The only appeal of this little coin is that it has all the letters spelling CONSTANT-INVS which always truck me as odd considering we call the ruler Constans II. This is not my specialty so someone else can explain that one. It was very cheap as is appropriate.
It strikes me as odd also---I guess it was an ancient 'typo'?? LOL I'm curious what the actual explanation is....
Constans was his nickname, which goes back to several Byzantine texts. You get three choices when it comes to Constans II's official names: Heraclius Constantinus (he was baptized Heraclius), Flavius Constantinus Augustus (not sure where the Flavius comes from), and he was also known as Constantine the Bearded (Kōnstantinos Pogonatos). If you think Roman emperor's names are long and complicated, I was reading up on Sultans of the Seljuq Empire, and they put the Romans to shame. Try this one on for size: Jalāl al-Dawla Mu'izz al-Dunyā Wa'l-Din Abu'l-Fatḥ ibn Alp Arslān.
Nice one! plus, Carthage always being such a "different" mint. This one is on my wish list for quite some time now.
This coin is from Carthage's last few decades as a Roman city, before its capture and destruction by the Muslim Arabs. Nice catch Doug.
If my mind serves me right I remember I did read that the name “Constans” was never used or spelled at his contemporary time when he lived, but that this name was invented by later historians for a reason I don’t exactly remember why. I think that he was indeed called Constantius at his contemporary time if I remember right. I read that Byzantine book for around 3-4 months ago and don’t remember the specific details regarding the name of Constans II. He is said that he was murdered because he intended to move the capital from Constantinople to Syracuse. – That would have been a stupid decision as Constantinople is a far better place to defend giving its location, walls and size.
i'd like to pick up a carthage mint byzantine...cool bargin bin score again DS. doucet, that one is great...most bronze coins of constans ii i've seen are not so pretty. this one is actually one of the better lookin' of the type! sorry for the pics...i need to reshoot this badly.
