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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;ValiantKnight, post: 4358414, member: 44210&quot;]A couple of months back I picked up this Byzantine hexagram of Constans II. This denomination was started by Emperor Heraclius (retrospectively a perfect example of someone who lived longer than they should have) during the final Roman-Persian war by gathering up silver church plate and melting it all down, in order to help fund his armies. After the conflict, they were continued by Heraclius&#039;s successor Constans II, and presumably then used to pay for the conflict against the Arabs, united under the then-new religion of Islam and conquering many Roman territories. The reverse legend, <i>Deus adiuta Romanis</i> (&quot;May God help the Romans&quot;), gives an idea of how dire the situation facing the empire was during the 7th century AD (the Byzantines were basically losing battle after battle and territory after territory against the Muslims).</p><p><br /></p><p><b><u>Constans II</u> with Constantine IV, Byzantine Empire</b></p><p>AR hexagram</p><p><b>Obv</b>: D N CONSTANTINUS C CONSTANS, crowned and draped busts of Constans with long beard on the left, and Constantine IV, beardless on the right, cross between their head</p><p><b>Rev</b>: dEUS AdIUtA ROmANIS, cross-potent on globe above three steps; B in right field</p><p><b>Date</b>: 641-668 AD</p><p><b>Mint</b>: Constantinople</p><p><b>Ref</b>: SB 996</p><p>22 mm wide, 6.2 gr.</p><p>(attribution information from Wildwinds)</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1102202[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>Byzantine Empire in 600 AD. Bit of a reversal in Italy against those pesky barbarian Lombards, but things were still pretty good <img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie1" alt=":)" unselectable="on" unselectable="on" /></p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1102173[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>Then it got really bad, 650 AD <img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie9" alt=":eek:" unselectable="on" unselectable="on" /></p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1102174[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>Then they nearly hit rock-bottom, 717 AD <img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie40" alt=":dead:" unselectable="on" unselectable="on" /></p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1102175[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>As indicated by the poll I&#039;m curious as to what you all think about the cleaning job. I&#039;ll admit part of my reason for buying it was to see how much I could improve it. Not as much hidden detail was revealed as I had hoped, but I think it still turned out fine.</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1102201[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1102200[/ATTACH]</p><p>(uncleaned reverse photo is a bit brighter than it should be)[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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