Message:

<p>[QUOTE=&quot;zumbly, post: 5503673, member: 57495&quot;]Even without venturing into alien territory, I think these are pretty intriguing coins.&nbsp; They were struck by Heraclius at an extremely fraught time for the Empire.&nbsp; The Byzantines had in the preceding years of his reign ceded control of much of Syria, Egypt and Africa to the Sasanians.&nbsp; Damascus, Jerusalem, Alexandria and Chalcedon had been conquered, and even the True Cross was lost.&nbsp; With the Sasanian armies at the doorstep of Constantinople, Heraclius was forced to empty the treasury when he sued for peace. Having bought himself some time, he then needed to revitalize the Byzantine armies, but lacked the money to do so.&nbsp; At that point, Sergius, the Patriarch of Constantinople, offered up the Church&#039;s silver plates and gold to help fund the effort, which Heraclius then melted down to use for use at the mint to strike new coins.&nbsp; There&#039;s a real possibility here that our hexagrams used to be those silver plates from the Constantinople church.&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>One of the David Plates, showing David in battle with Goliath, circa AD 610-613:</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1239863[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>And then, abit of a step down in the life of some 7th century silver:</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1239865[/ATTACH] <b>BYZANTINE EMPIRE. Heraclius with Heraclius Constantine</b></p><p>AR Hexagram. 6.42g, 25mm. Constantinople mint, AD 615-638. DOC 64; Hahn MIB 140; Sear Byzantine 798. O: ∂∂ NN hЄRACLIЧ Єτ hЄRA COnS, Heraclius and Heraclius Constantine seated facing on double throne, each crowned and holding globus cruciger; cross between. R: ∂ЄЧS A∂IЧτA ROmANIS, cross potent on globe above three steps; K to right.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

Your name or email address:

Do you already have an account?

• No, create an account now.
• Yes, my password is:
• Forgot your password?

Stay logged in