Just picked this "unsold" lot up from Rauch Auctions. AV Solidus ND Constantinople Mint Emperor Nicephorus II 963-69AD When Romanus II died (likely poisoned by his wife Theophano) the Army appointed General Nicephorus Phocas as Emperor. Nicephorus II then married Theophano. However, as he was always out campaigning vs the Bulgars and Arabs, his wife got into an affair with John Tzimiskes. He ended up being murdered by John and his henchmen, making him the new Emperor, and Theophano his Empress.
Geez p-man, your standards are slipping. Mine is a lot prettier. (Ex x6 "Zombie Jesus.") More seriously, here's my bronze portrait of Nic II:
Very nice coin! I was looking at a very nice Sigismund from the same auction. It is also an unsold lot.
That OP coin is a real beauty. And a great work of 10th century Byzantine art. Here's my humble coin of the same emperor, a tragic figure: a great general, just what the Empire needed, coming back from his latest triumph, to be tripped by an adulterous wife playing the kingmaker and cowardly sacrificed. The patina nicely shows the peculiar pinkish metal of the coin, common with these bronzes. Nicephorus Phocas (963-969). 24 mm, 5.64 gr.
Nice score John ! The coin looks mint state with an unusually fine portrait of Christ, done with sculptural realism in contrast to the typical linear style of the reverse. Christ's clothing & hands were carefully modeled too. What is the weight of the coin ?
Just got back from work. Thanks The exact weight is 4.40g. I was surprised that this coin remained unsold!
Great coin. Of Nicephorus II the Bishop Liutprand, who was trying to negotiate with Constantinople, said after his audience with the emperor: ...a monstrosity of a man, a pygmy, fat-headed and like a mole as to the smallness of his eyes; disgusting with his short, broad, thick, and half hoary beard; disgraced by a neck an inch long; very bristly through the length and thickness of his hair; in color an Ethiopian; one whom it would not be pleasant to meet in the middle of the night; with extensive belly, lean of loin, very long of hip considering his short stature, small of shank, proportionate as to his heels and feet; clad in a garment costly but too old, and foul-smelling and faded through age; shod with Sicyonian shoes; bold of tongue, a fox by nature, in perjury, and lying a Ulysses. Whereas Bishop Liutprand describes the emperor's hair as being bristly, Leo The Deacon says it was black with "tight curls" and "unusually long". Anthony Kaldellis calls Liutprand's description a "racist satire". John Julius Norwich called him "the White Death of the Saracens, hero of Syria and Crete, saintly and hideous, magnificent and insufferable
Fascinating piece of text. That's how adversaries frame you, or you frame adversaries. What I learn from this is to put salacious stories into perspective. Maybe those horrible stories about Elagabal or Commodus or Constans were a way of damnatio memoriae, too. Sallustius was not a historian trying to be neutral. Or Tacitus. Or Caesar. Maybe those stories were a bit exaggerated, as it is now generally recognized with the Historia Augusta.
History is certainly written by the winners (or those who get the last word, anyway). Once an era passes from living memory, all we're left with is documents, and all their flaws. I've often wondered how some of history's vilified "villains" really were. Were they as bad as their reputations are now? Interesting to ponder. It is also interesting to ponder how much of our current digital media will survive the coming millennia. We might end up being as much or even more of a cypher to our descendants as the Ancients are to us.
Thanks to everyone for nice comments, and impressive historical facts Always learn a lot on this forum. John
