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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;ValiantKnight, post: 2162936, member: 44210&quot;]After a long while I finally added another coin from Byzantine Rome/Ravenna to my collection. Most I had seen in this past year were either too expensive or I had narrowly missed (I had picked up a couple of Syracuse and a Catania-mint coin). This pentanummium (5 nummi) of Justin II is the same reverse type as my Justinian pentanummium from Rome but is attributed to Ravenna, which was the capital of the Western Roman Empire, then the Ostrogothic Kingdom, and afterwards of the Byzantine province of Italy. Hopefully that is dirt on the reverse that I could clean off.</p><p><br /></p><p>This coin was struck in an Italy recovering from the nearly two-decade long Gothic War (535-534 AD) that saw the destruction of the Ostrogothic Kingdom and the reestablishment of Roman rule in the old Roman heartland. None of the barbarian invasions of Western Europe that had occurred before were as devastating as the Roman reconquest of Italy (which the Eastern Romans had started). Justin II&#039;s reign saw this reconquest partially undone by the Lombard invasion of Italy, the last of the Germanic invasions.</p><p><br /></p><p><b><u>Justin II</u>, Byzantine Empire</b></p><p>AE pentanummium</p><p><u>Obv</u>: D N IVSTI-NVS P P AVG, pearl-diademed, draped, cuirassed bust right</p><p><u>Rev</u>: Large epsilon, cross to right, all within wreath</p><p><u>Mint</u>: Ravenna (struck 565-578 AD)</p><p><u>Ref</u>: SB 416</p><p><br /></p><p><img src="http://i1197.photobucket.com/albums/aa429/LurkingNinja/justinII_zpswrdsn6t7.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>Roman Empire in 555 AD (Italy, North Africa, and southern Spain had just been reunited with the empire):</p><p><br /></p><p><img src="http://i1197.photobucket.com/albums/aa429/LurkingNinja/ByzEmp555AD_zpsupmfwtci.png" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /></p><p><br /></p><p>Roman Empire in 600 AD (Italy was now divided between Roman and Lombard control. The Romans managed to retain control over Rome and Ravenna, among other Italian territories)</p><p><br /></p><p><img src="http://i1197.photobucket.com/albums/aa429/LurkingNinja/RomanEmpire600_zpsvnyfpsl5.png" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" />[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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