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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;willieboyd2, post: 1430785, member: 4910&quot;]I have several Byzantine bronze coins and became curious as to the location of the</p><p>Constantinople mint that made them, especially this one of Justinian (AD 527-565)</p><p><br /></p><p><img src="http://www.brianrxm.com/posts/post_byzantine_justinian_follis_ant.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /></p><p><br /></p><p>Justinian AE Follis</p><p>Obverse: Diademed, draped, and cuirassed bust right</p><p>D N IVSTINI-ANVS PP AVG</p><p>Reverse: Large letter &#039;M&#039;, star left, cross top, cross right, G under large &#039;M&#039;</p><p>CON in exergue (Constantinople mint)</p><p>Struck: AD 527-538</p><p>Size: 30mm</p><p>Weight: 17.98gm</p><p>Catalog: Sear 158</p><p><br /></p><p>Philip Grierson&#039;s book <i>Catalogue of late Roman coins in the Dumbarton Oaks Collection</i></p><p>(Dumbarton Oaks, 1992) places the Constantinople mint for bronze coins near the &quot;Golden Gate&quot;.</p><p><br /></p><p>In April 2012, I finally able to make a visit to Istanbul, Turkey.</p><p><br /></p><p>After a busy day wandering around Justinian&#039;s Hagia Sophia church and the Sultan Ahmed Blue Mosque,</p><p>I was back at my hotel whose lobby had some books about Turkey and Istanbul.</p><p><br /></p><p>I happened to look at Richard Stoneman&#039;s book</p><p><i>Across the Hellespont: A Literary Guide to Turkey</i> (Hutchinson, 1987)</p><p>which had a map of Constantinople showing the &quot;Golden Gate&quot; to be in a place</p><p>called the &quot;Castle of the Seven Towers&quot;, part of the 4th century walls around the city.</p><p>The walls were constructed during the reign of Theodosius I or II.</p><p>The &quot;Golden Gate&quot; was a location for ceremonial entrances into the city and for holding imperial Triumphs.</p><p><br /></p><p>The castle is now a Turkish museum named Yedikule (Turkish for &quot;Seven Towers&quot;) Museum.</p><p><br /></p><p>On Tuesday, April 24, 2012, I took the light rail to the Yedikule station,</p><p>and walked out Yedikule street to the Yedikule Castle museum.</p><p><br /></p><p>The street to the museum:</p><p><br /></p><p><img src="http://www.brianrxm.com/posts/post_istanbul_yedikule_street.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /></p><p><br /></p><p>I had the castle to myself for an hour, probably because it is not mentioned in many guide books.</p><p>Later a tour bus with some teenagers showed up and they began climbing around on the walls.</p><p><br /></p><p>A sign describing the castle complex:</p><p><br /></p><p><img src="http://www.brianrxm.com/posts/post_istanbul_yedikule_sign.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /></p><p><br /></p><p>The Golden Gate:</p><p><br /></p><p><img src="http://www.brianrxm.com/posts/post_istanbul_yedikule_gates.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /></p><p><br /></p><p>The museum entrance and the tour bus group:</p><p><br /></p><p><img src="http://www.brianrxm.com/posts/post_istanbul_yedikule_entrance.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /></p><p><br /></p><p>Three of the towers, named the Treasure, Dungeon, and Cannon towers:</p><p><br /></p><p><img src="http://www.brianrxm.com/posts/post_istanbul_yedikule_towers.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /></p><p><br /></p><p>The trip sure made this coin even more interesting.</p><p><br /></p><p><img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie1" alt=":)" unselectable="on" unselectable="on" />[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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