste for the acquisition
of gems and embroidery, and all the productions of
' goldsmith and silversmith. The famous golden tree 3 Oct 829 • •
with its (mechanically) roaring lions and its melodious
* * birds was an elaborate toy in which he delighted.
More important was his reconstruction and improve-
, . ., * ment of the sea-waDs of the capital, and his pride in
Michael IH ^^^^ useful undertaking is proclaimed with unexampled
(born 830). frequency by inscriptions on the walls.^ Theophilus
was unfortunate in his wars with the Saracens, and
lost Amorium, his family city, to the Caliph Motassem. In this reign
the coinage that we have attributed to the South Italian possessions of
the Eastern Empire apparently comes to an end. The 'Provincial'
coinage ceases in the next reign but one, i.e. under Basil I.
Some space ought here to be devoted to discussing the family history
of Theophilus in connexion with the coins. The wife of Theophilus was
Theodora, ' the Paphlagonian \ and legend, wearing only, it is to be feared,
the mask of history, declares that he chose her (as Paris chose the loveliest
goddess) by presenting her — one among many fair competitors — with
a golden apple. The marriage (however brought about) probably took
place in a.d. 821,^ during the lifetime of his father Micha;el IL There were
several children of this union whose names occur on coins in conjunction
with Theophilus, and these coins may be classified as follows : —
1. With the head of Theophilus alone.
2. Heads of Theophilus and Theodora and their three daughters (all otherwise known), Theda, Anna and Anastasia (PL XLVIIL 14).^
3. Theophilus in conjunction with a ' Michael ' (always bearded) and a 'Constantine ' (always beardless).
4. Theophilus and Constantino (the latter, beardless). 6. Theophilus and a beardless 'Michael.'
Of these series, No. 2 (PI. XLVIIL 14) is, in many ways, the most interesting and important. This coin can hardly have been struck during the lifetime of Michael 11 (with whom Theophilus was then associated es 'prince'), because Michael II (Emperor) finds no place upon it. The earliest possible date of its issue must therefore be Oct. 829, when Theophilus became Emperor after his father's death. From the fact that only the female household of Theophilus is represented thereon, it may be
1 Van Millingen, Byz. Const. (Walla), pp. 182, 183.
» Brooke in B. Z,, x (1901), p. 540 f.
' Maiy, another female relation of Theophilus is sometimes supposed (Brooks in B, Z., z, p. 544) to have been his eldest daughter; by others (E. K. in B. Z.y xi (1902), p. 256j to have been his sister. She does not figure on the coins. There is also a Pulcheria named as the daughter of Theophilus. She is likewise absent from the coins.
§ 2. THEOPHILUS xliii
fwrly assumed— as Schlumberger has suggested ^ — that at the time when the eoin wafi struck Theophilus and his wife had not been favoured with male offspring. Yet Theophilus had son& The young Constantine on Nos. 3 and 4 in our list, tiiough often said to be * unknown to history ' IB evidently the ' Constantine, son of Theophilus/ of whom there is a bare mention in the De Cerimoniia^
The bearded Michael on No. 3 has been sometimes assumed to be a son (otherwise unknown) of Theophilus. As he is represented bearded, his birih would have to be placed soon after the marriage of Theophilus (a.d. 821). But from our argument about the * family' coin (No. 2), it TesultB that Theophilus had no male children till after circ. 829. lliis bearded Michael, therefore^ was probably not the son of Theophilus, nor do we know that he was his brother. I fall back, then, on the simple hypotiiesis that he is Michael II, the deceased father of Theophilus, who is placed on the coin (as was the practice under the Isaurian dynasty) in commemoration, and perhaps also to range symmetrically with previous types. It is, indeed, noticeable that this bearded Michael only appears as one of the family group of three, and not alone with Theophilus, as does the young Constantine (No. 4).
The beardless Michael (No. 5) is clearly the well-known son of llieophilus who became Michael III, and earned the unenviable nickname of 'the Drunkard'. He was bom late in his father's reign (a. D. 839), and was only three when Theophilus died.
The course of events I suppose to have been as follows. At the time of his accession in 829, Theophilus had no sons. For a time he reigned alone, but in a year or two {circ. 882 ?) ^ a son Constantine was bom, and was associated in the Empire. This son died, or was displaced, probably in or before 889, when Michael (lU) came into existence, Michael being crowned in 840 and associated with Theophilus on the coins.
In the coinage some innovations were made by Theophilus. He restored the cross (now the patriarchal cross) on some specimens, and 0&ihe/oZ£e8,anin&cription— inthiscasee€OFIL€ AV^OVSTE SV hICAS—
takes the place of the familiar mark of value M.^ He also introduces on coins the legend Kvpie PorjOei t& <r& 8ov\<p so familiar on Byzantine seals and other monuments.' On some of his coins Theophilus describes himself and his son Constantine as the SovXoi of Christ : Justinian 11, on his solidi, had called himself Servus ChrktL
' Melanges d*arch. hyz., i, p. 141 f.
* Const Porph., De Cerim,, ii, 42 = vol. i, p. 645, ed. Bonn :— ercpov Xapvaxiov npcurtvov^ fV 4 a»6KtiTat K^parcarrivos 6 vl^s 6(o^ov. The difficulty naturally found by Mr. E. W. Brooki (who cites this passage, u. s.) as to Constantine being sometimes bearded is caused only by a mistake of Sabatier*s : Constantine is always beardless on the coins.
' Cp. Brooks, loc. cit, p. 544.
* This mark of value is continued only on the * Provincial * bronze.
* Schlumberger, SigiUographie, pp. 29-35, 42, 43, &c.
xUv INTRODUCTION
Theophilus died in Jan. 842, leaving his child Michael III to the
care of his widow Theodora, who proved a prudent and economical regent.
At the opening of the reign solidi were issued with
MICHAEL in, ^^^ ^^^ ^f Theodora (styled -D€SPVhA) on one side,
Drunkara ^^^ ^^ ^^^ other the little Emperor and his sister
20 Jan. 842 rpj^^^ ^^^^^ ^ * Augusta* (PL XLIX. 14). On a
" ' solidus struck when the Emperor was a few years
. . older, the busts only of Michael and Theodora appear,
Th hil ) ^^^ *^® reverse presents the head of the Saviour resent till 856 ^^'* XLIX. 16). The reappearance of this last-named type is clearly due to the action of Theodora, who restored the worship of images, and brought the great controversy to an end by the overthrow of the iconoclasts. The divine image had been first introduced by Justinian II, A. d. 685-695, but was not destined to reappear on the coins till the reign of Michael III. There can be little doubt that it is reproduced from one of the old coins of Justinian 11 (PI. XXXVIII. 16), though the encircling legend is somewhat altered. The sacred head is not nimbate, but the cross is seen behind it.^
In 856 Theodora retii-ed from the regency, and her daughter Thecla and the two daughters Anastasia and Anna, who once figured on a coin of Theophilus (PI. XLVIII. 14), were at this time, or earlier, banished to a monastery.
Michael himself had grown up dissolute and sottish; he plunged eagerly into the contests of the Hippodrome, and lived on familiar terms with the charioteers: with his boon companions he mimicked the sacred rites of the church and the solemn religious processions.
A noteworthy incident in this reign is the appearance in the Bosporus of a new enemy, the Russians, who attacked Constantinople (a. d. 860), though they were finally driven o£ It has already been stated that the ' Provincial ' coinage comes to an end in the ninth century (reign of Basil I), but a mint for several centuries doimant, that of Cherson in the Crimea, now displays some activity. Its coins are all of bronze, and are of very rude workmanship and design. This important commercial centre had been, from the time of Justinian II till the reign of Theophilus, governed by a president, npmTeijmv or TrpcDTonoXiTi]?, and a council of senators. Theophilus had in a.d. 833 sent thither a strategoa, and an Imperial officer of this name thenceforward ruled there, with the nfrnT^imv and senate in subordination.^
^ A aimilar head of Christ appears on a nog of Basil, the great chamberlain (iropoicoftfMo/ifvoff), who is in all probability identical with Basil (I), afterwards the colleague of Michael 111 : Schlumbeiger, Melanges d'afxh. byz., i, p. 39 f. Cf. Cabroli Diet,f 8. ▼. Anneanx, p. 207.
" Schlumberger, Sigil,, p. 235 ; Bury, Hist.y ii, p. 357 ; Koehne, Mua, Kotschoubey, i, p. 200 f.
§ 2. MICHAEL m— BASIL I xlv
The end of the worthless Michael came on 23 Sept. 867 when, 4n the hour of mtoxication and sleep/ he was murdered at the instigation of his familiar companion, the grand chamberlain Basil (I), whom he had associated with himself in the Empire since May, 866.
Basil, the groom and horse-tamer, who had risen to be a high court
official and co-emperor, was the founder of the great Macedonian dynasty
which was destined to rule the Eastern Empire for -daott
nearly two centuries. Though not himself a great ^^ „ ^ \
ij- i? 1* u r i. J the Macedonian,
soldier or a man of culture, he was of acute and qa a^ ♦ 0^7
vigorous intelligence ; he recognized the immense ^^o ATiff aqr
opportunities of his position, and possessed the useful
kingly art of choosing his agents wisely. He was a great builder and
i^torer of chm-ches. He improved the navy ; revived in his handbook
(the irp6x€ipo9 ySfios), and in the Basilicaj planned by himself and com-
jdeted by Leo YI and Constantine YII, the neglected laws and law-books
of Justinian, and — a hardly less useful service — strove to regulate the
public expenditure and to lessen the grievous burden of taxation.
By the fall of Syracuse in 878 Sicily was finally won by the Arabs, but a compensation to the Empire may be said to have been found in the Imperial successes in southern Italy. In 875 Bari had surrendered and became the military centre of the eastern Empire in the west. The Arabs were driven out of Calabria, and the new theme of Longobardia was formed. These successes had, however, no influence on the coinage, and the 'Provincial' issues^ cease to be struck after this reign, having dwindled down to little more than a currency of bronze. But the appearance is now to be noted at Naples of local coins bearing the name of the Emperor BasiL^ The rude bronze of Cherson remained the solitary example of a currency issued beyond the walls of the Capital.
The Constantinopolitan money of Basil I is fairly abundant and neatly executed. Attention was evidently paid to the regular issue of the bronze currency, though cases of restriking occur. On the reverse of the solidus, which Basil must have struck about the time of his coronation, he introduces for the first time the figure of the Saviour erUkraned ('lesus Christus, rex regnantium '), whose head had already appeared on the money of Michael IH.^ His sons Constantine, Leo VI, and Alexander, all appear on the coins in association with their father, and there is an interesting solidus (PL L. 13) of Basil with Constantine (his son by his first wife Maria) and Eudocia, Basil's second wife. Such Hamily groups were represented in mosaic on the walls of the palace
' The provenance of some specimens snggests that they may have circulated in SicOy and Italy.
' Engel and Serrure, TraiU^ i, p. 295 ; Eev. Num., xiv, p. 245.
' The head of Christ is also found on the exception&l four-solidus piece of Basil I (PL L 10).
xlvi INTRODUCTION
of Bajail, and are found in the Paris MS. of the Homilies of Gregory of Nazianzus.^
Basil died on 29 Aug. 886, from an injury received while engaged
in his favourite pastime of hunting. He was succeeded by Leo VI, the
Wise, who passed as his son, though geneittUy supposed
. ' to be the son of Michael III by Eudocia Ingerina,
' who had been the mistress of Michael before she became
-J^' the wife of Basil I. Leo's long reign and that of his
' ' son Constantino VII, Porphyrogenitus (died 959), carry
us onward far into the tenth century. Leo and Constantino were not
men of sti*ong character or great rulei*8, but most scholars feel a kindness
for these literary Emperors — punctilious and pedantic though they were —
to whom we owe the Tdctica^ the De Cerimoniia, and the De administrando
Imperio.'^ The writers themselves, like other encyclopaedic compilers of
their age had, no doubt, something more than a literary aim, namely,
the desire of rendering the wisdom and experience of the past practically
useful to their contemporaries — of producing in fact some Koiyoixf>€\h
The administration of Leo was lax and incapable, and this Emperor, as Finlay has remarked, typified a bad feature of Conservatism — its ' idle spirit'. In some respects he much resembles Hhe British Solomon', James I. If the army, as one may judge from the Tactica, was well organized and well officered, the military history of the reign is a record of disaster. Bari, in South Italy, was lost, at least temporarily, to the Langobards of Beneventum ; Thessalonica, the second city of the Empire, was captured by the Saracens (904), and the invasion of Bulgaiia, then ruled by a powerful king, Symeon, was unsuccessful. The Islamite pirates of the Aegean still continued a scourge of the Empire. Yet the Empire, as a whole, was not materially affected, and in the east the Empire of the Caliphs was breaking up, just as the Empire of Charles the Great had broken up in the west. The Bulgarians were being converted to Christianity and were settling down. One characteristic feature of the period of the Macedonian dynasty is the growth, in the provinces, of powerful families and theii* mutual strife, which tended to the weakening of the thi'one.
Basil I had died, leaving his sceptre to his sons Leo VI and Alexander, who had already been crowned in his reign. Little brotherly love subsisted
' Bayet, VArt hyz,, p. 156 (ed. 3).
* The Taetica is doubtless of the reign of Leo VI, if not actually from his own pen. See Mitard in B. Z., xii (1903), p. 585 ; Bury's Gibbon, vi, p. 515 f., citing Oman's Art of War, Some writers (cp. Erumbacher, Byz. Lit.y pp. 636, 721) had assigned the work to Leo III, the Isaurian. Cp. Neumann, Weltstellung (French trans., p. 51 n.).
' On this treatise. Bury in B. Z., 1906, p. 517 f.
* C. Neumann, WeltsteUung, &c., French trans., p. 23.
§ 2. LEO VI— ALEXANDER xlvii
between them,^ and Alexander, a mere lover of pleasure without kingly- tastes or habitudes, naturally fell into the background. The names of the two brothers are found at times conjoined in lapidary inscriptions as late as A. D. 904, but it has been thought ' that after some years Leo practically reigned alone. It does not seem likely, however, that Alexander was ever formally displaced, for he was assigned by Leo as the guardian of his young son Constantino YII, and he himself for a time struck coins as sole ruler (PL LII. 1).
Turning to the coinage of Leo's period, we find Leo and Alexander associ&ted only on the bronze money, but we have coins of Leo aJone strack in gold, silver, and bronze. Sp. Lambros has supposed that the ccoDs with the name of Leo aJone were struck subsequent to A. d. 904, bat an examination of the whole series (see infra^ p. 448 f.) suggests, thou^ not very strongly^ that Leo's ' sole ' coins belong to the beginning and middle rather than to the end of his reign. As the predominant partner Leo may have thought it sufficient, as a general rule, to place his sole name on the coinage, and the absence of the name of Alexander need not perhaps necessarily imply that he was not, at least nominally, eo-emperor at the time.
Leo's coins follow the model of his predecessor Basil I, but he introduces (PI. LI. 8) a new and important type — ^the Virgin (HAKIA. This type is a bust of the Virgin orans, and it is interesting to compare with it the ivory in the Berlin Museum, whereon the Blessed Virgin is represented as crowning the Emperor Leo.^
In 911 Leo crowned Constantino VII, his son by his fourth wife Zoe, and the young Emperor is portrayed on the solidi then struck — a tall, slim figure, almost equal in height to his father, though he was but six years old (PI. LI. 9). This is an instructive instance of the conventionality of the coin-types when representing the younger members of the Imperial family.
Leo VI died on 11 May, 912, and was succeeded by his brother Alexander, the guardian of the young Constantino VIL It seems likely that Alexander, during his yearns reign, struck coins in axexattder all three metals, but the only extant pieces are some -_ '
laie solidi of Constantinople and rare bronze of the _g June' 913 Cherson mint. On these coins the existence of Con- stantine VII is ignored, and on the solidus Alexander puts himself under the protection of a saint, no doubt his namesakci St. Alexander, who is represented placing the Imperial crown on his head (PL LII. 1). This
* Vita Euihymii, cap. i, 16 ; xi, 5, ed. C. De Boor.
" Sp. Lambros in B, Z., iv (1895), p. 92 f.
' W. Yoga, Bilder der christl. Epoch. (Berlin Mus.), Elfenheinhildwerkey PL 4, No. 7. Scfalamberger, MHanges tParch. hyz.^ i, p. Ill f. and additions at end of that volume. On the Virgin orans see further, § 4, period IV, infra.
xlviii INTRODUCTION
type of a saint, or, more often, the Saviour or the Virgin, bestowing the crown upon Imperial personages becomes sufficiently common on coins and other monuments in later times, and on the solidus of Romanus I, struck drc. A. D. 927, we find Romanus crowned by the Saviour (PL LIII. 2), as Alexander was by St. Alexander.
We pass on to the long reign of Constantine
OONSTANTINB VII, VII, Porphyrogenitus. For the first six years
POBPHTBOGBNITUS, after the death of his guardian Alexander, Con-
e June, 013 stantine was under the tutelage of his mother
-15 (?) Nov. 059. 2oe and other regents, and the coins are issued
in the name of mother and son.
During the next period, from A. d. 919 to 944, Constantine still remains
in the background, and new co-emperors come forward to share his
honours. The ruling spirit is Romanus I, Lecapenus
' (father of Constantino's wife Helena), who was crowned
T«Tnf! A IPTnTTTTH
_ , ' Emperor at the end of 919. Prof. Bury has remarked^ 17 Dec 910
' Q4.4. ^^^^ Romanus has been unjustly represented as a man
of weak character. In foreign politics and war he was
successful, and by his important law of 935 he attempted to stop the
growth of enormous estates in Asia Minor, and their pernicious absorption
of the small agricultural farmers.
In 921 Christopher (died 931), the son of Romanus I, was crowned co-emperor, and in 924 the two yoimger sons of Romanus, namely Stephen and Constantine, were likewise raised to Imperial rank. We possess coins of all these rulers: on some pieces, Constantine VII takes a secondary position ; on others, he does not appear.
Romanus I was deposed by his sons Stephen and Constantine, 16 Dec. 944, but they were themselves shortly afterwards (27 Jan. 945) banished to the island-monastery to which they had consigned their father. 'Old Romanus (to quote Qibbon*s version of his authority) met them on the beach with a sarcastic smile, and after a just reproach of their folly and ingratitude, presented his Imperial colleagues with an equal share of his water and vegetable diet.'
Constantine VII was at last independent. For about two months he reigned alone, and at this time doubtless issued the solidus and the numerous bronze coins which show his head beai*ded (PI. LIII. 7). It is interesting to observe that nearly all these last-named pieces are struck on the bronze money of Romanus I, which had probably been hastily called in and put out of circulation. In April 945 Constantine crowned his son Romanus II, and placed his head on the coins.
Constantine was among the kings who reign but do not rule; yet his mild manners and the absence of great disasters under his government
^ Bury's Gibbon, v, p. 209 ; cp. p. 215 n.
§ 2. KOMANUS II— NICEPHORUS II xlix
endeared him to his subjects. As a man of cultivation, as author^ painter, uehitect, connoisseur and patron of the arts, he stands conspicuous among Byzantine emperors.^ He died in Nov. 959, and was succeeded
by Bomanus 11, the son for whose behoof he had
vnittett the De adminutrando Imperio^ very much as ^ •
Lord Chesterfield wrote his Letters to his son, Bomanus, ^f^ jL^^I' ^" like Piiilip Stanhope, proved a disappointing pupil. '
He grew up indeed handsome and fascinating, but, as Emperor, had odIj the interests of a man of pleasure. It is strange that we seem to have no coins of his reign ' beyond the trivial currency of Cherson. He died at the age of twenty-four, leaving his wife, the tHBOPHAKO beaatifal but unscrupulous Theophano, regent for his / . . ^
young sons Basil 11 and Constantino VIII.* Bomanus II)
This regency lasted a few months only, till ^^^^^ ^^ j^^ 16 Ang. 963, when Nioephorus H, Phocas, the most ^^js Aug. 968 fstingoished soldier of his time, became Emperor, i&d in the following month married Theophano, of whom he was deeply aamonied. The young Emperors, Basil and Constantino, though necessarily kept in the background, were not ousted from their ■M-rr^^iT*^.^^^.- »» pontoon. On the corns, Nioephorus appears alone, Phocab
exeept in the case of the solidus, PL LIV. 4, ^^ j^ ^^^
whereon he is represented with Basil H ; and this _jq P^ ^^^ pieee we may conjecture to have been struck
immediately after his accession, in order to show that he was the guardian, not the Bupplanter, of the young Emperors. On the solid! with his sole name the bust of Nioephorus is associated with the effigy of the Virgin.
Under Nioephorus 11 and his great successors, John Zimisces and Bttil n, the Empire reached the zenith of its military glory. Already under Romanus 11 Nioephorus had recovered (a.d. 961) for the Empire the island of Crete, which had been so long the stronghold of the Saracen C0T8U1& In 962 he had been victorious over the Saracens in Cilicia, and taken Aleppo from its Emir Sayf-al-dawla, the redoubtable Hamdanid dynast Further suoeessful campaigns in Cilicia and northern Syria followed kter, leading up to the capture in 969 of the great city of Antioch, which was henceforth to remain, almost continuously, in the hands of the Imperialists for more than a century. In 965 the fleet under Niketas had recovered Cyprus from the Saracens.
The great military services of Nicephorus had made him popular at the time of his accession, but his religious policy alienated ecclesiastic
* Bamband, V Empire grec au dianhne siide — Ckmstantin ForphyroginHe ; Bayet, Vart ^.p. 117 f. ; A. van Milliogen, Bye, Const. (The Walls), p. 112.
* See infra, p. 468.
' If the bronze coin that has been described (cp. infra, p. 470) as bearing the name 0' Theophano is correctly read, it probably belongs to the period of her regency.
I g
1 INTRODUCTION
and monk,^ and the imposition of taxation, necessitated by a succession of important campaigns, aroused the discontent of the laity. Cedrenus ^ and Zonaras ^ tell us that he tampered with the coinage, and issued two kinds of vojitajiaTa (solidi); one^ of the usual weight and fineness, in which payment of taxes had to be discharged; another, of diminished weight, which had to be accepted in payments made by the Treasury. The latter coin is stated to have been called T€TapTfjp6i/ or reTaprcpoi/. This was probably not its official denomination, but its popular nickname — as if we were to speak of a debased English sovereign as a crovm (i. e. five- shilling piece). It is further stated that the Emperor refused acceptance, except at a discount, of the solidi of his predecessors.
Now with respect to the debasement of the coinage, it is important to observe that the extant uo/iia-iiaTa of Nicephorus are of the usual weight and, so far as is known, of the ordinary fineness. There is thus no evidence to support the statement that the Emperor issued base money. Suspicions to the effect that the solidus was only a quartet of what it purported to be may have been rife among the subjects of Nicephorus at a period when he was unpopular and when — during a time of famine — he, or his brothei- Leo Fhocas, was suspected of buying up com to seU it at an enhanced price, and the historians may have confounded suspicion with fact.* The whole story of debasement and of the issue of more than one kind of yo/iKr/ia has probably been antedated, for it would be true of some of the successors of Nicephorus.^
The end of the great soldier, and stem, ascetic ruler was tragic. On a December night of the year 969, as he slept alone on a tiger's skin spread in a comer of his palace, he was attacked by a band of assassins and murdered. The chief conspirator was another distinguished general, John Zimisces, the Armenian, and the Empress Theophano, who had become his lover, was privy to the act
Zimisces was at once proclaimed Emperor by his friends, but as the
price of his consecration in St. Sophia's he had to promise the Patriarch
T *^ repeal the ecclesiastical legislation of his predecessor,
ZiMiscisa ^^^ ^^ banish the guilty Theophano. This remarkable
11 Deo 969 8^'^®r, who is described as short of stature but of
-10 Jan 976 ff^^^^ bodily strength and beauty, carried on the work
of Nicephorus in the East, and his campaigns of
974 and 975 justified his own boast that 'all Phoenicia, Palestine, and
^ He forbade the building and endowment of new monasteries and required ecclesiastical appointments to be sanctioned by the Emperor. « Vol. ii, p. 369, ed. Bonn. ' Vol. iii, p. 507, ed. Bonn.
* Cp. Paparrigopoulos, Hist, du peuple grec, iv, 151-153, cited by Schlumbeiger, Un Emp. hyz., p. 539.
* Of his namesake Nicephorus III, Botaniates, for instance. Gp. also the statement of Zonaras (zviii, 22) about Alexius I, cited infra, p. Ixii.
§ 2. JOHN I— ANONYMOUS BRONZE li
Syria were deliYered from the tyranny of the Unbelievers and had become obedient to the Romans'. But his great service to the Empire was his eomplete overthrowing of the Russians who, under Sviatoslav, had invaded Bulgaria, and were threatening Constantinople itself. As a further result of tiiis Bulgarian war (a. d. 970-972), Bulgaria — or, rather, the Eadem kingdom of Bulgaria — was annexed to the Empire, and the Imperial frontier was once more extended to the Danube. The marriage (in 972) of Theophano the younger^ (daughter of Romanus 11 and Theophano) to Otto (11), son of the Emperor Otto I, brought the Eastern Empire, in this reign, into intimate relations with the Western*
John had been proclaimed as guardian of the two young co-emperors, Basil n and Constantine Vm (sons of Romanus II), but their names do not appear upon the coinage, though their existence is implied in the inscription (= rdi^ fiaaiXeva-i) on the silver coin, No. 7, p. 476, infra. John's gold and silver coins are not now very common, though he gained popularity by his charitable distributions, and by the unusual lavishness of his largesses. He abolished the kapnikoUy a hearth-tax that had been instituted by the unpopular Nicephorus I.^
In the choice of types, John, who was known for his piety and for his approval of monasticism, seems to have been influenced by his devotion to the Blessed Yiigin. He engraves on his solidi the bust of Mary, who places the crown on his head, while the JUanvs Dei is stretched over him in blessing. The remarkable silver coin, PL LIY. 14,^ which there is good reason for attributing to this Emperor, may have been struck in 972, when he celebrated at Constantinople his tiiumph after the victories in Bulgaria, and displayed the ikon of the Theotokos that had been captured during the war.
There are no bronze coins bearing John's name or efligy,^ and this
is true also of his successors until Constantine X Ducas (a. d. 1059) once
more issued bronze money with the Imperial
-rr 1 1 1 J. -I • Anonymous bronze
name. We have, however, the formal testimony of j hn I
of Scylitzes that John first issued (in a.d. 972) ^^iS successors.
bronze coins with the head of the Saviour
and a religious inscription in Latin, and that a similar practice was
followed by his successors: — irpoaira^t Sk kol iv t^ vofita-fiarL Kal iv
t£ oJSoX^ eUSva iyypd^ea-OaL rov Soi>Tripo9y fiff TrpSrepov rovrov yevo-
nivov iypd<f>ovTO S^ Kal ypd/ifiara ^fiaioTi kv OaTip<p fi€p€i &Si tt]]
* Represented on an ivory plaque, see infra, p. lix n.
* Schlnmberger, L^ipop. hyz,, i, p. 188.
^ The British Museum specimen has unfortunately suffered injuries which distort the &ce of the Virgin and the head of the Infant Christ.
* The bronze of Cherson, however, bears the monogram of John I and (later) of Basil II.
Hi INTRODUCTION
Bu^iSvra* 'Irfo-ovs Xpiarbf Bao-cXei); BaaiXia^i^. Tovto 8i Kat ol KaOt^rj^ €Trjprj(ray pcuriXeT?.^
There are extant a large number of bronze coins bearing a sacred type and legend as described by Scylitzes (or with similar types and legends), which must undoubtedly be assigned to John and his successors. An attribution of these types to various Emperors has been attempted in this Catalogue^^ and is discussed in detail infra, p. 480 f. A clue to the arrangement is afforded by the restrikings, and by noting the varying ornamentation of the nimbus of the Saviour.
John died suddenly on 10 Jan. 976, on his return from the East,
and Basil II and Constantino VIII (the sons of Bomanus II) were now
« * «»» »» J l^ft fl* joint Emperors. Their busts appear side
BASIL II and . . / .J^ u j i • v ^
ooNSTAirriiTB vra, ^^ ^'^^ ^^ ^^^ 8^^^ *^^ *^^^ "^"^^ ^"^^
976-1026 Constantino was the faint Imperial shadow of
his brother Basil — the ascetic warrior, abrupt of speech, who was feared rather than loved, and indifferent to all the refining influences of art and literature.^ The person of Basil is known to us from a description in Fsellus and from the miniature representing him as a soldier in the Venice Psalter/ His portrait on the coins seems conventional, or of little value as a likeness.
In the earlier years of his reign — for we may speak of it as his — Basil was absorbed by the serious rebellions of Bardas Phqcas and Bardas Skleros. But in 991 he entered on the task of his life, the subjugation of the Bulgarian nationality in both its eastern and western kingdoms. The great struggle continued under Czar Samuel and his successors, and did not close till 1018, when Basil — ' Bulgaroktonos '—celebrated his triumph at Constantinople* By the subjugation of the Slavs and — a more doubtful policy — ^the annexation of Armenia, the Empire acquired a greater extent of territory than it had possessed since the days of Justinian I, but its greatness culminated with Basil 11.
In the Constantinopolitan coinage the only feature of interest is the adoption, probably towards the end of the reign, of a new fabric for the nomiania (PL LVI. 4). This fabric is thin and spread^ and tends
^ Gedren., vol. ii, p. 413, ed. Bonn ; Finlay (Hist,, i, p. 451) remarks on the first part of this passage that its plain meaning is that ' John I made a change in the type of the gold nomisma and of the copper obolos which had previously been distinguished by the portrait of the Emperor *. The facts are that on all the extant gold and silver of John his name and head appear, though with the addition of the Virgin. On the bronze, the Imperial name and head are, for the first time, omitted, and a religious type and inscription take their place.
' On the lines proposed in my article in Corolla Num., p. 838 f.
' Schlumberger, L*^pop, hyz.. Parts I and II.
^ Reproduced in colours in Schlumberger, Un Emp, hyz.<, p. 304. On the coin- portrait, see infra, § 4, Period Y. Basil II (with Gonstantine VIII) appears also in the miniature of the Bari MS. figured in Schlumberger, vipop. by?., iii, 801.
§ 2. BASIL n, CONSTANTINE VHI-ROMANUS HI liii
(o become conoave on the obverse,^ forming the nummi scyphati so
often HMtttioned in documents of a later age. The
eoncavity appears more distinctly in the following
reign; and for a considerable period the fabric of
the old nortvisma or solidus, thick and of small module, subsists beside
the thin and concave fabric of the new Tvomi&nia,^
In this reign the coinage of Cherson comes to an end, and the date of its cessation is doubtless the year 989, when the old Greek city — ' dernier d&nia da i?rand naufra<;e du monde hell^nique' — the intermediary between the trade of Constantinople and ^^
Southern Russia, was taken by Vladimir, son of ^^
Syiatoslav.^ Cherson was, indeed, restored to the Empire when Vladimir married the sister (Anne) of the two Basileis and embraced Christianity, bat there is no indication that its coinage was continued after the Russian capture of the city.
Constantine VIII^ left to rule alone by the death of Basil II in
Dec 1025, was an idler "^ who committed the chief offices of government
to ins eunuchs. In his expenditure he was
Javish, and the gold corns of his three-years .
reicn are of three difierent tvnes. He died
1^^ irviQ Vu , " ,'' ^^ w- P 1« ^®0. 1025
11 Nov. 1028, the last male representative of -.. i/joq
the great Macedonian House. Just before his
deaUi he had compelled Ronuinus Argyrus, a Byzantine noble, to marry
bis seeond daughter Zoe,^ and Romanus duly succeeded to the throne.
The coinage of Romanus IH is not abundant. There are apparently
no silver coins, and the Tiomisma is known only of a single type. This
type departs from the model of his predecessor, and
the obverse shows the Emperor crowned by the '
TheotokoB (PL LVn. 13). The Virgin Mother seems i^^^028
to have been specially invoked as his patron — as ' ,Qg^
she had been by an earlier ruler, John I, Zimisces.
In her honour he built at Constantinople the church and convent of
St. Mary Peribleptos, and the ikon of the Mother of God which served
as the standard of the Emperors was embraced by him with tears and
kisses in a moment of peril in his unfortunate campaign in Syria
(A.D. 1030).«
^ The aide bearing the Emperor's name and figure may be conveniently described as the obverse.
' The nomisma of concave fabric is of heavier weight than the flat nomisma ; see farther, infra, p. IziL
' On the date, Schlnmberger, VEpop, byz., i, p. 758.
* On his character, Schlumberger, UJ^pop. hyz.y i, 334, 335 ; iii, p. 2 f.
' On Zoe, Schlumberger, op. cit., iii; Diehl, Etudes hyz., p. 70, and his Figures ^zantines, chap. x.
* FtelluB, Hist., 334 (p. 31, ed. Sathas, 1899).
liv INTRODUCTION
Romanus died in 1034, and was succeeded by Michael IV, an able
and handsome court-officer, for whom Zoe had, while still the wife of
T Romanus III, conceived a passion, and whom
_ ' she now married without a moment's delay.
. In this reign, the mcrease of the taxes and
-10 D ' 1041 iheii arbitrary collection led to a revolt of the
Bulgarians and Servians, and the independence
of Servia began now (1040) to be tacitly recognized. An attempt to
reconquer Sicily from the Saracens was undertaken by the brave George
Maniakes with Normans and Varangians in his army, but was not
successful, though Messina was stormed (1038). Michael died 10 Dec.
1041.
Zoe caused to be crowned as Emperor, Michael Y (the nephew of
Michael IV), her *son' by adoption. On 18 April, 1042, the adopted son
T ^^^ ^^ ^^^^ exile, but as the result of a popular
^ ' outbreak Michael was deposed and Zoe restored to
EAIiAFHATIDS, mi 1 . 1 1
T) 1041 throne. The only com that has any claim to
-21 A ril 1042 belong to Michael V is that figured in PI. LVIII. 5,
a nomisma showing the Emperor crowned by the
Virgin. The Emperor's head may be compared with the portrait of him
that appears in the MS. of Zonaras at Modena,^ representing his face
as long and oval with a somewhat long beard and moustache.
For a few months Zoe shared the government with her younger sister
Theodora, and though no coins have been identified as of their joint rule,
it is not improbable that such pieces wei'e issued.
_ Psellus describes the two Empresses seated side by
THBODOHyA.
T ' ®^^® ^^ *^® thi'one, and states that they made immense 1042 ' largesses to the multitude.^ Theodora (according to
Psellus) was calm and restrained. Zoe passed rapidly from the transports of joy to the depths of gloom. Zoe was extravagant and lavish^ while Theodoiti husbanded her resources.^ Their porti-aits appear in the Modena MS. of Zonaras,^ and they were represented, conventionally, on the ci'own of 'Constantine Monomachus' now in the National Museum of Pesth.^
On 11 June, 1042, Zoe, who was now sixty-two, took to herself a third husband, the handsome Constantine Monomaohus, who was
' Schlomberger, L^^pop, hyz., iii, p. 532.
' Cp. Schlumberger, op. cit., iii, 388, 889. Type 1 of the nomisma of Theodora's 9ole reign, infra, p. 505, might be assigned to her joint reign, were there in existence a corresponding nomisma with the portrait of Zoe. Or, the two Empresses may have been represented side by side.
' Cp. Schlmnherger, op. cit., pp. 391, 392.
* Schlumberger, op. cit, p. 541.
^ C. de Linas, Hist, du tmv, d VExp. unit, de 1867, p. 121 f. (in colours) ; N. Eondakofi, Hist, . . . des emaux hyz.^ p. 228 (243 f. in German ed.) ; Molinier, Vorftvrerie, p. 52.
§ 2. CONSTANTINE IX, MONOMACHUS Iv
erowned Emperor the next day. Their court was frivolous, not to say scandalous, and the Emperor, who was little interested in military aflaurs, was prodigal in his expenditure, Qo^jg^AKTIWE IX pleasure-loving and somewhat Bohemian in '
his tastes. Yet the reim of Constantino IX ,,, ,^^«'
r^i • • ,7 4. A xu llJune, 1042
was fertile in important events, and even the - -
Emperor has his serious side, as evidenced by
his encouragement of literary men— among them, the ' humanist ' Michael
P^ns — and by his re-institution of the University of Constantinople.
Philosophy and Law were once more to be studied, and the Law (decliured
the Emperor) was no longer to remain as obscure as an oracle. It was
to be hedged round by science, and the professional lawyers were to
be recruited only from the students of the University.
It was in this reign that the great schism of Uie churches of east and west took place (1054), and it was under Constantine that the permanent settlements of the Normans in Apulia (circ. 1042) and their e^uie of Otranto (1055) practically crushed the Byzantine power in Southern Italy ; while the attacks of the Seljuk Turks began to weaken the structure of the Empire in Asia.^ Yet, at the time, the future gravity of these attacks could hardly have been foreseen: the prestige of the Elastem Empire was, indeed, still considerable, and Armenia was completely under its control.^
The nomismata that may be assigned to Constantine IX are of no leas than five types,- and it is important to notice that, until the reign of Alexius I, we have to do with nomismata of two distinct fabrics ^ : (i) the thick small coins resembling the earlier solidi (PI. LVUI. 6-8) ; (ii) coins of the thin, spread concave fabric that had been introduced by Basil II and Constantine VIII (PI. LVIII. 9-12). The usual weight of (i) is about 62 grains ; the weight of (ii) is about 68 giuins. The old (flat) nomisma was thus reduced in weight, but the new (scyphate) nomisma retains the original weight (about 68 grains) of the old solidus or nomisma. Both classes seem to belong to the Constantinopolitan mint — though very likely to different officinae — and they probably represent the same denomi- nation. Of course, if Class I (62 grains) passed current as a nomisma, the government was a gainer by its issue. It may be conjectured that one class was more especially used as the currency of widely extended commerce, while the other class chiefly circulated in the capital. A study,
* Finlay, Hist., ii, pp. 433, 434.— Cp. Diehl, Introduction to French trans, of Nenmann's WeUsUllung des byz. Reiches, p. 5 : — 'La bureaucratie civile, jalouse des barons et de Tarm^e, devint toute puissante au palais, et elle crat, en tenant les gen^rauz en suspicion et en desorganisant Tarm^e, avoir ^vit6 a toat jamais la rt^volution. Le regno de Gonstantin IX . . . marqua le plein triomphe de ce systeme.'
* Neumann's WeUstdlung, &c., pp. 66, 67 (French trans.).
' The two nomismata had been first introduced under Basil II and Constantine VIII.
Ivi INTRODUCTION
if it could be made, of the usual provenance of each of these classes of nomismata would probably thi*ow light on the cause of their contem- poraneous issue. The silver coins bear interesting types of the Virgin (PL LIX. 3, 4, 5) who, on one denomination, is expressly identified as the Virgin of Blachemae, H RAAX6PNITICA. Another silver coin supplies an instance, very rare on coins, of a metrical inscription: — AiairoLva aco^ois evaePrj Movo/idxov. This is an iambic trimeter of the kind usually found on the metrical Bullae} A coin of Bomanus IV {infra, p. 626) is inscribed with a hexameter line.
It may be added that the Empress Zoe does not appear on the coins whether alone or in conjunction with her husband Possibly the position of the beautiful Skleraina — herself ci-eated Augusta— may have caused a diflSculty, though we know that wife and mistress lived together in the Imperial palace on strange terms of amity.
Constantino IX died on 11 Jan. 1066. Zoe had died in 1050^ and her aged sister Theodora — she was now seventy — once more made her appearance upon the Imperial stage, and was proclaimed Empress, even before the dying sovereign had expired.
The Empress took an active part in the administration, but died
after a short reign on 31 Aug. 1066, the last representative of the
Macedonian House. Her gold coins show her
' adorned with a profusion of jewellery, and wearing
A-. A ,^«/> elaborately embroidered robes (see PL LX. 1-3,
-81 Aug. 1066. _ ^jI^ . - ^ ,, TT . X rw . .J
and p. 506, ^nfray note 1). Her sister Zoe is said
to have disdained both jewellery and bix)caded dresses.^ Theodora's
coins are of neat and careful workmanship, paiiicularly the standing
figure of the Saviour (PI. LX. 4-7), which has been supposed to be a
reproduction of the image of the Saviour of Chalce (part of the Imperial
palace), which stood above the gate.^
Theodora nominated as her successor Michael VI, Stratioticus, once
an able soldier, but now old and incapable. The army soon rose
against him, and proclaimed as Empeix)r Isaac
* Gomnenus, a member of the great family of the
' Comneni who had acquired rich estates in Aaia
y^' Minor. Michael abdicated on 31 Aug. 1067,* and
the next day Isaac was crowned in St. Sophia.
' See Proehner in Annuaire de la Socfranf. de Num,y 1882, p. 44 ; 1884, p. 312 f.
^ Schlumberger, VJ^pop. byz,, iii, p. 892.
» See Dumont in Rev^Num., 1867, p. 195, where a silver coin, with cbv,, the Virgin; rev.y standing figure of IC XC O XAAKHTHC, is published. Dumont thinks it may belong to the time of John III, Ducas, Vatatzes, Emperor of Nicaea. The coin was formerly in the Photiades coll. and is described in Photiades Cat., No. 676.
* His portrait in the Modena MS. of Zonaras, figured in Scblumberger, op. cit,, m, p. 533. (Portrait of Isaac I, ib., p. 540.) The type of an angel— apparently the archangel Michael— on Michael's coins is novel (p. 509, type 2, inftn).
§ 2. ISAAC I— CONSTANTINE X Ivii
Isaac's energy was directed to financial reform, and to curtailing the expenditore at court But he was weakened by illness, and near the end of the year 1059 he followed the example of his predecessor and abdicated. Zonaras and Scylitzes *
record that Isaac caused himself to be represented ^, ^ , .1 « his gold coma with a drawn sword in his hand .^^ d'^/iom. (see this type, PL LX. 12), and they take this repre- aentation to be an act of vainglory on the part of the Emperor, who thus seemed to ascribe his good fortune in securing his throne not to Providence hot to his personal prowess. But Isaac does not seem to have been a man of the stamp of Hybrias the Cretan, and it is probable that these authors are merely echoing the sneers of persons who wished to lidieiile the Emperor — disappointed courtiers, for instance, to whom Isaac's reforms were naturally not palatable.^ For though the representation of an Emperor with a drawn sword was an innovation, it was not a startling one. Ck>nstantinB IX (died 1056) had already been shown (on his silver coins) holding a sword in its sheath; and on two types of his nomisma Lsaac I himself likewise holds his sword ensheathed.' To r^Rresent the sword withdrawn from its sheath was, therefore, only to develop slightly a motive already familiar.
On his only known silver coin Isaac used the epithet * Orthodox ', one not found on the coins of other reigns.
Constantine X, the Cappadodan noble who succeeded Isaac I, has been called by Finlay 'an avaricious pedant'. This may be a crude ehsraeterization, but it is certain that his policy
was anti-military, and that his chief efforts were CONSTANTINE X, direeted to replenishing the treasury at all hazards. _^ ^nito
The Senate, the bureaucratic classes, and the clergy who supported the Emperor against the military
and land-owning classes, believed, or affected to believe that the age of wars was over. Part of the army was disbanded ; pay was lowered, and the apkeep of stores and munition neglected. Yet at no time was a great Imperial army more needed. The gravest danger arose from the Seljuk Toiks under Togril-bey and his successor Alp-Arslan. In 1064 the Seljuks had captured Ani, the ancient capital of Armenia, and their numberless raids and invasions laid Asia Minor waste. In 1065 a new
* GedreiL, vol. ii, p. 641 ed. Bonn :~avruca r^ /3airtXuc« pofuafuirt (mQBff^6p0K im)fapdTr€TtUf fuj rA 0«f r6 ww fwiypdcp^p aXKa rfi l^iif laxvi Kal Tfj ircpi iroXc/bunw iymtip'uf. The verrified account df Ephraemius is to tho same effect ; p. 140 ed. Bonn.— Similarly alio Zonaraa, Ep.y xviii; vol. iii, pp. 665, 666 ed. Bonn (rw pofutrfiari (itf^np'l cavTd» tmxopoi*). But Zonaras, in another passage (Ep., zviii ; vol. iii, p. 667 ed. Bonn) about Ime, teems to take the drawn sword {t6 $i*pof yvfav6v) as symbolizing the Emperor^s dnstic and over-hasty methods of making reforms.
' Cp. Maedler, ITieodam, Michael Strat,, Isaac Kotnnenos, p. 45 n.
I h
Iviii INTRODUCTION
enemy, the Uzes, broke into Bulgaria. In 1064 Belgrade had fallen into the hands of the Magyars.
The coinage of this unfortunate and ill-judging ruler is abundant. We may note especially, that in the course of his reign he abolished the ' anonymous ' bronze coinage that had subsisted since the time of John I, Zimisces (dtij^ra, p. li), and substituted one with the Imperial name and effigy. The time-honoured practice of using old jUina for the bronze currency was not, however, discontinued.
Constantino X died in May, 1067, and for a few months his wido^w
TZTrnftTT A / f\ ^"^^^ carried on the government with two of her
Tien 1M7 ®^^ — Michael VIE and Constantino. She struck
* a nomisma (PL LXI. 10) with her own figure
(which had already appeared on one of the bronze coins of Constantine X)
placed between her two sons.
In December (1067) Eudocia took a husband in the person of
Romanus (IV), Diogenes, a Cappadocian noble famed for his valour. But
he was as impetuous as brave, and rashly hurried an
BOMAJTuS I V, undisciplined army into the field. He made head
^ ' against the Seljiiks in Armenia, Cappadocia and
Bee. 1067 g^^^^ ^^^ j^ ^^ ^^^^ j^^^^ ^^ Manzikert, in
^* Armenia, the Byzantine army suffered a crushing
defeat at their hands (a.d. 1071). The same year is also memorable for the taking of Bari by the ITormans under Robert Guiscard, and the ending of the long-lived domination of the Eastern Empire in Italy.
During the three or four years of his reign Romanus issued coins remarkably varied in type. On one of his nomismata he placed his ovm portrait (alone) ; on another the portrait of himself and Eudocia in con- junction. A third (PL LXI. 11) is a family-coin, showing, on the reverse, the three stepsons of the Emperor (the sons of Constantine X by Eudocia), and on the obverse, a figure of the Saviour crowning the Emperor and his wife. This subject — Christ crowning Romanus IV and Eudocia — ^is famifear to students of art from the ivory (the cover of an Evangeliaxium) in the Biblioth^ue Nationale, Paris. The ivory is of far higher artistic merit than the coin, as may be discerned from the mild and gracious aspect of the Saviour and the easy action of the arms in blessing, which are extended nearly horizontally and not raised as on the coin.^
' Molinier, Hitt. des arts appliquds, ^c, vol. i, ' IvoireB," p. 97 ; Babelon, Ouide aiiuM au Cabinet des MidaiUes, Paris, 1900, fig. 145 and p. 818; Diehl, jttudes b^,, p. 119; Venturi, St<nia deW arte ital., ii, p. 583. On the coin, the ChriBt stands on a zectangnlar footstool or platform which, on the ivory, is itself raised on a basis of omphalic form. On the ivory, the Emperor and Empress are nimbate as well as the Christ The coin-types are reproduced on a leaden piece (presumably a seal) figured by De Marchant, Manges de num.^ letter iv; PL; No. 2, and by Sabatier, leanographie, PI. suppl. 24, No. 1.— -The motive of the Saviour blessing two Imperial persons is found, in the tenth century, on the ivory plaque of the Musee de Cluny,
I 2. MICHAEL Vn— NICEPHOKUS III lix
On one of the silver coins (PI. LXII. 2) occurs a beautiful figure of the Keesed Yii^pii holding (in her left arm) the Infant Jesus. This has been thought to be the Virgin called the Conductress — H OAHrHTPIA — who is firniilJAr firom other works of Byzantine art, such as the Spitzer ivory .^ The legend of this piece forms a hexameter verse : — IlapOive aoi iroXvaive tt ijXTriK^ irdvra xaTopOoT.^
After Manzikert, Romanus lY became the prisoner of Alp-Arslan, and a revolution at Constantinople soon disposed of both Emperor and
Michael VII, Ducas (the eldest son of Eudocia and Constantine X), was now prodaimed Emperor. His reign was a period of disaster and revolt. The Emperor, a pupil of Michael Psellus, amused himself with rhetoric and verse-making, but '
was careless of affiurs of State. The Seljuk hordes '
eontinaed to pour into Asia Minor, and the Seljuks i^^li io78
of Rum or Iconium, under Suleiman, now became an independent power. At last, Nicephorus HI, Botaniates, one of the pretenders to the throne, was proclaimed Emperor at Constantinople on 24 March, 1078, and Michael retired to the monastery of the Studium.
The reign of Nicephorus was short and troubled. His expenditure
WIS wastefiiil, and we know from the testimony of extant coins that he
debased the nondsma, which is often struck in ^,^«^„^«„« „, 11 J ij IX A X XV 1 NICEPHORUS III, alloyed gold or electrum. As to the personal _ „, ^..^^
rxUT7 1.x -Txi. BOTAWIATBS,
appearance of the Emperor : what purports to be «. March 1078 a portrait appears in the MS. of Chrysostom in , Anril 'l08L
tiie Biblioth^ue Nationale, Paris,^ but his por- trait on the coins is evidently conventional, and is practically identical with the head of Michael VU as found on coins. Nicephorus, on his silver coins, placed beside his own the bust of his wife, the Empress Maria, the widow of Michael VII, who had represented her on some of his coins.
Three rebellions of this reign (including that of Nicephorus Bryennius) were put down by the aid of the general Alexius Comnenus, nephew of the former Emperor Isaac I, Comnenus ; but in the crushing of a fourth rebellion, that of his brother-in-law Nicephorus Melissenus, Alexius reftised
repceaentiiig Christ bleeaing the Emperor Otto II and his wife Theophano, the daughter of Bomanus II and the famous Theophano : Schlumberger, Un Emp, hyz., p. 651.
* Schltunbeiger, SigiUogr., p. 37. Spitzer ivory triptych, Schlumberger, Uh Emp. iy7., p. 105 ; ivoiy triptych, ^y^ch^ de Liege, Schlumberger, V^pop, byz.f i, p. 181 ; cp. miniatuxe, ib., p. 105 ; copper plaque in Victoria and Albert Museum, South Kensington, Vipop. htfz,, iii, frontispiece.— On the Virgin Hodegetria, see further, Bauer and Sfcr^gowski, Eine Alexandrinische Weltchronik, p. 159 (in Denkschrifien der kais, AJead. der WissenM^ Wien, 1906, Bd. 51).
' See p. 525, infra. On metrical inscriptions, supra, p. Ivi.
' Bayet, L'Art byz., p. 169; Diehl, Etudes byz., p. 121.
Ix INTRODUCTION
to take part. This pretender was proclaimed Emperor at Nicaea, and
17ICEPH0BTJS ^^^^^^ * silver coin with his name as Secir^rtf^
MELISSENXJS (^^^^» P* ^^^5 PI- LXIII. 11). But Alexius Com«
(pretender) i^^J^us, a much abler rival, was now himself a
1080-ApriL 1081. <»ndidate for empire ; on 1 April, 1081, he entered
and plundered Constantinople, and Nicephorus III
retired to a monastery. Melissenus was given the title of Caesar, but
ceased to be of political importance.^
The accession of Alexius I, Comnenus, a representative of one of the great feudal families, put an end to a period of anarchy and weakness.^ During his long reign this able Emperor had to con- ' tend against Norman, Patzinak, Turk, and Crusader, inai y®* ^^ organizing skill and his subtle, if unscrupulous, -16 Anff 1118 diplomacy constantly stood him in stead, lie de- cadence of the Empire was at least arrested by Alexius, as it was afterwards by his successors John II and Manuel I.
His earlier years, 1081-1085, were occupied with the war in Illyria and Thessaly against the Normans, under the famous Robert Guiscard, Duke of Apulia, but the danger of the Norman invasion passed away with the death of Guiscard in 1085. A stiniggle with the Seljuk Turics, and with the Patzinaks, who were at last annihilated at the battle of the Lebumion in 1091, ^ filled the years 1084-1092. The First Crusade began in 1095. Europe (as Gibbon says) was ' precipitated on Asia ', and Constantinople was almost swept away by the impetuous deluge. Alexius with great adroitness avoided a conflict with these hordes of western warriors: he regarded them as mercenaries in his pay, and tried to win their chiefs by costly presents.^ Some of the Imperial possessions in Asia Minor were won back by the Crusaders, and the war with the Seljuks, 1110-1117, ended in favour of the Emperor.
One of the great tasks of Alexius was the creation of a navy and the strengthening and reorganization of the military forces, especially in the cavalry arm. Over his aimy Alexius exercised absolute control, and usually took the command in person. A vast increase in the public expenditure was the result of these militaiy necessities; the subjects of Alexius groaned under the burden of taxation, and endured the numberless losses and vexations brought about by a systematic debasement of the currency.
^ Waddington in Sev. num., 1863, p. 399.
' ' L'aT^nement des Gomnenes en 1081.' 'Ge fut le triomphe de raristocratie fdodale et da parti militaire sur le gouvemement central et la bureaucratie civile.' Diehl, Introd. to Neumann's WelUiellung (Fi'ench trans.), p. 6 ; cp. note, p. Iv, n., etfprti, as to the state-policy under Gonstantine IX.
' They were finally extinguished under his successor, John II, a.d. 1128.
* Ghalandon, Essai mtr le figne d' Alexia I, chap. vi.
§ 2. ALEXIUS I, COMNENUS Ixi
Alexius was about thirty-three at his acoeesion, and is deecribed as a man of short stature, with broad ohest and shoulders. His bust sod full-length figure often ocour on the coins, but the portrait seems to be conventional. He is represented also on seals ^ and in a MS. of the Vatican.^ In the earlier part of his reign he associated with himself Constantine Ducas, the son of Michael VII, Duoas ; but Constantine does not appear on the coins, for the pieces assigned by Sabatier (ii, p. 194) to Alexius I and Constantine are doubtless of Alexius III and Stmt Constantine. In 1092 Alexius associated his eldest son John (II) in the Empire, and it was no doubt on this occasion that he put forth a nomisma (PI. LXV. 1) bearing figures of himself, his wife Irene,^ and John, His famous daughter Anna Comnena does not appear on the coins, thougfa her seals are extant.^
The coinage of Alexius I presents many varieties of types — the bust, or the full figure, holding the cross, the labarum or a jewelled sceptre. But there is no bold departure in the designs. The interest of his coinage lies in the metals and denominations.
(i) Bronze coinage (PL LXV. 9-16), consisting mainly of small pieces of irr^nlar shape and thick fabric. Extant specimens weigh from about 50 to 70 grains. (This is probably the fcllU.)
(ii) A silver coin (PI. LXV. 2-6), nearly identical in size and fabric with the bronze just described. The weight of the specimens in the British Museum is about 60 grains; no doubt the mUiareaion. There are also flat, thin coins in silver ; the British Museum specimen weighs 32 grains.
(iii) Nomiama. This is found in various metals : —
Type 1 in gold.
Type 2 in bronze.
Type 3 in gold and in electrum.
T}rpes 4 and 5 in base silver or billon.
Type 6 in electrum.
Type 7 in gold and in billon.
. ^ On the teals of Alexias, see Schlumberger, Melanges d^arch. byz., i, pp* 263, 264 ; SigiUpgr,, p. 79; and p. 423 {rev., seated Christ); p. 638; Sorlin-DorigDy in Bev. arch., 1877, pt. i, p. 82 ; Birch, SmJs in British Museum, v, p. 4 ; Eonstantopoulos in Joum. hUemat. d'areh, num., 1905, p. 214 f. (Alexius and family).
' See the reproductions of Cod. gr. Vat., No. 666, in Chalandon, op. cit., frontispiece and p. 50.
* The standing figure of Irene occurs in enamel in the pala d'ofv of St. Mark's, Venice : see 7eludo in Fksini, II iesaro di San Marco, PI. XV-XX ; Venturi, op. cit., p.645f.
' See Schlumberger, Melanges d'areh. byz., i, p. 267 ; Sigilloffr., p. 641, and in Rev. muH^ 1905, p. 339 f. Cp. CampUs retidus de VAcad.finn^., 1905, p. 142 (ring of Irene ? wife of Alexius I).
Ixii INTRODUCTION
It is certain that Alexius was reduced to great straits for money. Early in the reign he had recourse to the precious vessels of the churches, and from the doors of one church he stripped the gold and silver plating ; he also melted down various public monuments made of bronze.^ And he was easily led on by the example of his predecessors to the adulteration of the nomisma.
The changing fortunes of the nomisma may here be briefly recapitulated. We have seen that as far back as the tenth century, Nicephorus 11, Phocas, was accused, though apparently unjustly, of tampeiing with this coin. Under Constantino VIII (1025-1028) we find tivo gold coins, both pre- sumably intended to pass as nomismata though one is inferior in weight to the other. These coins are (a) a scyphate piece (first introduced by Basil 11) with the weight of 68-70 grains ^ ; (/3) a small thick coin of the weight of 62-63 grains. These two coins continue to be struck down to the reign of Michael VII, Ducas (1071-1078), but after his time the gold coin of 62-63 grains ceases to be issued.
Among the extant nomismata of Michael VII there are some specimens struck in pale gold or electinim, and even in silver and billon.^ Already, therefore, the debasement of the gold nomisma was being attempted. The nomisma-coinage of the next Emperor, Nicephorus III (1078-1081), the predecessor of Alexius I, is particularly shameless, specimens in pure gold being of exceptional occurrence, while the majority of pieces are in electrum or base gold. The part that Alexius himself played can be made out fairly well from the following statement in Zonai*as, which we can confront with the testimony of the coins themselves : —
OSroy i fiaaiXei)? Kal to pS/iia/jLa K€KiP8rj\€Vfiivoi/ irapk t&v irpb avrov eiprjKO)? xdXKeov €0€to, ^ c/y ri r^y fiaaiXeia? cjccxpiyro dvaXcifiaTa, Toi>9 Si y€ <f>6pov9 Slit \pv<rivcoi/ SoKifjL<ov eia-inpaTTCy nrj Si ye Kal Si' iripo^v, \pv(rii/a>i/ iikv kAk^ipcdv^ aXX* 'fi/ii\pv(rcov, iari S* o5 koi ffii t£i/ \aXKio>v kSatriio^op^i (Zonaras, Ep,^ xviii, 22= vol. iii, p. 738, ed. Buttner-Wobst, Bonn*).
The changes introduced by Alexius involved not merely the debase- ment of a single denomination (the nomisma), but the setting up side by side of nomismata of varying intrinsic value. Thus, there was the old gold nomisma, of 68-70 grains, which tended to become electrum ; there was the new silver nomisma, which tended to become billon ; and finally, the new bronze nomisma. All this produced a hopeless confusion in accounts and furnished fresh opportunities of exaction to the collectors who farmed the
» Bet, num., 1866, p. 36 f., on Nicetas.
'i.e. the weight of the nomisma (solidus) of earlier reigns.
' See p. 530, infra, note 1.
* Buttner-Wobst translates :— * Hie rex cum solidum a decessoribus suis adalteratam repperisset, aeneum fecit, quo in regni ezpensis uteretur; in vectigalibus vero probes aureoB exigebat, aliqaando etiam nummos semiaureos, interdum aeneos.*
\
§ 2. JOHN II, COMNENUS Ixui
taxes. For inBtance^ the collector of the supplementary taxes (the SiKiparoy, i^a^ciXXoy, &c.) sometimes tried the device of reckoning fractions and small payments as if twelve miliaresia still went (as formerly) to the nomisma. Thna, for a tax of i nomisma eix miliaresia were demanded, though the Domisma was at this time only worth four ^ miliaresia. The contributory Ham paid six miliaresia instead of two, or (in the new money) one whole nomisma+two miliaresia.
In large transactions, as e.g. in his treaty with Bohemund, Prince of Antioch, Alexius agreed that his own payments should be made in 'MiehaelB \^ L e. in the nomismata coined by Michael YII, thus putting his own money and that of his predecessor hors de combed. A subsidy paid by Alexius to the German Emperor Henry lY was discharged in silver coin, a proof, as Finlay has remarked,^ that Byzantine silver money was formerly not 80 rare as it now for the most part is.^
John H — ' Kalojoannes ', — who was left by his father's death sole Kuperor, has the distinction of being probably the most amiable ruler that ever occupied the Byzantine throne.^ His reign mA not inglorious, and in fortunate campaigns against JOHN II,
the Seljuk Turks he extended the boundary of the Comotntjs, Empire east and west. But he neglected to restore q a ^ iiaa e the fleet, and the Venetians, who now traded direct '
with the Christian principalities in Syria, and were rapidly becoming the tnding rivals of Constantinople, plundered with impunity Rhodes and oSier islands and coasts of the Empire. In the end, John was forced to renew the commercial privileges of the Venetians in Constantinople (A.D. 1126).
The coinage of this «reign of nearly twenty -five years is varied, and there are at least seven types of the nomisma.*^ Two of these types are entirely in billon, and two others are chiefly in electrum. There are three types, however, usually struck in gold, and it would seem that John —
^ Or perhaps five.
' Finlay, Hi8i.j iii, p. 63 n., and p. 123 ; Ghalandon, op. cit., p. 248 ; Ducange, a. v. MiehaeHtae.
» Hi9t., iii p, 74.
* On the tax-collecting and the difficulties caused by the new coinage, see an excellent section in M. Ghalandon's Alexia J, pp. 299-309, founded partly on the model acoonnts for the revenue-collectors of Alexius I (published, Zachariae von Lingenthal, ha GraeeO'Bomanum, pt. 3, p. 385 f.). — On the expressions vofiurfia rpaxy, rpaxy cunrpov vofu^fta^ which apparently designate the nomisma in silver, see Svoronos, Joufn. intemat. d*<irc^ num., ii, p. 352 f. According to Svoronos, vofi, rpax* is a translation of nummtis otper, Le. a coin freBh from the mint, and rough to the touch because not yet worn BDOotii by circulation. "Ainrposy as applied to coins (especially to the silver of the Emperors of Trebizond), afterwards—it is suggested — meant ' white ^ or * silver ' money.
* Finlay, ffist^ iii, p. 130.
* On the chronology, &c., of this reign, £. Kurtz in B. Z., 1907, p. 69 f. ^ No silver coins, apart from the silver nomisma, appear to be extant.
Ixiv INTRODUCTION
while maintaining the electrum and billon nomismata — ^made an effort to improve on the gold nomisma of hifi father Alexius I. The Virgin crowniii^ the Emperor is a frequent type, and the iigure of a saint — St. Qeorge — is introduced (PL LXYII. 12^). The warrior-saint wears a cuirass and sword; his hair is curly and his head nimbate.^
John II was succeeded by his youngest son Manuel I, Comnenns,
a man of exti*aordinary physical endowments; a Samson who could tear
a stirrup in two ^ and whose lance and buckler not
ALJi^ u j!ixj X, ^^^^ Raymond * the Hercules of Antioch ' could wield.
OMiTBNUB, jj^ ^^ ^ g^^j soldier, but had more the tempei* of
1^ ' a knight-errant who loved fighting and adventure for
' their own sake. He was enamoured of Western
civilization and delighted in tournaments. Both of his wives were western
princesses, and he married his son Alexius to Agnes, daughter of the French
king Louis YII.
Manners reign of thirty-seven years was spent in incessant warfare. He invaded Hungary and won the battle of Zeugmin. He repulsed the Normans under Roger of Sicily. He was involved in a naval contest with the Venetians, but had finally to restore then- trading privileges, which he had tried to suppresa In his struggle with the Seljuks he failed to re-conquer Asia Minor. If in his dealings with the warriors of the Second Crusade Manuel showed considerable discretion, his general foreign policy was grandiose and Utopian; thus, he sought from Pope Alexander III, who was at enmity with Barbaroasa, a union between the Eastern and Western churches, a condition being that he should be crowned Emperor of the West. At the same time he neglected to make radical internal reforms — a heroic task, no doubt — and the opportunity of reform was rapidly passing away.
His coinage is varied and abundant, there being at least eight t3rpes of the nomisma in the precious metals, and five types of the nomisma in bronze or a mixture of bronze. There are also at least eight types in the ordinary bronze coinage. Qold is not frequently employed for the nomisma, but only a very pale electrum, which is often hardly distinguishable from silver. According to Nicetas^ he coined bad nomismata to deceive the Crusaders. These may, however, have been only the ordinary bronze or billon nomismata of the time, and Manuel of course was not responsible for the first introduction of the nomisma in bronze.
' An earlier but isolated representation of a Saint on coins occarred in the time of Alexander, see supra, p. xlvii.
* The curly hair and cuiiusft—sometimes a tunic— are found on other monuments. The Saint, however, usually stands holding a spear and shield: see Schlumberger, L'ipop. hyz,y i, p. 13 ; ii, pp. 49, 182, 273 ; cp. Dalton, Cat, of Early Christian Anti^ities, 8.V. 'Saints'. St. George is found with spear and shield on the coins of Manuel I (PL LXX. 16).
' So at least says an Arab author. ^ i, 5 ; cp. Ducange, Gloss,, s. v. Manlat.
§ 2. MANUEL I— ANDRONICUS I Ixv
As his predecessor had introduced St. George on the coinage, Manuel Introduced Si. Theodore and St. Demetrius. The head of the youthful Chnst, inscribed 'Emmanuel' (PL LXVIII. 15), may perhaps have been chosen as suggesting the name * Manuel \
Manuel I was succeeded by his son Alexius II, a boy of thirteen, but in Oct. 1183, Andronicus (I, Comnenus), a cousin of Manuel and grandson of Alexius I, was associated with him as joint ruler. In Sept. 1184, Andronicus put Alexius -^iJBXIuS II, to death and reigned alone. nub.
The sole reign of Alexius 11 lasted about three _ ^ ' years, and it would seem probable that even in that '
snarehic period coins were struck in his name. No extant pieces can, however, be attributed to him with any certainty, for all the coins inficribed * Alexius' show a bearded head, and we should expect, even amid the conventionalities of Byzantine coinage, that he would be repre- s^ted as beardless. However, to the single year (1188-1184) during which Alexius II reigned jointly with Andronicus I, some of the coins inaeribed with the sole name of ' Andronicus ' may possibly belong.
Andronicus Comnenus is one of the most striking, though not one of the most important, figures who occupied the Imperial throne. He has been described as a Byzantine Alcibiades, and ATtf-n-RmarrrT he was, indeed, in character, as many-sided as his '
Athenian prototype. He had the same ambition, ^^ iiaa-ae t H84 the same intellectual gifts and personal charm, /with Alexius II> • combined with an almost equal want of moral ^^ ^^g^
stability. Viewed from some aspects, he may be _j^2 sept 1186 portrayed as a blood-stained tyrant and a traitor (alone)
to his country. But he appears also as a romantic
adventurer at Turkish courts, and even as a prison-hero. He was, no doubt, a profligate, but (as Mr. Finlay puts it) 'a sober and abstemious profligate.' Certainly he had many qualities of a statesman, and in his brief reign, when he was nearly seventy years old, carried through with iron will reforms which, if begun earlier or continued later, might have propped a falling state.
These reforms were chiefly in finance, judicature, and general ad- ministration. He lightened the taxes and paid the tax-collectors large salaries, that so they might be less tempted to extortion. He abolished many useless posts that had previously been sold to the highest bidder, and appointed to the judicual bench men of professional knowledge and high character. like Basil H and other great Emperors, he tried to curb the feudal nobility, whose vast estates had been acquired to the detriment of the small proprietor. His interference with the public spectacles, and his abolition of court-festivities, were likewise excellent is theory, but probably hardly expedient : certainly these measui'es earned I i
Ixvi INTRODUCTION
for the reformer immense unpopularity, and the people came to have a peculiar detestation of any aged man who wore the forked and pointed beard that was characteristic of Andronicus.^
On 12 Sept. 1185 (when Andronicus had reigned alone but one year), a rising of the mob of Constantinople set on tiie throne Isaac Angelas, a survivor of the great family of the Angeli, which Andronicus had. ruthlessly suppressed. Andronicus was not only dethroned, but put to death with refinements in the way of torture and indignity that can hardly be described.
In his coinage, Andronicus had made no innovations. His nomi8ni& is of gold, electrum, and bronze, but seems to be scarce in the two first metals. When Andronicus was dethroned, great stores of gold, silver, and copper, both coined and in bullion, were found in the palace.-
Isaac n, in his love of pleasure, and inattention — amid a luxurious
court — to public business, recalls king Charles 11, though he had, probably,
XT ^®^® natural ability than the English monarch. His
' reign was signalized by a great rebellion of the
la 8 t iisk Wallachian and Bulgarian peoples between the Haemus
-8 April 1195 *^^ Danube : a new monarchy, the Wallachian, was
formed, and the great work of Zimisces and Basil
was brought to naught. Cyprus, also, was lost to the Empire, and the
rebel Isaac, Ducas Cohnenus, ruled there as 'Emperor' (1184-1191),
and issued coins ^ until he came into ill-advised collision with Richard
the lion-hearted, who seized the island and gave it to Quy de Lusignan.
The revolt of Theodore Mankaphas (1189 and latei*), who became master of the country round Philadelphia, and likewise assumed the title of Emperor, requires some mention hei)e, as, according to Nicetas,^ he struck silver money with his own effigy. But this coinage has not been identified with certainty.^
Isaac n is accused by Nicetas of debasing the currency,^ but it must be said that his extant money is not worse than that of his predecessor Andronicus I, the nomisma being in gold, pale electrum, billon, and bronze J
^ See this beard represented on the coins of Andronicus I, infra, p. 588, No. 1, and PL LXXI. 3, 4.
' Nicetas, 223 ; cp. Finlay, iii, p. 220 ; £. Miller in Bet. num., 1866, p. 40.
' His rebellion had begun in the previous reign. See infra^ p. 597, on his coinage.
* Hist,, p. 522, ed. Bonn : — apyvptov MKOff^t vofutrpa rrfv oiKtlav iy\apd^s iv avrif
* A silver nomisma (ohv., Imperial figure crowned by the Virgin; rev., bust of Christ) is assigned to Mankaphas by Thomsen Cat,, No. 809, PI. I ; but the legend of the obv, seems very indistinct.
' P. 584, ed. Bonn : — dKKa jcal t6 dpyvpiop fCi/Sdi^Xrv^rap dd6Ktnov to v^fuafw. imVo^c. ^ The archangel Michael appears on his coins (PL LXXI. 16) wearing a cuirass and not the long robes in which he is often represented in Byzantine art.
§ 2. ALEXIUS m— LATIN EMPERORS Ixvii
Isaac II was deposed (8 Apr. 1195) by bis brotber Alexius III, wbo blinded him and kept bim in prison.
Alexias III was anotber weak Emperor, beedless of public business. At his accession be made a lavisb distribution of bonours, titles, and money, and was ready (it was said), if requested, to pile AthoB upon Olympos. His coinage is '
abundant and, like tbat of Isaac 11, includes the ^ '
Domisma in gold, pale electrum, and mfenor a a rii hob
metals. But the taxation that he authorized was _.. . . ' .^^^ eruBhing; the army and navy were out of gear;
roads, bridges, and aqueducts were left in a ruined state, and in spite of the magnificence and wealth of the capital, the general condition was one of national demoralization.^
Bis reign ended on 17 July, 1203, when a great blow fell upon tibe Empire with the first capture of Constantinople by the Venetians ind the warriors of the Fourth Crusade.
The Crusaders brought forth Isaac II from his toaap tt
prison and restored him to the throne in conjunction . v
with his son Alexius IV. No coins are known of ^ *.j
and DIB son wis joint reign, which lasted rather more than six aubxiub IV
"^*^ 18 July, 1208
A rising in the capital against the Franks was _28 Jan. 1204. headed by Alexius V, who was crowned 5 Feb. 1204, and stood manfully at his post till the final great AT.TgYTTra v stonning and capture of Constantinople by the DTrnAa called Crnfiaders on 12 April (1204). A nomisma in MuBZxrpmus, hxmxe (Thomsen Cfcrf., No. 811) and a bronze coin crowned
(Sahatier, PI. 58, 14 ^) have been assigned to this ^ p^l^^ 1204 brief reign, but both attributions are perhaps open _j^2 April, 1204. to doubt.
The great orgy of plunder — the pillage of shrine and reliquary ; the destruction of priceless works of ancient art, was followed by the estab- lishment of the new line of Latin Emperors.^ ^ . „..„^ «,»^«'«^«« V ^ •*!. T> ij • n X r TTi J IiATIW EMPEBOBS,
Yet neither Baldwm, Count of Flanders, nor ,^^^ ,-^,
1204^1201 liis successors, who reigned till 1261, appear
to have assumed the Imperial right of coinage. The few bronze coins which Sabatier and others have ascribed to these Emperors bear no Imperial name and belong i-athei* (as I have endeavoured to show^) to the time of Alexius I and the First Crusade.^ M. Schlumberger has well
^ E. Peara, Fall of Constantinople, pp. 102 f., 113.
' A specimen of this coin in the British Museum reads A€CP, the rest of the l^end being quite obscure. It is perhaps of the Empire of Nicaea.
' K Gerland, Gesch. dea hOeinisehen Kaiserreiehes von Konstantinopelj 1905, &c.
* InfiVj p. 564.
* Tet it would appear from Nicetas, that bronze coins were minted circ. 1204, made
Ixviii INTRODUCTION
suggested^ that the coins current under the Latin Emperors, 1204-1261, were the silver coins of Venice, and that the mints were controlled by Venetians.^ This is probable enough when we consider the commercictl importance of Venice at Constantinople; the predominating part that she played in diverting the Fourth Crusade to the capture of the Capital, and the large share that she enjoyed from the spoils of the divided Empire (Crete, the Aegean Islands^ &c.)
The Empire was now split up into a number of feudal principalities,
and into the so-called * Empires' of Nicaea (1204-1261), Thessalonica
(1223-1234), and Trebizond (1204r-1462). The
coins issued by these * Emperors' are of the
THBSSALOinCA ^*°^*^ Byzantine types and fabric,^ but as
ATiTT^ mDis.T>T<7ni«r^ ^^^ dcscription of them lies beyond the scope of
these volumes, we must again take up the story
of the Empire in the year 1261, when Michael VIII, Palaeologus, the
last Emperor of Nicaea, ousted Baldwin II, the last Latin Emperor, and
himself reigned at Constantinople as monarch of the restored Eastern
Empire.
Michael VIII, the first of the dynasty of the Palaeologi, was crowned
on 15 Aug. 1261. He ruled over a shrunken Empire, shorn of its ancient
glories, and was the last Emperor of any con*
inOHABI. Vin, spicuous political and militaiy ability. Under
PAiiABOiiOQUS, ^YxQ Palaeologi, Constantinople, though no longer —
ug. (corona on; j^ ^^^ ^£ Italian competition — the commercial
1261 — 11 Dec. 1282: « ,, ij i.-n j
' emporium of the world, still remained a centre
^^ of artistic and intellectual culture, but the two
8 N 1273 ? ' centuries of their rule are marked by the decadence -11 Deo 1282 ^^ ^^^ Empire as a whole.*
Michael's gold nomismata (PI. LXXIV. 1-4) represent on the obverse the kneeling Emperor supported by St, Michael
from bronze statues melted down : see Nicetas, De Signis^ pp. 856 and 859. 'AXXa xat ravra [statues in the Hippodrome, &c.] K€K6<lKunv fls v6fjuaiia, dinra\\aaa'6fi€voi fUKp&v ra fuydkoj ictX. * Num. de VOrient lot, p. 274.
* The principal denomination in the Venetian coinage was the silver Ducato or Matapan, more often called the Orosso. This coin was instituted by Enrico Dandolo the Doge (a.d. 1192-1205) who took so prominent a part in the capture of Constantinople. (See N. Papadopoli, Monete di VM$zia, i, 1893, p. 84.) The Venetian gold ducat {Zecchino d'aro) was not known in the period of the Latin Empire, for it was first coined in A.D. 1284.
' Those of Trebizond (silver atnrpa) are less distinctively Byzantine.
Umpire of Nicaea. Sab., PL 64-66 ; Engel and Serrure, TmiU de nwm., ii, p. 902.
Empire of Theeaahnica. Sab., PI. 66, 67.
Empire of Tnbizond. Sab., PI. 67-70; F. de Pfoffenhoffen, Eesai eur les aspres Comninats , . . de Tr^bieande, Paris, 1847 ; Engel and Serrure, op. cit., ii, p. 903. On the coins of the Deepotate o/Epirus (1205-1358), Engel and Serrure, ii, p. 901 ; P. Lambros in Numismatische Zeitechri/t (Vienna), iii, 1871-72, pp. 485-500; Schlumbeiger, Num. de VOr. lat, p. 358 f. * Diehl, jhudes hjz., pp. 217 f., 220, 233.
§ 2. MICHAEL Vm- ANDRONICUS II Ixix
tnd crowned by the Saviour. The reverse tjrpe is still more original, and rq^iesents (as Pachjmeres has recorded) the city of Constantinople. The representation is conventional, and consists of the encircling walls, flanked by towers arranged in gi'oups of three. Only the inner wall, the main bulwark {to fi4ya TcJxor) of the city, is reproduced. The outer wall (ri €J0 T€ixo9), which was separated from the inner by a moat, and flanked by towers of lesser height, has not been indicated by the engraver.^ In Uie centre is a figure of the Virgin orans. It is conceivable that the idea of this type may have occurred to the Emperor when, just before hk coronation, he entered Constantinople through the Golden Gate with the image of the Virgin Hodegetria borne before him, or when his attention waa directed — as it soon was — to the restoration of the walls of the city guarded by God or by the Mother of God.
Pachymeres^ states that he debased the coinage more than his pre- deeesors, but an analysis has shown that some (at any rate) of his gold pieces are not inferior in fineness to the gold coinage of an earlier thirteenth-centur3' ruler, Theodore II, Lascaris, of Nicaea, which are '16 carats fine and 8 alloy'.'' Some extant specimens, however (see, e.g., Michael VIII, infra, No. 3), have a brownish colour, which suggests the presence of a considerable alloy of copper.
Michael VIQ was succeeded by his son Andronicus 11^ who had already been joint ruler (from a.d. 12731), and had probably issued bronze coins (see imfira, p. 613, note) in conjunction ^^j^d^oNICUS II with his father. U Deo. 1282 '
The long reign of Andronicus II lasted till _^. -- ' -g«g 1328, and witnessed the rising power of the Ottoman
Turb under Othman, and the incuraion of the Grand Company of the Catalans who, if they drove off' the Seljuks, made conquests on their own behalf and to the Empire's detriment. Moreover, from 1321 till 1325, a civil war went on between Andronicus II and his grandson Andronicus III.
The coinage may be divided into four Periods. In Period I, \. d. 1282- 1295, Andronicus II ruled alone. He struck gold nomismata, much alloyed, generally it would seem with copper.* On these he retains as the reverse type the View of Constantinople, and with some appropriate- QttSi because he himself afterwards undertook (in 1317) a general repair of the fortifications of the Capital. On the obverse, the Emperor appears
^ See Van Millingen, Byzantine Constantinople (The Walls), and cp. the map ffibntupiece) of BondelmontiuB, a.d. 1422, showing the circuit of the walls ; cp. Journal ^^Bfitvlk School at Athens, xii (1905-6), PI. I. 2 ; p. 2U (Hasluck),
' Lib. vi, cap. 8 = vol. ii, p. 493, ed. Bonn, and Svoronos^s comment, Jowti, intemat, *«tfc. iii*m., ii, p. 347 ; Pinlay, Hist., iii, pp. 320. 352.
* H. P. Borrell in Num. Chron,, iv, 1841, p. 21.
* The lowering of the standard of fineness is recorded by Pachymeres ; see Finlay, ^< iii, pp. 320, 397.
Ixx INTRODUCTION
prostrate before the Saviour (PL LXXIV. 10-12), and this figure of
Andronicus recalls the figure of an Emperor (before the enthroned Saviour)
in a well-known mosaic of St. Sophia.^
In Period II, 1295-1320, Andronicus 11 is associated on the coins —
as he was in the Empire — with his son Michael IX. On the gold nomisma
(PL LXXV. 2) Christ is seen in the act of blessing
* or crowning the joint rulers.* We note at this
,« ^^' ,««^ time, or a little later, traces of Western influence
-12 Oct. 1820 .' . m. 1 • • • p u • J
, .^ on the coinage. The silver com is m fabric and
AOT)Bomous n). *yP® * servile copy of the Venetian grostso or
viatapan (PI. LXXV. 17), and some of the bronze
coins have a Western look due to the adoption of the circular inscription
and the type of the cross patt^ or potent with pellets in its angles
(PI. LXXV. 16).
The coinage of Period III, Oct. 1320-1325, is not easily to be identified. On the death of Michael IX in 1320, Andronicus 11 was again left sole Emperor. Some of the coins assigned to Period I may perhaps, therefore, belong to this later period of his solitary rule. There is, again, the possibility that his grandson Andronicus III— though not actually crowned Emperor till Feb. 1325 — may have been associated with Andi^onicus £1 during this period; and, on this hypothesis — not, however, a very likely one — some of the coins assigned to Period IV would belong to Period IIL
In Period IV, 1325-1328, Andronicus II and
^"^2 P^^^^^^ ^^' Andronicus m are associated a^ Emperors. The
^, ,t " coins that have been assigned to them usuaJly
—24: mffty 1328
( 'th ^'^^^^ — perhaps purposely — the rather vague in-
AwDBomous III) »^^*^^^ AVTOKPATOP6C PUJMAIUJN.
^' In May, 1341, on the abdication of Andronicus
ANDRONICUS III ^^' Andronicus III became sole ruler. His coinage
(alone), ^^ scanty, and no gold coins appear to have been
24 May, 1328 struck.^ It was in this reign that Orkhan, the
-16 Jnne, 1341. son of Othman, captured Nicomedia and Nicaea,
and completed the Turkish conquest of Bithynia. Andronicus III was succeeded by his son John V, Palaeologus, a boy of nine. His long i*eign brings us near to the end of the fourteenth JOTTTv V century, and is marked at every stage by loss of
-.,, . ' territory and financial distress. The real Emperor^
16 J 1S4.1 early part of this period was the Servian
-16 Peb 1391 monarch Stephen Dushan who styled himself ' Car
and Autokrator of the Servians and Greeks, the
' Bayet, L*Art hyz., 3rd ed., p. 53, fig. 12 ; Salzenberg, PL XXVII. ' The nomisma (PI. LXXV. 3) representing, apparently, the Empress Irene with her husband and their son Michael IX should be noticed.
^ The coin, No. 1, p. 629, infirit often described as of gold, is really of silver (gilt). * Cp. Gelzer in Erumbacher's Gesch. Byz. Lit., p. 1057.
§ 2. JOHN V— JOHN VI Ixxi
BalgsruLDs and Albanians '. Later, the Sultan Murad I, the successor of Orkhan, extends the Turkish borders to the Balkans, and John V becomes
The dynastic troubles and changes of this period are likewise manifold. At the very outset of John's reign he was opposed by a rival Emperor in the person of John VI, Cantacuzenus, the Grand tottw itt
Domesticus, now chiefly interesting to us as an his- '
torian, and for the part that he played in hastening ^^ '
the invasion of the Turks.^ After a long civil war, / ' -^ _, .
John VI was formally acknowledged Emperor in i847\_T)go 1354 1847, but abdicated in 1354. '
Other Imperial figures flit across the scene. Matthew, the son of John YI, was made joint Emperor with his father in 1358. Manuel II (see farther, infra), the second son of John V, .^^«^^»^^« ..^ wucrownedjoint Emperor m 1373. AndromcusIV, ^q q^x 1976-1379 the eldest son of John V, temporarily ousted his fiither from the throne in 1376, and ruled as Emperor.
It IB disappointing to find the coinage of this whole period so scanty. The unearthing of a hoard, or a more careful examination of the very obscore coinage of the FaJaeologi, may modify our views, but at present it would seem that there . johw v
was no issue of gold money from 1341 to 1391,
vhile even some of the coinages attributed by Sabatier and other numismatists to John V may perhaps have to be withdrawn ; for instance, the bronze and silver pieces inscribed nOAITIKOh4 (p. 632, infra) seem to be rather tickets than coins.
There are no coins that can be readily attributed to John YI or to his son Matthew, though there are some pieces that may be assigned, if not without hesitation, to Manuel 11 (in conjunction with his father, John V), and to the rebellious son, Andronicus IV.
The known straits of the Imperial Treasury, and the shabby make- shifts of a court .where (as at the coronation in 1347) gilded leather took fte place of gold, and glass of precious stones,^ seem to find expression in the mean currency of the period. It may well be suspected that throughout this long reign of John V the Imperial mints almost ceased to be operative, and that the currency of the dwindling Empire was mainly furnished by the abundant issues of Venice and Genoa, its great and intrusive rivals.'
^ Cp. Jorga in B. Z., 1906, p. 222. M. Diehl (hudes byz., p. 232) says:— 'Jean Cantacnzene, viai Bjzantin, au meilleur sens du mot comme au pire: intelligent, instndt, on dee plus habiles politiques de son temps : ^crivain de merite, Tun des plus ^hstingaes de son si^cle ; mais ambitieuz k Texces, sans scrupules, d^nue de sens moral iatant qa*un Borgia, et avec cela capable de sentiments mystiques, et qui finira dans la paix dn clottre sa longue existence troublee.' * Parisot, Cantacuzine, p. 228.
' Cp. Diehl, jSif. byz.f p. 240 f., ' La colonie v^nitienne a Constantinople a la fin du «v« riecle.'
Ixxii INTRODUCTION
A serious effoi*t to restore the Imperial coinage was evidently made
by John Y's son and successor, Manuel II, an able, magnanimous and
TT accomplished man, worthy of a wider Empire than
_, _ ' one that had shrunk almost to Constantinople^
16 Feb 1381-1423 ^"^8*"<>^i^> ^^^ * provmce of Peloponnesus. Me
(d July 1426^ restored the gold nomisma, retaining the familiar
type of the View of Constantinople, but this coin is
now, from whatever cause, extremely scarce, and the bulk of Manuel's
extant currency consists of silver pieces which must have been issued in
considerable quantities. There are three or four denominations of the
silver, the highest of which, judging by the similar coins of Manuel's
successors, was intended to weigh about 135 grains.^
In his struggle with the Turks, Manuel sought aid from the West,
and is now, as then, an interesting figure to Frenchmen and Englishmen.
TOPTW VTT ^^ ^^^ ^® ^^ ^^ London, the guest of King
4 Dec. 1399-1402 ^^^^ ^^'' ^^^^S ^^ absence (till 1402) his
( 'th MAjffTTEii 11^ nephew John VII was regent and co-emperor, and
John is probably the Emperor who figures on
a bronze coin of Manuel II {infra, p. 639). The Turkish pressure on the
Empire was at last relieved by the invasion of Timur, the £a.mous Khan
of the Mongols who, in the great battle of Angora, a.d. 1402, defeated
Sultan Bayezid, and for a time annihilated the Ottoman power. The
Empire had thus a breathing space till 1422, when the Turks — with
renewed hostility — laid siege to Constantinople. In the following year
Manuel, stricken by apoplexy, retired to a monastery, to die two years
later.
Manuel's son John VIII continued the silver coinage on his father's
model. It is now not uncommon, but no gold money is known.^ John's
long reign was passed in peace, but in ignoble
•B., .«^,^« ' peace as a vassal of the Turks. In 1423 his brother,
PALABOLOGUS,
1423-3 Oct 1448 *^® governor of Thessalonica, sold this city to the Venetians, and seven years later it was annexed by the Turks. John's efforts on behalf of the Empire were chiefly confined to the restoration of the walls of the Capital, and to seeking aid &om the Pope against the Unbeliever. In 1438 he attended the Council of Ferrara (a Council continued at Florence), and as the price of such assistance as the Pope afforded him agreed to the union of the Elastem Church with the Church of Rome. It was doubtless in 1438 and at Ferrara that Yittore Pisano made the wax model that he utilized for his well-known medal of the Eastern Emperor.^ Pisano's medal (see Frontispiece to
^ On the silver coinage of this period cp. Finlaj, Hist,, iii, p. 490 n. ' A gold bulla of John VIII is published by Schlumberger, Milangea d'arch, hyz,, i, p. 184, No. V, PI. X. 4.
•'» G. F. Hill, IHsauello, p. 106 f. ; PI. 29.
§ 2. JOHN VIII— CONSTANTINE XI Ixxiii
vqL ii of this work) shows the Emperor's head in profile, wearing a tall, hehnei-like head-dress, with a jewelled apex and a great brim of strange device. And it is interesting to compare this portrait by the first and greatest of the Renaissance medallists with the portrait produced by the latest of the Byzantine mint-engravers, who had inherited traditions readiing back to Constantine and even to Augustus (PL LXXVII. 7-13). The coin-portrait of John may, perhaps, be set aside by some numismatists as purely conventional, since it closely resembles that of his aged father, Manuel IL But this resemblance may be due to a family likeness, and I think we may discern on the coin some attempt at reproducing the mild, grave, irhscmciaTU expression of Palaeologus, which is rendered with SQdi artistic delicacy on the medaL^
Of Constantine XI, John VIII's brother and successor, no coins have been identified.^ It is hard to believe that he struck no money. If his coronation, through taking place at Sparta, did CONSTAWTIWB XI not involve the customary largesses, his subse- -- . ^^g '
qaent entry into Constantinople must have done (orowned%an. 1449) 80, and coins must have been needed even in the _«g ^ iA5S
few troubled years that followed. Constantine,
one of the best and bravest of the Palaeologi, was confronted by Mohammad II, ' the most commanding personality among the whole race of Ottoman Sultans.' ^ A cause of quarrel was soon found by the ambitious Sultan, and the actual siege of the great city guarded of God began in April, 1453. On 29 May the cannon of the Turks made its fatal breach in the walls, and the enemy poured into the city over the dead bodies of the Emperor and his gallant companions. The next day the Sultan ^ entered Constantinople, and the dome of St. Sophia rang with the cry 'Mohammad is the prophet of God.*^
The great edifice of Empire had long been tottering, yet even to
^ Compare also with the head-dress on the medal, the crown on the coin, which is ihaped like a helmet and surmounted by a pearl. In addition to Pisano*s medal there tte two contemporary representations of John YIII : (i) The bas-reliefs on the bronze doors of St. Peter's at Rome by Averlino (called Filartte), These reliefs show the Emperor at the Council of Ferrara-Florenoe ; his departure from and return to Gontantinople. (ii) Bronze bust, life-size, in the Museum of the Propaganda, Rome» closely resembling the medal by Pisano. Lazzaroni and Munoz (Cwnptea rendus^ Acadimie ia InscripHcns, 1907, pp. BOO-309, cp. their monograph Filarete) ascribe it to Filarete, A.0. 1439. Cp. also Hill, op. cit., p. HI n.
' His gold bullae are extant and there is a fine specimen in the Vienna Museum, engrared. Von Sallet, MUnzm und MedaiOen^ Berlin, 1898, p. 105 ; see also Schlumberger, d&ttn^ d'arcK hyz^ i, p. 64 ; cp. B. Z., 1905, p. 743, citing Sp. Lambros.
' Oman, The ByzatUine Empire^ p. 348.
* The bronze coins with Greek inscriptions attributed in Sabatier, PI. 64, 4, 5 to Mohammad II are now recognized as the money of the Danishmend Dynasty: see Caaanoira in Bev, num., 1896, p. 217 and Schlumberger, M^langes^ i, p. 10.
' Oman, op. cit., p. 349.
I k
Ixxiv INTRODUCTION
ihe student who has attentively observed the leading features of its history, art and coinage, the fall seems to come with suddenness. A fiainiliar landmark of the world's history is removed ; and the glory of Byzantium fades almost like the ' insubstantial pageant ' of the magician.
§ 3. Denominations and WEiaHTs.
At all periods the coinage in gold was of the first importance, and extant specimens in this metal are very common. Coins in silver, on the other hand, are now rare, though they were probably fairly abundant in antiquity (cp. p. Ixiii, awpra). The bronze coinage was entirely re- organized by Anastasius I in 498, and imder his successors, till about the time of Constantine IV, formed no unimportant part of the state- currency.
GOLD.
The chief coin is the solidua or, as usually named in Byzantine
authors, the nomisma.^ The weight of this coin varied but little thit>ugh
the long period of its existence. It is always (when
aoT.rnTTA struck at the Capital) of more, than 60 grains, and
the heaviest extant specimens usually weigh from 68 to 70 grains.^ The fineness of the Constantinopolitan nomisma — so far at least as the eye can discern, and in the absence of a systematic series of analyses — is well maintained almost till the reign of Michael VII (a. d. 1071), when the nomisma tends to become an electrum coin. Some- what later, under Alexius I, the nomisma (as explained supra, p. bd) was issued in several difierent metals simultaneously, but there was evidently
^ I am not able here to enter into a detailed account of the vaiying names, or nicknames, borne by the solidus and other Byzantine coins at different periods (Romanati; MichaJati, &c.)- This subject would alone require a little treatise to itself! Some material may be found in Du Gauge's Dissertation on Byzantine Coins; in an article in Bevue archeol, 1876, zxzii, p. 283 ; in Svoronos, Joum. d'ardi. num., ii, p. 845, &a ; A Engel, Recherchea sur la numismatique , , , des Nofynands de SicUe ei d^lMie, Paris, 1882/ pp. 72-75 (nummi schifati; heaantii; Bcmanati, &c.); Diehl, Andes hyz.j p. 249 (kyperpre ; cp. Svoronos, op. cit., ii, pp. 362, 345 n., vircpn-vpop v6fuafui ■» tiie solidns ; Schlumberger, PrincipatUis Franques du Lwant, p. 7 ; Eubitschek in Nwn. ZeUaehHft, zxix, 1897 (1898), p. 168 f., on the solidus, &c., in Egypt). For the world-wide use of the solidus in the time of Justinian I there is the testimony of Eosmas Indicopleustes, cited by Mommsen, Gesck, des r6m. MUnzwesens, p. 817. — On the 'bezant* as money of account in Cyprus and on the bisante bianco of Cyprus (the last-named not an Imperial Byzantine coin), see N. Pftpadopoli, Ze Monete di Venezia, ii, p. 484.— On the name 'bezant' applied (twelfth and thirteenth centuries) to Arab gold coins {difuirs), see P. Casanova in Bev, num.t 1897, p. 535.
' Specimens that attain 70 grains are, however, decidedly uncommon. A solidus of Justin I weighs 70*3 grs. A gold nomisma of John II weighs 74'2 ; one of Alexius III, 74*6 ; SCanuel II, 72-5. The solidus of the ' Provincial ' and ' Italian ' coinages weighs less than 68, viz. 60-65 grs., and is often much alloyed. Throughout this section the weights cited (unless otherwise stated) are those of coins in the British Museum.
§ 8. GOLD AND SUiVER COINAGES Ixxv
an attempt made to preserve at least one type of it unalloyed. The wide European circulation of the * bezants* (nornismata) was probably one reason why the standard of fineness was protected from a more rapid deterioration.
From the time of Anastasius I till the period of Constantino Y, the solidus is accompanied by two small divisions, the half (aemissis) and &e third (trefmissis). After the last-named reim these divisions were not issued with the same regularity, lad in the tenth century they entirely disappeai*.
The semissis always exceeds 30 grains, and the tremissis 20 grains. The usual weight of the semissis may be stated as from 84 to 85 grains, and the weight of the tremissis as from 22 to 23 grains.^ The weights of these divisions point to a solidus of about 70 grains.
In the reign of Basil 11 and Constantino Y III, i. e. about the beginning of the eleventh century, we find (as already noted, p. liii) the curious phenomenon of a heavy and light nomisma side by side. The light coin bears a general resemblance „ to the old solidus in fabric, but weighs, at the
most, only 63 grains.^ The heavy coin is of a novel (cup-shaped) fabric, but maintains the weight of the familiar solidus — 68 to 69 grains.
The light nomisma disappeared under Alexius I (circ. A. D. 1081) or under his predecessor, leaving the heavier scyphate coin in possession of the field. The curious scyphate form has never been satisfactorily ezphuned, and is usually supposed to have been adopted for some meehanical convenience in striking. Yet we find that flat coins (in faronze and silver) of the usual fabric continue to be struck at the same time as the scyphate pieces, and I would suggest that the original reason for the adoption of this peculiar fabric was simply in order to distinguish the heavy from the light nomisma. It would be thus a device of the kmd that we sometimes find in modem coinages when a nickel coin is issued with a hole in its centre, in order that it may be readily distin- guished from any contemporary silver coins which it resembles in size and colour.
SILVER.
The silver coinage, on account of its oompai*ativ6 rarity, cannot be thoroughly studied until something like a Corpus of extant specimens is available; it may be useful, meanwhile, to set forth in detail the weights of representative coins, mainly those in the British Museum.
' The semiBsiB rarely weighs quite 35 grs., though this weight is found under GonstaoB XL The tremissis sometimes slightly eicceeds 23 grs., as 23*2 (Gonstans II) ; 23^ (Constantine lY).
* This weight occurs under Michael VII. The usual weight is 62 grains, a little more or less.
Ixxvi INTRODUCTION
The chief mint is Constantinople. Carthage, Ravenna, and Rome also coin in this metal, but their issues, as a rule, consist only of pieces of the lowest denominationB. The principal coin, till the time of Heraclius, was the mUiaresion (ifniliarenae), which had been introduced by Constantine the Great, and which, after being struck in succeeding reigns, continued to b^ issued by Anastasius I and his immediate successors. Its normal weight approaches 4-55 grammes, i. e« over 70 grains Troy.^
In the following lists the weights (unless otherwise stated) are in Troy grains.
Anastasius I. 29-3 {sUlqua ; ? noimal about 40). 1 gram. 42 — 1 gram. 28 = 22-20 grains {half-aillquaey
Justin I. 61*4 (pierced) ; 60-8,52; also 44*0 gram. (=68 grains) in French coll. (miliaresion). 2 gram. 22 — 2 gram. -09 (=34-83 grains) in French coll. {hoIf-mUmresia),^ 294, 27«9 (sUiquae).
Justinian I. 75-5, 64-8. Specimens in French Coll. 67 to over 68 grains Troy: Dieudonn^, in Rev. rmm., 1899, p. 196; Babelon, Traitiy I, p. 571 {mUiaresion). The small coins of Carthage weigh 19-3, 15«3, 10-1, each of these being of a different type.
Of the four following reigns there are (at least in the British Museum) only coins of small denominations, as follows : —
Justin IE, 16 (Constantinople mint) ; 18-4 (Carthage mint).
TiBEKius II. 17«7, 9.7 Carthage ; 7 Ravenna. (A large silver medallion, Photiades Cat, PI. I, No. 225).
Maubige Tiberius. (No Constantinople silver) ; 14-5, 12*3 Carthage ; 5*6 Ravenna.
Phocas. (No Constantinople silver; cp. p. 164, note 2, infra), 9-5 Carthage (injured) ; 6-5 Ravenna.
Heraclius. Under Heraclius, in a. d. 615, a new silver coin, the Iiexagram, is issued (cp. p. 195, n., infra). This coin generally weighs more than 100 grains: the highest weight in the British Museum is 105*3. Its issue is continued in the three following reigns, and under Heraclius it was coined at Ravenna as well as at Constantinople. Also, coins weighing 10-5, 11-6, 12-7 (worn) all of Carthage ; 7 Ravenna.
CONSTANS II. 104*8, 105*5 (hexagram ; abundant) ; 8*2 Carthage ; 6*2 Rome ; 5*5 Ravenna.
Constantine IV. 102*2 (hexagram) ; 8 Rome ; 4-7 Ravenna.
Justinian II. 102-3 (hexagram).
Tiberius III, Philippicus, Anastasius II, Theodosius III, Leo III. No coins in British Museum. (A coin of Tiberius III in Rev. num,^ 1865, p. 286, weighs 3*32 grammes (about 51 grains) ; perhaps a clipped specimen of the hexagram.)
' Babelon, Traite, i, p. 570. 2 i^jja., i, p. 579.
»Ibid.,l.c.
§ 3. WEIGHTS OF SILVER COINS Ixxvii
CoNSTANTiNE V. The hexagram having ceased to be coined, Con- stantine V (a. d. 741-775) inaugurated a silver piece characterized by its thin, flat fSskbric, and by a reverse ' type ' consisting entirely of an inscription. Hub coin was minted in most succeeding reigns, ai^d remained, practically, the sole representative of Byzantine silver currency till the reign of Alexias L Extant specimens, which are often fairly common, vary a good deal in weight : the coin often attains more; than 40 grains, and sometimes reaehes 50 grains.
CoNSTANTiNE V, 29-8 (wom). At Rome, a coin of 7-6.
Leo rV. 82-7. — Constantine VL 41.— Michael I and Theophylact. 82-6.— Leo V. 34-5. — Michael II. 26.— Theophilus. 47-5.— Michael III. 31-6 (pierced). — Basil L 42*6 — Leo VI. 44, 48*7 — Pebiod of Constan- TIKE VII. 50-2. — NiCEPHORUS H. 44-4. — John I. 497 — Basil II and Constantine VIII. 46-2. An exceptional