Nice Byzantine Coin of Michael the Amorian

Michael II reigned as Byzantine Emperor from 25 December 820 to his death on 2 October 829, the first ruler of the Amorian dynasty.

Born in Amorium, Michael was a soldier, rising to high rank along with his colleague Leo V the Armenian (r. 813–820). He helped Leo overthrow and take the place of Emperor Michael I Rangabe. However, they later had a falling out, and Leo sentenced Michael to death. Michael then masterminded a conspiracy which resulted in Leo's assassination on Christmas 820. Immediately he faced the long revolt of Thomas the Slav, which almost cost him his throne and was not completely suppressed until spring 824. The later years of his reign were marked by two major military disasters that had long-term effects: the beginning of the Muslim conquest of Sicily, and the loss of Crete to the Saracens. Domestically, he supported and strengthened the resumption of official iconoclasm, which had begun again under Leo V.

Obverse, head of Michael and Theophilus Facing. Revers, large M with cross. Please post your byzantine coins here, especially of the ninth century. Thanks!

 

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Very nice!! And I enjoyed your historical context---it makes it all the more interesting and relevant.

BTW: If anyone can PM me at their leisure as to how to place 'links' in that worded format, I'd greatly appreciate it

 

Thank you for the nice write-up @ancient coin hunter ! I love any and all histories that folks attribute to their posts... just makes it all really interesting and cool for their coin. Great coin!

I have very little Byzantine... but here are a couple that I captured from @John Anthony : (Jest to "hav'em")


BYZ Andronicus II - Michael IX AD 1295-1320 AR Basilikon 22mm 2.1g Constantinople Christ enthroned - Andronicus l Michael r labarum DOC V 1 Class VIII


BYZ Manuel I Comnenus 1143-1180 CE Aspron Trachy 35mm 4-6g Christ Gospels Labaran globus cruciger Virgin maphorium SB 1966 scyphate

 

Very nice coin. The reverse is great.

Here is my coin of Theophilus with his father Michael and his son Constantine.

 

Good to see some more Byzantine, and a lovely writeup. I will steal it and paste into the "historical comments" field of my Michael II (& Theophilos):



All my 9th c. Byzantine (I think). I'm waiting for some Basil I to arrive in the mail.

 

that is a nice coin ACH!

i have this coin of leo v and constantine (leo v kid, he was castrated and banished after his dad was assassinated. ..yikes).





these coins are filed in my brain under "lord farquaad style" byazntine coinage...



sorry for the pics, these are bad for me even...dang.

 

Thanks for all of the replies. There certainly some great Byzantine coins out there! I'm inspired to expand my collection of these guys!

 

Nice!

 

Great write up! The reason I am resurrecting this thread is that I just got a rather nice example from the old stock of a major European house. Unfortunately, I am constantly on the move lately, so I haven't done my usual photography set up, and let's face it... Byzantine coppers are a pain to photograph. It takes a lot of effort to get half-decent pics (with my limited photography skills). So here are a couple of finger-pics





All I can add to your write-up is that Michael the Amorian was also known as Michael the Stammerer. (Don't you just love those Byzantine nicknames?). All I need now to complete the Amorian Dynasty is a coin of Michael the Drunkard (That won't be easy as they are rarer in good condition).

What I love about this follis is the three ninja stars on the reverse. (Some say it is just a decoration filler to replace the then obsolete ANNO, but I will chose to ignore that )

 

Wow, as Æ Byz coins go, yours is a gem! "Rather nice" is an understatement.