Featured 29 May 1453

Yes. Increase the martial spirit of the janissaries as they storm the walls of Constantinople. Kind of sounds like a bunch of guys with kazoos if you ask me!

 

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Now I cannot help but envision this terrifying ancient marching band as depicted by the Monty Python troupe

 

History again.. After the fall of Constantinople in 1453 AD, and during that same half-century, 2 striking major events occurred. First, the defeat of the Moors and their final retreat from Spain (Grenada). Second, the discovery of America by Christopher Columbus. Both events took place in the same year 1492 AD. Some historians suggested that these 2 events were some kind of"Unconscious Collective Reaction" to the Byzantine Fall, just like saying a form of Survival for the Western Civilization. Hope I'm a little bit clear..

 

Very unlikely. As far as I can see Voulgarokto is much older than me because he received his first coins in the 70s or so(if my mind serves me right). I have 50-60 years left before I die. I have always thought that I had the greatest private collection of Byzantine coins, but that was before I saw Voulgarokto's coins.

 

Aye, roman music in Scotland:
https://www.archaeology.co.uk/articles/features/burnswark.htm



https://www.archaeology.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/Bullets-sound.mp3

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Attack March of the Janisseries. Weird, but wonderful, to watch and listen to by your computer. But in real life, a deathly reality.

 

Hi Herberto, and thanks for putting me right about lifespan limitations. Myself, being a dinousaur, am a new kid in numismatology. You have, apparently, 50-60 years left before you bid farewell to this world. I, also, have 50-60 weeks before my time is up. However, that should still give me enough time to spin a few more coins !!!

 

They actually have re-enactments of the march in Istanbul. I managed to see one when I was there. Some marchers in full armor (either chain mail or platelets with steel helmets) and others wearing those curious high-end hats, playing those pipes.

 

Well, I go to check the DOC to find a die match when I realized that I was looking at the wrong side for the sigla. After re-examining the right side, I have come to the conclusion that the sigla are nothing, lis. I have highlighted the lis in the image below.

 

I agree with your assessment of your sigla. I believe my John VIII stavraton has the same set, namely Bendall 7:


For others' reference, here's the whole list from DOC:


The DOC says these classes are organized roughly chronologically, putting our class 2's relatively early in the reign.

 

I was looking for a way to more accurately date this series, and assumed (wrongly perhaps) that mine was later because of it's crudness, but it seems that class tells where in the reign it belongs. Is there a guess by year which class represents which years? Going by that alone mine may be in the middle of his reign #1663-4.

 

DOC doesn't attempt to assign dates, although they mention that a hoard buried c. 1440 contained classes 1-6. That doesn't help much, does it!

 

We need more excavations! More hoards found! More Constantine XIs!

 

Come to think of it, what types of John VIII were represented in the Constantine XI hoard? It won’t help much for dating (Manuel II was in the hoard too), I’m just curious.

 

This discussion of the Fall of Constantinople has been fascinating. I grew up Greek American, and legends of that historic day still resonated down in our family folklore. My grandparents had come from Lesvos, an island just a little down the Turkish coast from the Great City. They'd never make big decisions on Tuesdays because of bad luck! Also, there are stories of Constantine XI falling in battle: After he quite literally lost his head, a double-headed eagle swooped down from the clouds, picked up the emperor's head and flew away with it. Also, when the last Divine Liturgy was celebrated in Hagia Sophia, with the enemy at the gates, a mystical wall grew and encased the bishop who was serving Holy Communion. When the next Liturgy is allowed to take place in the church, the wall will open up again and the priest will continue as if more than five centuries had not intervened. Funny, these stories being passed down to me. I'm not a collector of ancients, but I have really loved how this thread has tied together my family folklore and my love of numismatics.

 

Why not? Lesvos/Lesbos would be a great place to start, and the final years of the Byzantine Empire a great place to end!

Here's a small electrum coin from Mytilene on Lesbos, c. 454-427 BCE. It was issued around the time of the city's failed rebellion against Athens, and their dramatic last minute reprieve from extermination. Aren't you intrigued?

 

Thanks so much for the nudging, Severus Alexander! I was a Classics major in college so it makes even more sense for me to dump a few of my Morgan Dollars and start looking into Ancients, beginning with Lesbos, of course! I know there's volumes of information out there waiting for me to take the time and research, but it's also a kick to get advice from Coin Talk members. So if you have any scintillae of advice regarding dealers, websites, whatever for beginning a collection of coins from Lesbos. I'd be curious to see if any of the lesser city states of the island passed down some minted specimens to us: Eressos, Mythemna, Antissa...? Thanks again!

 

Hi @Doubled Eye, so glad you're thinking of taking the plunge. Just be aware... once you come over to the dark side, you'll never go back!

I'm a generalist collector so not really the one to ask about coins of Lesbos specifically, but I can give you a few pointers. For info on the coins (including which cities issued them), two good sites are Asia Minor Coins and our own @Ed Snible's site here (taken from the Historia Numorum).

I buy most of my coins at auction (not Ebay), I find the prices are generally better. For dealers, VCoins dealers are generally reliable, as are those at MA-Shops, certainly you should take a look around at those sites to see what is available. Usually the listed prices are somewhat high, but they will entertain offers. For price research, it's hard to beat acsearch, but it is a paid service. If you are planning to do more than dip your toes in though, it easily pays for itself.

Another dealer I can personally recommend, and who generally has better prices than on VCoins, is Rudnik. I don't see him mentioned much here on CoinTalk though. Forum is also good. There are lots of great dealers here on CoinTalk too, if you PM them they might have some Lesbos stuff available: @Valentinian and @John Anthony among others. Some sell on Ebay too... beginners should generally avoid Ebay, but if you know the dealer (always a good thing!) it's fine.

If you want to start at the cheaper end of things (so mistakes don't matter so much!), I'd recommend small bronzes. They can be had at very reasonable prices (under $50). Also small silver coins, e.g. obols, hemiobols, or 1/12th staters. In particular the confronted boars head obols or 1/12 staters from around 500 BC are plentiful and super neat!

And for any of this, please ask us. We're a friendly bunch here on the Ancients forum. In fact, once you've had a look around and have learned some of the basics, why not start a thread with some further questions? We'd love to give you some more advice, we have plenty!

 

ancient coin hunter, re. martial music in Istanbul, mentioned re-enactment marchers, in full armour, wearing "platelets with steel helmets". I have understood that platelets were blood cells, responsible for clotting the blood when bleeding. Seems platelets are disc-shaped - is that the link with armour ?